Duke fell to 5-5 (4-2 in the ACC) at the hands of Virginia. The final score was 34-17 but the game was not so close. In fact, the game was not competitive, it was an old-fashioned fighting game. The Cavaliers led 31-3 before Duke outscored Virginia 14-3 in the fourth quarter. Duke’s rally was too little, too late.
Virginia consistently converted third downs and longs into first downs. The Cavaliers were 12-19 on third-down conversions and 1-2 on fourth-down conversions.
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Duke won the turnover battle two to one and penalties were not an issue, but Virginia dominated the game for the first three quarters to earn a surprisingly easy victory over Duke.
Play one: Early in the first quarter, on fourth down and three at the Duke 30-yard line, Virginia elected to go for a first down and Chandler Morris completed a 3-yard pass to Cam Ross for a first down. Four plays later, J’Mari Taylor ran for a five-yard touchdown to give Virginia a 7-0 lead. The tone of the match was set. Duke’s defense couldn’t make stops when needed.
Play two: At the two-minute mark of the second quarter, with the score Virginia 7, Duke 3, Virginia faced a third down and was 14 yards away from a first down. Chandler Morris completed a pass to Jahmal Edrine for 21 yards and a first down. Three plays later, Morris threw a 12-yard touchdown pass to Sage Ennis. Duke’s defense failed to get off the field in another critical situation.
Play three: With four minutes and five seconds left in the third quarter, Duke faced a fourth down and goal at the Virginia 8-yard line. Duke had put itself in scoring position with a pair of long completions: Mensah to tight end Landon King for 32 yards, Mensah to Sahmir Hagans for 48 yards. Hagans fumbled while running after the catch, but Cooper Barkate recovered the ball for Duke. On fourth down, Mensah dropped back to pass, but Virginia’s Mitchell Melton snatched the ball out of his hand.
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Play four: With two minutes and twenty-seven seconds left in the third quarter, on third down and two, Virginia running back J’Mari Taylor rambled 78 yards for a touchdown to increase Virginia’s lead to 31-3. For all intents and purposes, the game was over at this point.
Play five: With nine minutes and thirty seconds left in the game, on third down and 15, Virginia quarterback Chandler Morris was under pressure from Duke defensive tackle Aaron Hall and threw a pass that was intercepted by linebacker Tre Freeman, who returned it 18 yards for a Pick 6 touchdown. Duke cut Virginia’s lead to 31–17, but it was too little, too late.
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