Duke Falls Short to Carolina in Victory Bowl Ending

Durham, N.C.- The Duke Blue Devils fell just short of retaining the Victory Bell, being defeated 24-20 by the North Carolina Tar Heels on Brooks Field at Wallace Wade Stadium. Quarterback Walker Eget finished 24 for 38 for 249 yards passing, with an interception and a touchdown. Running back Nate Sheppard finished with 183 yards from scrimmage and a receiving touchdown.

North Carolina set the tone early, driving 74 yards downfield to convert on a 28-yard field goal. The Tar Heels then made a major special teams play, blocking a punt and recovering it at the Duke 22, giving them excellent field position and ultimately capitalizing on a 5-yard touchdown pass from Edwards to Jordan Shipp. Early in the second quarter, Carolina added another touchdown on a 14-play, 63-yard drive, with Demon June rushing for a 4-yard touchdown, to extend an early 17-0 lead. Duke finally answered midway through the second quarter, recovering a fumble and returning it for a 9-yard touchdown by Andrew Pellicciotta to cut the lead to 17-7, and it stayed that way until halftime. Notably, in the first half, the Tar Heels scored on three of their six drives, while Duke scored on only one of five.

Then, in the second half, they scored a third-quarter field goal, and Duke turned it around in the fourth quarter, rallying with 10 points and scoring 13 unanswered behind Sheppard to bring the score to 20-17. The defense needed to come up huge with under 4 minutes left to secure the win; unfortunately, it couldn’t stop Carolina’s offensive surge, and running back Jaylen McGill found daylight for a 24-yard rushing touchdown. Duke couldn’t get the ball downfield with under a minute left. Eget threw an interception to seal the deal.

The victory gives North Carolina bragging rights in this year’s rivalry for the Victory Bell. Coach Manny Diaz had this to say following the loss: “Duke vs. Carolina, it’ll come down to the last play of the game, and it did. This is the year it didn’t go our way. The story of the game: how we started, how we finished. We started very poorly. Scored 20 straight points and very similar to where we were a week ago, had a chance to get a stop on defense and win the football game, and our inability to do that, and we had them 4th down backed up, I think, was the crucial play of the game; ultimately, it cost us.” Duke will need to regroup after a competitive rivalry game that came down to these final minutes for the second consecutive week. This loss will leave the Blue Devils looking back at missed opportunities, special teams, execution, and an inability to sustain and finish drives.