Duke football ends regular season with 30-19 win over Pitt
Devils dominate second half and set some records along the way
Duke spotted Pittsburgh a 10-3 lead before dominating the second half and ending their regular season with a 30-19 win over the Panthers.
The win leaves Duke 7-5 with a bowl game pending and assures a winning season. It also ends a long period of despair against Pitt and gives Duke its first undefeated ACC home season since 1989, Steve Spurrier’s final season at Duke.
It’s also Duke’s first season with six home wins. Ever.
And it was Senior Day, a last grasp of the glass ring from a group of players who helped rescue this program from the doldrums of the 2020 and 2021 seasons.
“Talking about this senior class and what they mean to Duke football,” Mike Elko said “we’ll go a lot of years before we’ll have a senior class this big and that meant this much to this program. When you look at everything those guys have been through--I told them this last night at the motel--they committed to Duke when Duke was really humming. They had to endure a little bit of a dip, they had to endure COVID and everything that came along with that, and in this day and age kids don’t stay together. They splinter, they go other places, they look for the easy way out. Not one of those seniors in that locker room did that. They stood together to build this program and leave their mark, leave their legacy on this program.”
But three of Duke’s biggest heroes were non-seniors. Let’s start with true freshman quarterback Grayson Loftis. Loftis struggled early, completing some short stuff, for not much yardage. But with Duke down 10-3 late in the first half Loftis navigated a tight window to Jordan Moore in the back of the end zone and the teams went into halftime tied 10-10.
Elko said that Loftis still battles freshman nerves early in games.
“I’ve to figure out to get him to relax in the first half. He goes in and he gets settled and gets into a rhythm and when he’s comfortable and he slows down and he lets the game come to him, he’s a really efficient and effective passer.”
Loftis ended 20 of 37 for 248 yards and a meaningless interception on the last play of the first half.
Jordan Moore’s TD catch was just one of many big plays he made on this chilly Saturday.
“I think Jordan Moore has come into his own the last few weeks,” Elko said. “He’s really become a go-to-guy. He just continues to develop, to get better.”
That end of the first half TD to Moore?
“We knew we were going to get man-to-man coverage. That’s just they are, that’s what they do. We ran a token play-fake to make sure we got the linebackers out of the way and Jordan just won on the outside. Sometimes it’s just that simple. We felt like he could win and we wanted to give him opportunities.”
Jordan Moore is a junior and ended the game with eight receptions for 106 yards.
You may recall that Duke and Virginia were tied 10-10 at the half last week and Duke didn’t play a very good third quarter. Duke was close to North Carolina at halftime and struggled in the third period.
“We challenged them to come out of the locker room with a different mindset,” Elko said. “I thought we played a much better third quarter this week.”
Duke drove to the Pitt eight before Todd Pelino broke the tie with his second field goal, from 25 yards out.
It should be noted that Duke picked up 45 yards on Pitt penalties during that drive and gave 10 back on two penalties.
Not always pretty. Pitt is one of the nation’s most penalized teams this season. But Virginia keep shooting themselves in the foot last week and Duke couldn’t take advantage last week. They did this week.
And that drive also included a 31-yard pass from Loftis to Moore.
The visitors tied it at 13-13 after Tre Freeman hurried Nate Yarnell into a third-down incompletion.
Duke followed with some of its best football of the season. On third and seven from the Duke 39 Loftis avoided a sack and flipped the ball to Jordan Waters, who scampered 46 yards to the Pitt 15.
“A little bit of improv,” Elko said, “a little bit of moxie, a little bit of coming into yourself.”
Loftis subsequently found Jalon Calhoun on a crossing route for the score and Duke was up 20-13.
Calhoun ended the game with seven catches for 71 yards and became the fourth Blue Devil to total over 3,000 career receiving yards.
By this point Pitt had been reduced to a one-dimensional offense. Even factoring out the sacks, a team famous for its physicality rushed for only 54 yards.
“We knew we were going to have to take a punch and have to punch back,” defensive end R.J. Oben said. “I think our defense locked in and everyone locked in on their keys and we were able to execute. It feels great that we were able to be the most physical team. We try to do that every week, especially the D-line, bring that physicality, bring that toughness to the field.”
Aeneas Peebles got a sack and a fumble, recovered by Pitt. But the Panthers had to punt and again Duke marched down the field. Loftis to Calhoun for 32 yards was the big play, a short pass turned into a big play when Calhoun broke several tackles at the sideline.
“Just catch the ball, run fast and make people miss,” Calhoun said, while smiling that he thought he might have been down.
Now, now Jalon, don’t say the quiet part out loud.
A holding call on Calhoun nullified a Duke TD but they got it back anyway, Jaquez Moore muscling it in from three yards out.
The PAT made it 27-13, with 11:54 left.
Pitt burned some clock and Jeremiah Lewis intercepted Yarnell in the end zone.
All Duke had to do was pick up a first down or two.
But Pitt forced a three-and-out, got the ball back, Yarnell avoided a sack and made a great scrambling throw to Bub Means for a 14-yard TD.
Pitt went for two but came up empty.
Duke led 27-19, with 5:17 left. Time left on the clock, too much time.
Again a combination of Loftis, Jordan Moore and Pitt’s lack of discipline. Loftis hit Moore for 22 yards on 3rd and 11, with Pitt’s offense just salivating on the sidelines, the same sidelines Moore tap-danced around for the catch. Add 15 more for roughing the passer and Duke had the ball at the Pitt 39.
Three rushes gained nine yards and valuable burned clock.
Duke called a timeout to think about it.
Elko said his first inclination was to go for it.
“It was a full yard-and-a-half. The wind was at our back and we felt like Todd had been pretty good in those situations. We actually had a play called and I went over to the sidelines and looked at exactly how far it was and I had a gut feeling that Todd was going to bury this thing and we were going to win this game and that’s what we did.”
The sophomore place-kicker made all three of his field goal attempts.while senior punter Porter Wilson averaged 49.7 yards on three kicks and twice pinned Pitt back deep.
Pitt came up empty on fourth down and Duke got to run their favorite play, the Victory Formation.
Calhoun and Elko engaged in a big hug at midfield, after which the visibly moved Calhoun told the media “I had a long career here and Coach Elko came in and changed my life for the better, thinking wise, playing wise, mentality wise. I just love that man. He changed my life.”
I’ll end there.
No explanation from Pitt.
An enjoyable afternoon in Wallace Wade Stadium. The team earned that win by making plays when they had to.