Duke had to get creative to escape Charlottesville with a win, and Nate Sheppard was at the center of the twist ending.
The Blue Devils beat Virginia 19-16 after Sheppard, normally a running back, threw a 32-yard touchdown pass to Brody Keefe with 1:14 left. That score put Duke in front for good, and Patrick Smith-Young finished the job by intercepting a Beau Pribula pass on Virginia’s final push.
Virginia had an answer ready for Sheppard the runner and receiver. It did not have one for Sheppard the passer.
The sequence that decided the game came after Walker Eget flipped a backward pass to Sheppard, who then found Keefe wide open for the go-ahead touchdown. Gavin Strange then missed the extra point, leaving the door open for Virginia to try to force a tie, but Smith-Young slammed it shut.
Duke opened fast. On its first drive, Eget hit Jonah Burton for a 35-yard gain on the third play of the possession, and one snap later Sheppard broke free for a 32-yard touchdown run to make it 7-0.
Virginia answered late in the first quarter when Jekail Middlebrook punched in a one-yard touchdown on fourth down. The Cavaliers then took control before halftime with two field goals from Will Bettridge, going to the break up 13-7.
The scoring stayed tight after the restart. Strange trimmed the margin with a 39-yard field goal in the third quarter, then knotted things at 13-13 with another 39-yarder with 8:50 to play. Bettridge put Virginia back ahead with three minutes remaining, setting up Duke’s late trick-play finish.
Sheppard finished with 15 carries for 55 yards and a touchdown, plus the 32-yard touchdown throw. Eget, who missed a majority of the first half, completed 14 of 25 passes for 211 yards.
The win moves Duke to 5-2 overall and 2-2 in the ACC. Virginia drops to 4-4 and 2-3.
In Other News...
Duke Let A Huge Opportunity Slip Against Stanford
Duke had a chance to turn a statement match into something bigger at Cameron Indoor Stadium, but the Blue Devils could not cash in against No. 15 Stanford. After staying in the fight deep into the fourth set, Duke dropped a 3-1 decision in a result that felt especially frustrating given how close the final stretch came to swinging the other way.
Ashby Zubchevich carried the offense with 28 kills and 13 digs, while Nataly Moravec added 22 kills and 18 digs to keep Duke within reach. Even with those performances, the Blue Devils could not finish off four set-point chances in the fourth, leaving them to wonder how different the night might have looked with one more stop or one more swing. [Read more 🡒]
Duke Finally Won A Nail-Biter And Fans Will Debate How
Duke spent a night in Durham that had all the usual ingredients of a stressed-out football fan base: a tight score, a late lead and one final sequence that had to be survived rather than celebrated. The Blue Devils broke through with a late touchdown pass from Nate Sheppard to Brody Keefe, a trick look built off a double pass called by Manny Diaz and offensive coordinator Jonathan Brewer, and it gave Duke the edge it needed against Virginia.
The extra point never went through, which only made the finish feel more precarious as Virginia got one last shot. Dukes defense, though, held the line on a desperation fourth-and-6 throw and came down with the interception to seal a 5-2 start overall and a 2-2 mark in ACC play. It was the kind of win that leaves one group of fans praising the creativity and another replaying every snap, which is probably exactly what a one-score victory is supposed to do. [Read more 🡒]
Manny Diaz Just Became A Name Duke Fans May Hate Hearing
Dukes latest road win kept Manny Diazs team moving in the right direction and added another bright spot to a season that already has the Blue Devils looking more stable under their new coach. Diaz has brought a strong track record with him to Durham, and his rsum has only grown more appealing as the coaching carousel starts to spin elsewhere in the sport.
Now his name is surfacing in connection with USC, where pressure is building around Lincoln Riley as the Trojans sit at 6-1 and still have a College Football Playoff path to sort through. For Duke fans, that is the uneasy part of having a coach who looks like a rising star again, because the better Diaz performs in Durham, the more likely it is that bigger jobs start calling. [Read more 🡒]