If recent history is any indication, the Duke-North Carolina game is going to be a 60-minute football game that comes down to the last possession.
Manny Diaz and the Blue Devils are preparing for exactly that. The last four meetings have been decided by a single possession, with Duke coming out on top two seasons in a row by a combined eight points.
“It’s hard to imagine that it’s not going to come down to the last play based off the evidence and so prepare yourself to ride through all the ups and downs to get you to that,” Diaz said, via WRAL. “Because if it’s going to come down to the end, then there’s going to be some parts that are really good and some parts that are not so good and a lot of times a team that can manage to overcome their mistakes is the one that has the best chance of executing at the end of the game.”
Duke struggled to overcome their mistakes last week against Georgia Tech, and it proved costly in its first loss of the 2026 season.
Better late game execution will be critical to Duke's ability to retain the Victory Bell.
Duke must execute better down the stretch against UNC than it did at Georgia Tech
Duke had several costly errors against Georgia Tech late in the game that proved costly. After Walker Eget led a touchdown drive to put Duke ahead by four with under three minutes to play, the defense got diced up by Alberto Mendoza and the Yellow Jackets, who answered with a touchdown to take a 28-25 lead in under two minutes.
On Duke's final possession, a 42-yard catch-and-run by Nate Sheppard set the Blue Devils up near the red zone with plenty of time to win or tie the game. Unfortunately, Duke cost itself time and opportunities with a couple of critical mistakes.
Duke had to burn a timeout to avoid a delay of game after Sheppard's big play, which then made Diaz apprehensive about using his final timeout when CJ Campbell didn't get out of bounds on a seven-yard reception on the next play. That cost precious seconds and forced Duke to burn a down by spiking the ball. A third-down pass by Eget went incomplete, and Duke was forced to kick a field goal quicker than they should've had to.
Freshman Gavin Strange missed the 33-yarder, and Duke suffered its first loss of the season in a game that was there for the taking.
Chances are, Duke could find itself in a similar position this week against North Carolina. This matchup is likely to come down to the last possession, as it has the last four times, and Diaz and company will need better execution in pivotal moments to avoid a second straight loss and seeing the Victory Bell head to Chapel Hill instead of staying in Durham.
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