WINSTON-SALEM – There would’ve been more comfortable, less stressful ways for Duke to win Saturday’s regular-season finale at Wake Forest.

But would any such ending be more appropriate than falling behind by two touchdowns and scoring the last 20 — including a walk-off 39-yard touchdown pass from Maalik Murphy to Jordan Moore as time expired?

That’s rhetorical.

“We have 12 games of evidence now and I think what’s been proven is these guys are mentally tough,” coach Manny Diaz said after his team’s 23-17 win on Saturday. “We’re not going to do everything right, but no one does.”

Even in the case of a game-winning touchdown on the final play, things weren’t right until Moore was pirouetting across the goal line.

Duke (9-3, 5-3 ACC) had the ball at Wake Forest’s 39-yard line, facing second-and-4, with 8 seconds on the clock in a tied game.

The goal here wasn’t to win the game on this play; Duke had three short routes for Murphy to pick up a quick gain, call timeout, and set up Todd Pelino for a 50ish-yard field goal attempt that would’ve been wind-aided.

For Murphy’s perspective of how the play unfolded:

“I honestly hung on my second read too long and I knew at that point, I had to make a play,” Murphy said. “So, in an instance like that, you’ve kind of just got to roll with it. The damage was already done, time was ticking, probably wouldn’t have had enough to get down and call a timeout.

“Having a guy like Jordan Moore on my team to make a play on the ball and score a touchdown is a blessing for me.”

Moore’s route was jumped, which led to the senior wide receiver breaking free toward the end zone. He got behind Jaxon Mull, caught Murphy’s pass at the 10-yard line when there were 2 seconds left, and spun in between two defenders as he crossed the goal line.

So, for his perspective on the play that gave Duke its second-most regular-season wins in program history:

“I could tell that the corner was looking at Maalik, and then when Maalik made eye contact with me, I just decided to take it down the field,” Moore said. “I think that’s a testament to our chemistry, having trust in him to be able to make that kind of play.

“I just focused on making the catch and doing whatever I could to get in the end zone. God willing, it worked.”

Just as it has for this Blue Devils team that only seems comfortable in uncomfortable situations.

Wake Forest (4-8, 2-6) led 17-3 six minutes into the third quarter, having capitalized on Duke’s second turnover of the game with a 9-yard touchdown pass from Hank Bachmeier to Horatio Fields.

Duke didn’t make it a one-score game until the final minute of that quarter, when Star Thomas punched in a 3-yard touchdown run.

“I’m so proud of the fact that we don’t panic,” Diaz said. “I think that’s a big part of it and we did start having more fun, even when we were down 14 points. I know that sounds funny but guys just loosened up on the sideline and that made a big difference in our performance.”

It helped that Duke got the ball right back on the ensuing kickoff.

Demond Claiborne broke loose but as he neared midfield, Wake’s best offensive player fumbled the ball back to Duke. Leon Griffin III was credited with the forced fumble and Vontae Floyd came away with the recovery.

The Blue Devils tied the game after Murphy converted a third-and-7 with an 8-yard pass to Moore, and then when Jaquez Moore — playing for the first time since September — ripped off three straight runs for 6, 6 and 18 yards.

Murphy called his own number on a zone-read for a 2-yard touchdown, his second rushing touchdown of the season.

The Deacons had two possessions, Duke with one in between, with the score knotted at 17-17, before Duke’s game-winning score. Wake’s first of those two drives reached Duke’s 37-yard line before a third-down screen was blown up by Chandler Rivers, and the Deacons punted from the 39.

Wake’s last possession was derailed by a backward pass that went down as a 17-yard loss — and could’ve been a turnover, if Wesley Williams hadn’t slipped as he went for the recovery on the sideline, his foot crossing into out-of-bounds territory.

What turned out to be the game-winning drive started with 1:22 on the clock, from Duke’s 24-yard line. Tight end Jake Taylor had two catches on it, for 13 yards, and Thomas had a combined 24 yards (two runs for 15, two catches for nine).

And then, of course, the winner that’ll be etched into Duke football lore.

“To see the ball in the air and then to see No. 8 underneath it, it’s like the perfect exclamation point to our season,” Diaz said. “Who else would it be other than Jordan Moore? For him to make that play, to get us to nine wins, it was an unbelievable way to finish what has really been quite an unbelievable season.

“As their coach, couldn’t be more proud (of) a team that never knows when it’s beaten. They’ve done a lot of things that haven’t been done in a long time in this program.”

On that note: It’s the first time since 2013 that Duke has swept each of its Tobacco Road rivals. A win in a bowl game — destination to be determined next weekend — would give Duke its second double-digit win season, also joining 2013.

And Moore’s touchdown marked the first time in program history Duke has scored a touchdown on the final play of regulation to win the game.

Duke scored the first points of the game but those were the Blue Devils’ only points of the first half; Wake Forest took a 10-3 lead into halftime.

The first scoring chance was Wake’s Matthew Dennis clanging a 43-yard field goal attempt off the left upright. A couple of possessions later and early in the second quarter, Pelino made a 45-yarder going in the same direction.

Wake Forest answered with an authoritative seven-play, 77-yard drive. The big play was a 30-yard strike to Fields, who beat Rivers in a physical matchup, that put the Deacons on Duke’s 8-yard line.

Tate Carney busted a touchdown run up the middle on the next play.

Three plays later, and after a 26-yard catch and run by Moore, Murphy threw his 12th interception of the season — a wide throw that was tipped and fell into the hands of redshirt freshman Rushaun Tongue for his first career interception.

Wake Forest turned the following drive into a 37-yard field goal by Dennis, which amounted to the 10-3 halftime score.

EXTRA POINTS: Duke’s defense only gave up 82 yards in the second half. … The Blue Devils had five sacks and 11 tackles for loss; it’s the sixth game (of 12) that they had double-digit TFLs. … Ozzie Nicholas led Duke with 10 tackles. … Moore entered the game trailing Eli Pancol by 21 yards for the team lead in receiving yards. But Moore’s 98 yards moved him past Pancol, who had 20 against Wake Forest.