If Carolina football fans thought they’d seen it all after the win in Boone, Saturday night’s contest in Durham proved them wrong. In a surreal rivalry matchup, the Tar Heels defeated Duke 38-35 on a touchdown pass from Drake Maye to Antoine Green with 16 seconds left. It’s Carolina’s fourth straight win over the Blue Devils.

It was a game both teams won and lost in a breathless second half of action. Duke led 21-10 late in the first half on the strength of strong runs from both quarterback Riley Leonard and running back Jordan Waters. Leonard provided the highlight of the half with a 74-yard touchdown gallop in which he navigated between a host of Tar Heels and broke free for a final sprint to the end zone.

Facing a critical possession to before halftime (the Blue Devils would receive the second half kickoff), Maye engineered a nine-play, 75-yard touchdown drive, capping it off with a scoring toss to Caleb Hood with 13 seconds remaining. Carolina came out with momentum in the second half as well, stopping Duke on consecutive drives while scoring two more touchdowns on offense. Both scores came from running back Elijah Green and were the first and second of his career.

A game-changing sequence occurred late in the third quarter, as Carolina stopped Duke on fourth down on the Blue Devil 30-yard line. With a chance to seal the game, the Tar Heels instead ran an unsuccessful trick play on second down, allowed a sack on third down and missed a long field goal.

With new life, Duke promptly scored 14 unanswered points before the 10-minute mark of the fourth quarter, jumping in front in the blink of an eye. Carolina’s next drive fizzled out on a Maye fumble in Blue Devil territory with 7:32 remaining. Duke seemed poised to put the game away, killing clock on its next drive while inching toward the Tar Heel end zone. In fact, the Blue Devils scored what appeared to be a game-sealing touchdown, sending the crowd at Wallace Wade Stadium into hysterics.

But a chop block penalty on the Blue Devils negated the score, forcing the Blue Devils 15 yards back to the edge of field goal range. The ensuing field goal attempt was no good, gifting Carolina one final possession with 2:09 remaining.

Maye, who had already fumbled three times in the game and lost two of them, rebounded from those mistakes and coolly led the offense down the field, using completions to J.J. Jones and Hood to move into Blue Devil territory. With the Blue Devil crowd on its feet and the clock ticking under a minute, Carolina called timeout facing a 4th and 5. After taking the snap, Maye evaded Blue Devil pressure and found Josh Downs, the final catch of the star receiver’s nine-catch, 126-yard night.

Two plays later, Maye rolled in the opposite direction and found Antoine Green along the sideline in the end zone with 16 seconds remaining. While the play was originally ruled a touchdown, officials took a long look at it in replay review. Both shades of blue believed the ruling would go their way: Green tapped his toes along the sideline before making the catch, dangerously close to going out of bounds.

With no irrefutable evidence to overturn the ruling, the play was upheld as a touchdown. With only 16 seconds to work with, the Blue Devils couldn’t manufacture any more magic, as Leonard threw an interception in Carolina territory. Noah Taylor tipped the ball in the air, and freshman defensive back Will Hardy dove to snag the pass. Maye kneeled out the clock to seal the unforgettable win.

Somehow, some way, the Tar Heels are now 6-1, including an unblemished 4-0 mark on the road. This comes after the team didn’t win a single game away from Kenan Stadium in 2021. Carolina now enters its second bye week of the season with a good chance of being ranked in the next Top 25 polls. The team will next take the field against Pittsburgh in Chapel Hill on October 29. Kickoff time has not yet been announced.

 

Featured image via The News & Observer

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.

Related Stories
Mack Brown Praises Defensive Improvement Following Win at Miami
Notre Dame Punishes Porous UNC Defense, Hands Tar Heels 1st Loss
UNC's Ja'Qurious Conley Has Entered the Transfer Portal. Here's the Complete List of Football Transfers
Which Transfers Are Joining UNC Football Next Season? Here's a Complete Tracker