Duke squandered a 10-point lead in the final five minutes of the ACC Championship Game on Saturday night before emerging with a 27-20 overtime win over No. 17 Virginia in an instant classic.
Darian Mensah hit Jeremiah Hasley for a 1-yard touchdown strike on fourth-and-goal to begin the overtime period. The Blue Devils’ quarterback was rolling out and running for his life when he found Hasley standing wide open in the end zone. Luke Mergott intercepted Virginia quarterback Chandler Morris on the first play of Virginia’s overtime possession to end a wild game.
Virginia fell behind 20-10 on a 23-yard field goal from Duke’s Todd Pelino with 5:02 remaining before its offense came to life. The Cavaliers drove 96 yards for a a game-tying touchdown in the final two minutes only to have their hopes of reaching the College Football Playoff dashed in overtime.
With tiebreakers on their side, the unranked Blue Devils (8-5) slipped in to the league title game from a pack of five teams with 6-2 records in ACC play and emerged with their first-ever conference championship game victory.
The win marked Duke’s first league title since it split one with the Cavaliers in 1989 before the establishment of the ACC Championship Game. Virginia (10-3) was also seeking its first-ever conference championship game victory but couldn’t overcome a barrage of clutch plays from the Blue Devils.
Scroll down for more highlights and analysis of Duke’s thrilling ACC Championship win over Virginia.
