Rivalry week, the best weekend in college football? Absolutely! As Duke looks to go 3-0 in their Tobacco Road rivalry games this season, Wake Forest is looking to stay in contention for the ACC Championship game. Not only that but these two coaches have some history playing against each other in their time coaching in Conference USA. Safe to say that these teams and coaching staffs will want this one a little bit more than others.
The Demon Deacons kick off to Duke and were underway in Durham. Wakes defense looks committed early to not letting Duke run the football. Duke QB Maalik Murphy comes up with multiple clutch throws, including two conversions on 3rd and long. Jaquez Moore caps off the opening drive with a 3 yard rushing touchdown to take the early 7-0 lead. Wakes following drive ends on the 1 yard line after multiple failed attempts to get in from the 1. Back against the wall for the Blue Devils as they take over on downs from the 1. Wakes defense comes up with a huge push and makes the tackle for a safety. The bend but dont break defense from Duke comes up strong again in the redzone forcing a field goal to hold a 7-5 lead. Duke starts out the second quarter pushing the ball down field but stalls out and misses a 53 yard field goal attempt off the cross bar. Wake finds success moving the ball again early in their next drive but also stalls out and takes an 8-7 lead with a field goal. A quarter full of field goals sees these two swapping leads multiple times as Duke goes up 10-8 and Wake ends the half with a fg to go up 11-10.
The second half is a different story as both teams get going and finally start getting in the endzone. Wake Forest RB Demond Claiborne runs wild on Dukes defense, rushing 24 times for 255 yards and a TD. The Blue Devils QB Maalik Murphy had his most efficient game of the season going 16-22 for 256 yards no TDs no turnovers. The clean game from Murphy helped lead Duke to this rivalry win in a tit for tat second half. Duke was able to outscore Wake Forest 25-21 in the second half, kicking the go-ahead FG with 4 seconds on the clock. Duke safety Leon Griffin would come up with the game sealing interception on Wakes last shot at the endzone with no time left on the clock.
This game certainly lived up to the hype of rivalry week and both of these teams left it all out on the field. For Duke, its a clean sweep of the Tobacco Road rivalry series on the year with wins over UNC, NCST and Wake Forest. Coach Shiestys first year at Duke might not have gone how he hoped but with big non conference wins and rivalry wins, his team sits at 7-5 and aims to finish the season with a bowl win.
See yall in Bowl SZN!
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