In Annual Rivalry Game Against Carolina,
Duke Won By Dragging Heels Into “Sewer”
By Ben McCormick
North Carolina Sports Network
“It’s not like any other game,” Duke football coach Manny Diaz said about the Blue Devils’ matchup with North Carolina on Saturday. “It’s not just another game, until the game begins, and then it’s just another game. And then when it ends, it’s not just like another game.”
The Rivalry
Duke-UNC extends beyond the basketball court — there’s no doubt about that — and it’s something completely removed from the rest of the season.
As Diaz said, the players can’t treat it differently between the lines, because there is a certain amount of focus required in this rivalry. But the moment Duke ran out of the tunnel with flames shooting into the air to either side of them, all rules, expectations and anything normal — that was thrown out the window.
You can treat it as a normal game, but that doesn’t mean it is.
It’s not every day that the students pour out of the stands and rush the field at Wallace Wade Stadium. Following Duke’s 21-20 win over rival North Carolina on Saturday night, though, they did just that.
After trailing 20-0 midway through the third quarter, the Blue Devils executed the second-largest comeback in program history. It ranked behind only their 28-21 comeback win over Florida in 1962, when they trailed 21-0 at halftime.
Even before there was a victory, the gravity of the game was clear from the moment Duke stepped onto Brooks Field late Saturday afternoon.
For one, the Blue Devils were playing in front of a sellout crowd — 35,018 fans. That number was up significantly from the 20,174 in attendance for the UConn victory two weeks ago. More importantly though, the stands had spots of Carolina blue littered throughout. Any time the Heels are in town, it’s time for a fight.
Under coach Mike Elko, now at Texas A&M, Duke lost its two bouts with UNC in heavily contested losses (47-45 in 2023 and 38-25 in 2022).
In less than a month of play, Diaz did something Elko never could. He also has led the Devils to a 5-0 record, which hadn’t been done since 1994, when another first-year Duke head coach, Fred Goldsmith, did it.
The story of Diaz and Duke’s historic win can be told in three parts. Pre-game was about the marvel of the rivalry. Post-game was for reveling in a historic win.
Mid-game? That was for The Sewer.
The Sewer
To start the game, Duke’s offense was consistent — perhaps not consistently good, but consistent nonetheless. Quarterback Maalik Murphy was mostly missing his receivers, and it was clear that UNC’s coverage was designed to eliminate one-on-one opportunities downfield.
A week removed from an embarrassing 70-50 loss to James Madison at home, the Tar Heels’ defense had a lot to prove. UNC had allowed 388 receiving yards and five touchdowns in the air to JMU. To start the game against Duke, the Carolina defense held the Blue Devils to three consecutive three-snap drives. Three-and-out was the best Duke was getting. In fact, Duke didn’t pick up a first down until late in the first quarter.
Meanwhile, UNC utilized its star running back, Omarion Hampton, to get into scoring position. Hampton was a fail-safe for the Heels throughout the first half. Get him the ball, and good things usually happen. That game plan led to a 17-0 lead for Carolina at halftime.
There was no fail-safe for Duke, though. Well, until there was.
Running back Star Thomas, a graduate transfer from New Mexico State, has elevated his play consistently since taking over as Duke’s primary running back against UConn (following the injury to Jacquez Moore vs. Northwestern). On Saturday, Thomas took it to a new level.
If Duke had a problem in the second half, Thomas typically provided the answer. He rushed for 166 yards on 30 carries and picked up 45 receiving yards as well. He scored Duke’s first two touchdowns of the night.
“I mean, what an inspiration that guy is for our team,” Diaz said. “Not just the way he runs, I mean, like I said, the line and tight ends did a great job opening up the holes, but just what he does when he gets in the secondary. It just felt like he got stronger and stronger as the game went on.”
With Thomas anchoring the offense, Duke prepared to take the Tar Heels through The Sewer.
Junior defensive end VJ Anthony said The Sewer is Duke’s offseason workout plan. Its mastermind is David Feeley, the Director of Football Sports Performance.
