DURHAM – North Carolina snatched a 38-35 win in the final seconds against host Duke at Wallace Wade Stadium on Saturday night.
UNC (6-1, 3-0 ACC) took a 38-35 lead with 16 seconds left on Drake Maye’s 8-yard touchdown pass to Antoine Green.
Duke (4-3, 1-2) crossed midfield with a Riley Leonard-to-Jordan Moore 28-yard pass with 10 seconds left, but Leonard was picked off two plays later to seal the game.
Positioned to take control of the ACC’s Coastal Division with a win, Duke used a couple of momentum-swinging plays in the second quarter to take a 21-10 lead.
The 21 straight points that UNC scored between the final minute of the first half and its first two possessions of the second half put the Tar Heels in position to strengthen their stranglehold on the division.
In the first minute of the fourth quarter, Leonard completed a 30-yard jump ball to tight end Nicky Dalmolin, then threw a 20-yard touchdown to Sahmir Hagans in the corner of the end zone to bring the Blue Devils to within 31-28.
Duke’s defense forced a three-and-out, and the Blue Devils retook the lead with Jordan Waters’ 38-yard touchdown run, taking a 35-31 lead.
That was the lead until Maye’s late touchdown pass to Green.
Momentum swung in the first half when Leonard outraced the entire UNC defense for a 74-yard touchdown run – a play after taking a 14-yard sack – for a go-ahead touchdown in the second quarter. It was the second-longest play of the season for the Blue Devils.
On the third play of the Tar Heels’ ensuing possession, running back Caleb Hood knocked the ball out of Maye’s hand and Shaka Heyward pounced on it for a fumble recovery at UNC’s 33-yard line.
Duke ran the ball on seven straight plays, the last of which was a 2-yard touchdown by Jaquez Moore, for its second touchdown of the last six minutes of the second quarter.
The issue was that UNC got a touchdown going into halftime, a 4-yard pass from Maye to Hood, to slice Duke’s halftime lead to 21-17.
UNC completed a 53-yard pass to Antoine Green on the first play of the game, but that drive stalled and the Tar Heels settled for a 45-yard field goal.
Duke’s first possession was an eight-play, 75-yard drive that never saw the Blue Devils face a third down. Of those eight plays, six of them gained at least 5 yards – and one of the ones that didn’t was Jordan Waters’ 2-yard touchdown run.
UNC responded with a 75-yard touchdown drive of its own, with Maye tossing a 10-yard touchdown pass to a wide-open Kamari Morales on third down.
A failed fourth down was the only full possession of the first half for Duke that didn’t end with a touchdown. The Blue Devils marched to UNC’s 3-yard line, enveloping 7 minutes, 27 seconds between the first and second quarters, but failed to convert a fourth-and-1 when Leonard’s quick pass to Jalon Calhoun was low and incomplete.
