After a shaky first quarter, things weren't looking great for the Duke Blue Devils in their first ACC game of the season. The NC State Wolfpack was scoring easily, and Duke struggled to find the end zone.
Then, the Blue Devils stormed onto the scoreboard in the last three quarters of the game, while holding the Wolfpack to just 13 points in the second half.
Behind quarterback Darian Mensah's incredible performance, the Blue Devils shocked NC State, claiming their first in-state victim of the year. Just like that, Duke had pulled off the 45-33 victory over the Wolfpack.
Mensah completed nearly 70 percent of his pass attempts for 269 yards and three touchdowns through the air, throwing zero interceptions. Running back Anderson Castle and Nate Sheppard had great days as well, combining for 139 yards on the ground.
Did offense or defense win the game for Duke against NC State?
While the Duke defense was far from perfect, it had four takeaways in the matchup: Wesley
Williams recovered a fumble from NC State quarterback CJ Bailey, DaShawn Stone picked Bailey off in the first quarter, Tre Freeman picked him off in the second quarter, and Moussa Kane picked him off in the fourth quarter.
Even with more than 350 passing yards, Bailey's mistakes with the ball undeniably cost the Wolfpack the game.
"They've created four turnovers today," commentators Mike Monaco and Kirk Morrison said. "That's the difference in the football game."
With the win, Duke started off its conference schedule with a win, moving to 1-0 in ACC play, as the Wolfpack dropped to 1-1 against conference opponents. The Blue Devils evened their overall record to 2-2 with wins over NC State and Elon, losing to then-No. 11 Illinois and unranked Tulane.
Next week, Duke visits the Syracuse Orange, who defeated the Clemson Tigers on Saturday. The Blue Devils and the Orange are scheduled to kick off at noon ET on Saturday, Sept. 27, and the game will be broadcast on the ACC Network.