You’re familiar with the old line “the operation was a success but the patient died.”
I also would have accepted “it’s a good thing I don’t drink,” while perhaps noting a rather large penalty discrepancy in favor of the home team, each one of Duke’s eight penalties (for 83 yards) seemingly at the worst possible place and time.
Duke did so many things well Saturday night in Chapel Hill. But historically overtimes have not been good for Duke and that was the case in North Carolina’s 47-45 double-OT win.
Duke forced five Tar Heel field goals in regulation, once after first and goal at the one. The Blue Devils didn’t commit a single-turnover, converted a fake punt, recovered an on-sides kick and overcame deficits of 13-0 and 26-14. But Duke never could get the ball and the lead, never could stop Drake Maye when they absolutely had to and the end result was one of the most devastating defeats in a bitter rivalry full of bitter defeats.
And would it be churlish to suggest that forcing five field goals is better than allowing five touchdowns but it’s still 15 points and a few of those stops, say, oh 50 yards down the field could have resulted in a different outcome?
Carolina scored rather easily on the game’s opening drive and two subsequent field goals made it 13-0 and a blow-out seemed very possible.
But Grayson Loftis is growing up right before our eyes-- I feel pretty good about Duke’s chances against Virginia and Pittsburgh with Loftis at the helm--and he led a nine-play, 70-yard TD drive and suddenly it was a ballgame.
And even more suddenly Duke took the lead. Carolina botched the subsequent kickoff and took over at their one. Maye then threw a pick to Jaylen Stinson, who returned it to the Carolina 14.
Five plays later Loftis took it in from three yards out and Duke led 14-13, with 2:07 left in the half.
But for the first of three crucial sequences Duke couldn’t follow up a score with a stop. Maye hit DeVontez Walker--we can see what the fuss was all about--for 48 yards setting up Noah Burnette’s third field goal and Carolina went into intermission leading 16-14.
It looked like Duke’s upset hopes were kaput after a field goal and a touchdown made it 26-14 early in the fourth.
The TD drive was especially, well . . . , pick your adjective, to the Duke faithful. An iffy pass-interference call and an even more iffy face-mask call gave Maye and company 30 yards.
As if Maye needed the help.
Again Duke fought back. Loftis went four-for-four for 54 yards. Waters scored from 13 yards out and it was 26-21.
Elko rolled the dice and it paid off big time. Duke recovered an on-side kick, overcame a holding penalty and Waters scored from 23 yards out.
Duke got the two-point conversion and led 29-26.
It took Carolina 10 plays to go 75 yards and regain the lead at 33-29.
And yes, there was a defensive holding call on Chandler Rivers nullifying an incomplete pass.
And yes, a 43-yard pass from Maye to Walker. In the absence of evidence that Duke had anyone who could guard Walker, maybe the Tar Heels would have scored anyway.
Maybe.
Amazingly, Loftis led Duke to its third lead of the game, a 30-yard scoring strike to Jordan Moore giving Duke a 36-33 lead.
Forty-one seconds left. Forty-one measly seconds. But a pass-interference call on a pass five yards out of bounds, a 10-yard completion on 3rd and 4, two more completions and Burnette’s fifth field goal sent the game into overtime.
The overtime played out like most Duke overtimes seem to play out. A holding penalty forced Todd Pelino into a 49-yard field goal.
Burnette matched it after a dropped pass in the end zone.
Yes, Burnette was six-for-six on field goals, two when a miss would have ended the game.
Sometimes you have to tip your cap.
Carolina got a touchdown against a visibly exhausted Duke defense and converted the two-point try, on a pass.
Would it be piling on to note that the Tar Heels had an offensive lineman several yards in the end zone on the two-point conversion?
Duke matched the touchdown--Loftis to Moore. But the two-point conversion failed, an incomplete pass and 47-45 was your final.
Lots of gaudy stats. Maye threw for 342 yards, 162 to Walker (seven catches), while Omarion Hampton rushed for 169 yards.
But Loftis recovered from a slow start to throw for 189 yards and three TDs, Jordan Waters rushed for 113 yards and Jordan Moore caught six passes for 88 yards and those three scores.
Football coaches are fond of saying that a handful of plays decide most football games; you just don’t know which ones until they happen.
There were more than a handful and yes, some of them went Duke’s way. But a lot of them didn’t. Duke is two last-minute stops away from being 8-2. Maybe getting those stops is the next step in this program’s maturation. But right now it seems like Duke football broke a mirror, walked under a ladder, got crossed by a black cat, lost its rabbit foot.
The uneven officiating for the second straight season is hard to stomach.
I try not to blame officiating for the outcomes of games, but this one is hard to accept. When the color commentator who is neutral is questioning why a pivotal play was not reviewed and sees the offensive lineman several yards deep in the end zone on the two point play, then I believe we are justified. And as I recall we had two winning plays nullified at the end of last year’s game with UNC. Obviously for us to beat UNC we need to win by multiple scores. I told my wife, a UNC grad, before the game I would be satisfied if we were competitive. Then we were more than competitive and I wanted more.
We have a chance to equal last year’s record while playing the hardest schedule I can remember us playing in years. Thank you Mike Elko and company.