Duke claims ACC title, states case for playoff bid

MATT LACZKO | THE CHARLOTTE POST

Duke quarterback Darian Mensah fires a pass downfield in the Blue Devils' 27-20 overtime win against Virginia Saturday at the ACC title game at Bank of America Stadium. The victory secured the Blue Devils' first outright conference title since 1962.

For the first time since 1989, Duke is ACC football champion.

The Blue Devils beat Virginia 27-20 in overtime Saturday to claim the championship. It wasn’t without drama, though. Duke led 20-10 with five minutes left when Virginia converted a field goal and the Cavaliers defense got the offense the ball back. Virginia quarterback Chandler Morris connected with Eli Wood for the go-ahead touchdown to level the game at 20. 

Duke quarterback Darian Mensah was jumping around on the sidelines, hyping his team up like momentum was still on their side. 

“Those are the moments you live for,” Mensah said. “I love winning. We knew this game was going to come down to the last play. … We knew that Virginia was a great team, and so I was just trying to get my guys excited. We all live for these moments, and there’s no better feeling than winning a championship. So, why not go full face into adversity?”

Blue Devils coach Manny Diaz was encouraged by his quarterback’s energy.

“From my standpoint, we’ve reached the next play mentality,” Diaz said. “That is all it was, just the next play. So, we said, ‘Hey, guess what? We get to go play overtime to win the ACC.’ That sounds pretty cool, right?”

The Blue Devils, who last won the conference outright in 1962, got the ball first and ran three straight times to get it down to the 1. After no gain on first-and-goal, an incomplete pass on second and no gain on third, Diaz said there was no question he was going for the touchdown on fourth-and-goal. 

“The trust I have [in Mensah] to go for it on fourth down, like it isn’t even a gamble,” he said. “I’d do it 100 times out of 100.”

Mensah found Jeremiah Hasley for the go-ahead score, leaving Duke’s defense to make a stop. Virginia was assessed a personal foul penalty on the start of their drive for an infraction on Duke’s extra point try. One play later, sophomore linebacker Luke Mergott secured the game-sealing interception. 

Duke (8-5, 7-2 ACC) is projected by many to miss the College Football Playoff given their five losses, which would be the first time a Power 4 conference champion would be left out if the Blue Devils aren’t selected on Sunday.

Virginia, ranked 17th coming into the championship game, had a win-and-in path to the postseason. With Duke’s win, it may open the last playoff spot for Sun Belt champion James Madison.

Diaz made it known quickly how he felt the tournament committee needs to look at setting the field.

“We played 10 Power 4 teams,” Diaz said, “comparing us to James Madison, for example, which had a great season, their strength of schedule is in the hundreds; ours is somewhere in the 50s. We had seven wins in our conference, seven Power 4 wins, as opposed to zero Power 4 wins and 0-1 versus the ACC as opposed to seven wins in the ACC and ACC champions.”

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