Art Chansky’s Sports Notebook is presented by The Casual Pint. YOUR place for delicious pub food paired with local beer. Choose among 35 rotating taps and 200+ beers in the cooler.
Even some Tar Heels must be feeling sorry for Duke.
It may have been a once-in-a-football-lifetime chance for the Blue Devils, who were on the verge of perhaps their greatest gridiron win of modern times.
Down 13-0 in the second half to a desperate Notre Dame team that was trying to salvage its College Football Playoff dreams after its heartbreaking home loss to Ohio State last week, Duke did not quit.
The Devils responded as the Buckeyes had after a poor first half, missing two field goals and giving up a fake punt that led to the Irish scoring their only touchdown in the first 58 minutes of the game, Duke came alive with two touchdowns against a confused Notre Dame defense to lead 14-13 late in the fourth quarter.
When do-everything quarterback Riley Leonard dropped a quick kick inside the 10-yard line and ND had a false start on first down, the sold-out crowd at the often half-empty horseshoe known as Wade Stadium was ready for a celebration rivaling anything the Blue Devil basketball brethren had ever generated.
Only Sam Hartman, the sixth-year grad student QB who had five seasons at Wake Forest and dispatched Duke in three of their last four meetings in his ACC career, could have pulled off the miracle 95-yard drive. He completed three clutch passes and converted an impossible 4th-and-16 scramble for a first down that got his new team into field goal position for the winning kick.
When the Irish popped a 30-yard touchdown run, a stunned stadium could only hope Leonard, who entered the game leading all major college quarterbacks with an 8-plus average per run and was Duke’s leading rusher with 88 on the night, would pull off an even bigger miracle with 31 seconds left.
The worst for Duke followed. On a fourth-down sack that ended the game, Leonard injured his right ankle that left him on crutches as Hartman waited on the field to console his rival and friend.
The exact diagnosis on Leonard is yet to come, but it did not look good for at least the next few weeks.
Duke, 4-1, has a brutal schedule ahead following an open date with NC State and Wake at home around games at undefeated FSU and Louisville before the Blue Devils visit Chapel Hill on November 11 in what could be the ultimate QB battle between Leonard and Drake Maye, two of the top pro prospects at their position.
That is, unless the life of Riley goes from bad to worse.
Featured image via Duke Athletics
Chapelboro.com does not charge subscription fees, and you can directly support our efforts in local journalism here. Want more of what you see on Chapelboro? Let us bring free local news and community information to you by signing up for our biweekly newsletter.
Comments on Chapelboro are moderated according to our Community Guidelines