When Sean Renfree broke the huddle on fourth down, pinned back on Duke’s own 21-yard line with just two minutes left, he knew it was his team’s last shot.
His battered offensive line, patched together with four players who hadn’t been healthy enough to practice all week, could no longer keep the Virginia defensive front out of the backfield. Connor Vernon had been knocked out of the game earlier in the half by a vicious hit, while fellow threats Austin Kelly and Josh Snead had not even dressed for the game.
That left just one option: Donovan Varner.
Varner lined up to Renfree’s right and watched the quarterback disappear under the collapsing pocket, adjusting his route to come back over the middle of the field. And when Renfree emerged back up the middle, the junior wide receiver was wide open, making the catch for a 32-yard gain.
“Thank goodness they went to two-deep. We had an all-go route on and [Donovan Varner]’s got a win route,” head coach David Cutcliffe said. “He’s got a read route for him, where he read the middle of the field open. They had a guy vertically stretching him and [it was a] perfect throw, a tremendous throw.”
Still outside of field goal range near midfield, the Blue Devils had a long way to go. The next play was a completion to tight end Cooper Helfet, who made it down to the Virginia 35-yard line. Helfet was Renfree’s favorite target on the day, catching seven passes for 122 yards.
But it was Desmond Scott who would prove to be the hero for Duke. With 40 seconds and no timeouts remaining, Renfree pitched it to the sophomore who raced to the left side, catching the Cavalier defense off-guard. Scott found a seam between blockers down the sideline before laying out completely, extending his arms to knock over the pylon with the tip of the ball.
“You know I was pretty good at geometry in high school, and I knew the angle that I had on the guy,” Scott said. “I had to dive, so that’s what I did.”
The 55-48 score would become final just seconds later, giving the Blue Devils (3-6, 1-4 in the ACC) their second consecutive win. And like last week’s victory over Navy, Duke jumped out to a quick advantage over Virginia (4-5, 1-4).
After a 30-yard touchdown pass to Helfet opened the scoring for the Blue Devils, Ross Cockrell intercepted Cavalier quarterback Marc Verica’s second pass attempt, returning it all the way down to Virginia’s 2-yard line. Just one play later Brandon Connette plowed up the middle for a score, and Duke had a 14-0 lead with 10:32 left in the first quarter. The teams traded touchdowns over the remainder of the period, with the Blue Devils taking a 21-7 lead into the second quarter.
The Cavaliers’ size advantage then began to show itself, led by 6-foot-3, 255-lb running back Keith Payne. The senior had three touchdowns on the day, two on the ground and one through the air, along with 124 rushing yards. The senior caught a nine-yard touchdown pass with 24 seconds left in the half to keep the game within three points at 24-21.
Sensing the shift in momentum, Cutcliffe made his gutsiest play call of the game, an onside kick to open the second half. Will Snyderwine’s perfectly-executed kick bounced high in the air, into—then out of—Conner Vernon’s hands, and finally was recovered by a pile of Blue Devils near midfield. But, the offense three-and-outed on its possession, and Virginia went on a methodical march downfield. Nine plays and 96 yards later, the Cavaliers had their first lead of the game, 28-24.
However, Duke answered by outscoring Virginia 23-7 over the next 19 minutes, sparked by Ross Cockrell’s second interception of the game.
“We had the perfect play call for the second one,” Cockrell said. “The second basically I act like I’m pressing the ball and then I just run straight down the field when they snap the ball. I was doing that and the receiver just ran straight into me and the quarterback threw it up and I just attacked the ball.”
The next few possessions were highlighted by Renfree’s 37-yard touchdown scramble with six minutes left in the game. Connette had been the only Blue Devil quarterback to run the ball before Renfree slid down the left sideline. Two key blocks in the secondary preserved his seam all the way to the end zone.
With just minutes remaining, Virginia switched to a passing-only attack on its next drive. Dontrelle Inman, who finished with 239 yards receiving on 10 catches, hauled in a ten-yard touchdown pass to narrow the gap. And when Scott fumbled on Duke’s next possession, the Cavaliers just had to travel 28 yards to take the lead. Payne came through once again, rushing on four consecutive snaps, eventually scoring from six yards out. After a failed two-point conversion attempt, Virginia clung to a 48-47 lead.
But two minutes was too much time to leave Renfree, Varner, Scott and the rest of the Blue Devil offense.
“I’m almost in shock. I don’t know when the last time Duke gave up 600-plus yards and 48 points and won,” Cutcliffe said. “Anybody for that matter; it doesn’t happen very often.”
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