“We know teams can’t compete with us if we drive them through The Sewer,” Anthony said. “The Sewer is the whole game, and we really drag them through the deep end in the fourth quarter.”
Diaz has put an emphasis on getting stops in the fourth quarter this season. After the game, he pointed out that Duke has yet to allow a fourth-quarter touchdown this season. That’s why they call the fourth quarter The Sewer, he said.
Trailing UNC 20-7 to start the fourth, it took Duke only 35 seconds of game play to get into the end zone. Thomas drove in a two-yard touchdown, followed by an extra point kick by Todd Pelino.
The bulk of the fourth quarter was a battle of attrition by Duke, but once the Blue Devils got the ball back into the red zone, they were able to score on a 20-yard run from sophomore running back Peyton Jones. Pelino sank the kick with 5:43 left, and Duke had its first lead of the night.
“Coach always says, ‘Take them in The Sewer, see how far can they go,’” Thomas said. “I guess The Sewer smells so bad, we’re the only ones that can sit in there and take it.”
The Tar Heels slowly trekked through The Sewer in the waning minutes of the game.
With a touchdown seeming unlikely for a struggling UNC offense during the fourth quarter, all UNC needed to do was get into field goal territory and set up Noah Burnette, one of the best kickers in the country. Burnette has made 27 of his 29 field goal attempts over the past two seasons, including a 52-yard try against Minnesota in the season opener last month.
However, Burnette didn’t get a chance to ice Duke.
With under 30 seconds to play, Duke safety Jaylen Stinson broke into the pocket and sacked UNC quarterback Jacolby Criswell. The ball went spiraling and fell directly into the arms of Duke junior linebacker Tre Freeman, who immediately went down before sprinting around the field as the crowd erupted.
The Celebration
The joy, the excitement and perhaps even the relief of this win were palpable in Wallace Wade following that play. The Blue Devils ran the clock out with a one-point win — just enough to have their heads above water — but they left their Heels in The Sewer.
The Blue Devils had lost 28 of their past 34 games to the Tar Heels coming into Saturday, including the past five. Since UNC head coach Mack Brown returned to Chapel Hill, he was 5-0 over Duke, and he had extended his personal winning streak over the Blue Devils in the rivalry — dating back to 1990 — to 13 straight.
In fact, the last time Duke had beaten Brown was in 1989, when then-head coach Steve Spurrier led #25 Duke to a 41-0 thrashing of the 1-10 Tar Heels in Chapel Hill. Now Diaz, who was a defensive coordinator on Brown’s staff at Texas from 2011-2013 before getting fired, is the man who helped break that streak.
Needless to say, this win has been a long time coming. And with Brown having turned 73 in late August (making him the oldest head coach in major college football), there’s no guarantee he will have the opportunity to get this one back.
This is Year Six in Durham for graduate wide receiver Eli Pancol. This was his first time beating Carolina. When the buzzer sounded, Pancol said he and wide receiver Jordan Moore ran over to the sideline, jumped up on the bench and began looking for the Victory Bell. As soon as they found it, they started ringing it.
But it wasn’t just the current Blue Devils ringing it. Some of Pancol’s former teammates — Nate Thompson, Mataeo Durant and Tony Davis — were there, too, he said. This meant something to all Blue Devils, past and present.
“We’re going to look back on this in so many years, and it’s going to be something special,” Pancol said. “So I can’t wait, 20 years down the road, to watch the highlights and look at the whole thing.”
Now tied for the top record in the ACC with #7 Miami, Duke has seen its possibilities for the first year of the Diaz Era open up quite a bit. The Blue Devils will travel to Georgia Tech this week, before hosting Florida State on Oct. 18.
But the best part about the remainder of the schedule for Duke is that it has a legitimate shot at winning each game. The most difficult game may be the one at Miami on Nov. 2, but with the Hurricanes’ recent struggles against Virginia Tech, anything seems possible.
“So that’s a locker room right now that’s really, really excited. Really, really happy,” Diaz said. “But they also know that this night is not what the season’s all about. There’s more we can do, and starting the season 5-0, we know they really believe that.”
