It wasn’t an elimination game for Duke, but it felt that way Saturday.
Win at Clemson and the Blue Devils could keep the ACC championship game in their sights. Lose at Clemson, pick up a second ACC loss, and the odds would be firmly stacked against them.
The Blue Devils responded with a gutsy 46-45 victory Saturday at Memorial Stadium on a sunny day that saw Duke dominate the first quarter, fall behind, then finish with a flourish for the Devils’ first win at Clemson since 1980.
Duke’s Nate Sheppard scored on a 3-yard run with 40 seconds remaining and Darian Mensah then hit Sahmir Hagans for a two-point conversion and the lead. The Tigers (3-5, 2-4 ACC) could not counter and the Blue Devils ((5-3, 4-1 ACC) celebrated and danced off the field after a fifth consecutive ACC road win.
It was a game filled with big plays and momentum-shifters, enough to keep Duke coach Manny Diaz and Clemson’s Dabo Swinney pacing the sidelines, working the headphones looking for answers.
“It was a game where you had to survive,” Diaz said. “Both sides were throwing haymakers.”
Hagans returned a kickoff 100 yards for a touchdown and wide receiver Cooper Barkate had a 77-yard touchdown catch. Clemson’s T.J. Moore had a 75-yard touchdown grab with 10:28 left in the fourth quarter on the first play after the Blue Devils tied the score 38-38 on a Todd Pelino field goal.
With Clemson up 45-38, Mensah’s 56-yard pass to tight end Jeremiah Hasley set Duke up at the Clemson 35 with a little more than four minutes left in the fourth. The Devils had fourth-and-short at the Clemson 26 and Mensah found Hasley for eight yards and a first down, but a holding penalty pushed Duke back.
The Blue Devils then faced fourth-and-10 at the Clemson 18, but the Tigers’ Avieon Terrell was called for pass interference on a throw over the middle to Que’Sean Brown. Duke then took the lead on Sheppard’s short touchdown run and averted overtime with Mensah’s throw to Hagans.
“We felt good so about our two-point play and they had been so hot on offense,” Diaz said.
Both quarterbacks had huge days. Duke quarterback Darian Mensah was 27 of 41 for 361 yards passing and four touchdowns. Clemson’s Cade Klubnik, returning to the lineup after an ankle injury, was 27-36 for 385 yards and two scores.
Duke kept Memorial Stadium quiet most of the first quarter and Mensah passed for three touchdowns and the Devils bolted to a 21-7 lead. One was a 77-yard throw to Barkate, when found himself alone down the right sideline when the Clemson defensive back sprinted up to the line and left Barkate with nothing but an open field.
The Tigers dominated Duke on both sides of the ball in the second quarter behind the running of Adam Randall and a defense that shut down the Duke attack. But Hagans sprinted 100 yards on a kick return, and Duke forced a 28-28 tie with 11 seconds left in the half on Mensah’s 43-yard TD throw to Brown.
Brown was able to get behind the Clemson defense and Swinney was in the faces of his defenders once they were on the bench, turning red-faced during his tirade.
What did we learn about Duke in the game?
Perfect start for Blue Devils
Duke, with the off week to prepare, could not have scripted a better start. Duke’s defense took the field first, getting a three-and-out and sacking Klubnik on third down – just what the Devils wanted.
The Duke offense then took the field and scored on its first possession, converted a pair of fourth-down plays on two 10-yard passes to Cooper Barkate and then got the TD throw to Brown in the left corner.
The first quarter would have been the perfect quarter for Duke had the Tigers not used a 64-yard play to set up their first TD. Mensah threw for 176 yards and threw scores in the period as the Devils outgained the Tigers 199-80 and were 3 for 3 on fourth-down plays as Diaz stayed on the offensive when Duke had the ball.
Clemson run game hurt Devils
Diaz said before the game that a big part of the defensive game plan was to stop the run and then harass the passer, whether it was Klubnik or Christopher Vizzina at QB.
The Tigers were averaging 116.4 yards a game on the ground, 13th in the ACC, and had gone through some offensive line shuffling. That appeared to be the Tigers’ weak spot for Duke to attack.
Randall, a 6-2, 230-pound senior, had 15 carries for 93 yards and two scores as the Tigers had 145 yards in the opening half and averaged 5.6 yards a carry. The Clemson offensive line began to overpower Duke up front, creating seams for Randall to run and consistently picked up good yardage on first down.
Kubnik wasn’t as pressured as the Devils hoped he would be, showing good mobility when he did have to scramble and completing 10 of 14 throws in the opening half.
Diaz, in a radio interview as he left the field at halftime, said the Tigers’ ability to run was unacceptable and said changes had to be made during the break.
Kicking game still plus/minus for Duke
Duke has consistently had kicking game problems this season and some of it continued Saturday. And again, it was costly.
The Blue Devils, after scoring in the final seconds of the first half for a 28-28 tie, had the ball to start the second half. But a three-and-out sequence by Clemson’s defense was followed by the onrushing Tigers getting a piece of Kade Reynoldson’s punt.
Clemson took over at midfield and scored in seven plays to take the lead.
And then …
Hagans gathered in the Clemson kickoff in the end zone and took off. When he was done running 12 seconds later, he had a 100-yard return and Duke a 35-35 tie.
It was Duke’s first kickoff return for a score since a 99-yarder against Mississippi in last year’s Gator Bowl – by Hagans.
Pelino did convert the 37-yard field goal in the fourth to tie the score.
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