By R.L. Bynum

DURHAM — For 2½ quarters, North Carolina’s defense made the case that the James Madison debacle was a fluke.

That case unraveled in ugly fashion, though, as Duke erased a 20-point deficit in the largest comeback in the rivalry’s history, seized ownership of the Victory Bell and enjoyed a field-storming.

UNC coach Mack Brown praised the Tar Heels for “playing their guts out,” unlike the week before, but said they let Duke “off the hook” in a 21–20 Blue Devils win Saturday at Wallace Wade Stadium, ending Duke’s five-game losing streak in the rivalry.

“Unlike last week, I thought they gave it everything they had. This was a great college football game that we came up short on,” said Brown, who had beaten Duke 14 times in a row before Saturday and lost to the Blue Devils for only the third time. “I’m proud of their effort, and we will have to look at everything [Sunday].”

The season is teetering on disaster after UNC (3–2, 0–1 ACC) got dominated after halftime by the Blue Devils, who are 5–0 for the first time since 1994. It tied for the second-largest Duke comeback in a victory in school history.

After struggling to run the ball for 4½ games (with only 37 first-half yards rushing), Duke ran for 158 second-half yards, and Carolina let quarterback Maalik Murphy find his groove in the second half.

“I thought we would come out and take over the game, which we should have to start the third quarter, and we didn’t,” said Brown, whose team hosts unbeaten Pittsburgh next week. “Why did we tackle in the first half and not the second? I don’t know. I thought we would still win the game. We did not play well on either side of the ball in the second half.”

Make no mistake. The second half wasn’t all the defense’s fault because the offense suddenly couldn’t get much going.

Duke running back Star Thomas ran 30 times for a season-high 166 yards, 125 in the second half. After throwing for only 60 first-half yards, Murphy finished with 15 of 35 for 209 yards and a touchdown.

UNC running back Omarion Hampton couldn’t match Thomas, running 29 times for 112 yards.

Carolina quarterback Jacolby Criswell dealt with constant pressure, which he didn’t see as much against JMU, making it difficult for him to go through his progressions.

“His stats were good,” Brown said of Criswell. “They blitz so much and bring the safetys so often; it is tough for a new quarterback. I think both of these new quarterbacks are really talented, and neither of them have played in a game of this magnitude yet. There was a lot of pressure on him.”

It was a new experience for Criswell, who had never lost to Duke and had never seen an opponent storm the field. Even on an uneven night for him, he finished 21 for 39 for 251 yards, two touchdowns and an interception.

“It’s a big rivalry and you want to come out with a win for the seniors. Games like that are why you play football,” Criswell said. “They did what they needed to do in the second half to get the win. We just have to keep improving week in and week out.”

Noah Burnette scored the first points on a 40-yard field goal just over 3½ minutes into the game after a six-play drive stalled.

On fourth-and-one off a run-pass option, Criswell faked a handoff to Hampton and lofted a pass into the end zone to a wide-open J.J. Jones for a 24-yard scoring pass, his sixth career touchdown, with 4:34 left in the first quarter.

It took starting a possession at its 48 for Duke to finally cross the 50 with 10:30 left in the first half. But the Blue Devils only got to the UNC 47 before punting. Carolina then drove 61 yards in nine plays — including a 37-yard gain on a shovel pass to Hampton. Criswell hit tight end Bryson Nesbit on a 10-yard third-and-goal touchdown pass, and it was 17–0 with 5:43 left in the first half.

Amare Campbell’s pass interference bailed out Duke on fourth-and-6, giving the Devils a first down at the UNC 36. Carolina’s defense stiffened up, forcing Todd Pelino’s 47-yard field-goal attempt that doinked off the right upright.

After UNC recovered a punt that Duke had blocked, Criswell connected for passes for 17 yards to Kobe Pasour and 38 yards to Jones, leading to a 26-yard Burnette field goal with 8:23 left in the third quarter.

Murphy, a Texas transfer, couldn’t find much of a rhythm — with some passes inaccurate and others dropped — until late in the third quarter when he got it going and engineered touchdowns on three of the next four downs.

He connected with running back Thomas down the left sideline for a 29-yard scoring pass with 5:49 left in the third quarter. His 43-yard pass to Jordan Moore keyed the second drive, which netted a 2-yard Thomas run to slice UNC’s lead to 20–14 with 14:21 left.

UNC’s defense gave up 47 yards on Duke’s next drive, but Murphy threw four consecutive incompletions — thanks to good coverage — the last on a fourth-and-10 at the UNC 40 with 9:50 left.

After UNC’s Tom Maginness shanked a punt, Duke needed only four plays to score on running back Peyton Jones’ 20-yard touchdown run with 5:42 left.

Duke sealed the game when Tre Freeman intercepted a Criswell pass intended for tight end John Copenhaver with 25 seconds left.

NOTES — Carolina returns home at noon Saturday (ESPN or ESPN2) to face unbeaten Pittsburgh. It will be the ACC opener for the Panthers (4–0), who had the weekend off after beating Youngstown State 73–17 on Sept. 21. … UNC has had a player rush for at least 100 yards in each of the first five games for the first time since 1983, the only other time that has happened in UNC football history. … Hampton has 13 games with 100 or more rushing yards, breaking a tie with Charlie Justice
and Giovanni Bernard for eighth on UNC’s career 100-yard rushing list. …. Carolina shut out an opponent in the first half for the first time since doing it against Syracuse last season on Oct. 7. … Wide receiver Nate McCollum returned to the UNC lineup. … Wide receiver Christian Hamilton, running back Darwin Barlow, rush Kaimon Rucker and place-kicker Liam Boyd all missed the game with lower-body injuries. … The Tar Heels lead the series 66–41–4. … The previous largest comeback was in 1985 when Duke rallied from 18 points down to win 23–21 in Chapel Hill.

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Duke 21, UNC 20

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Month/ date	Opponent	Time/ score	TV/ record
August
29	at Minnesota	W, 19–17	1–0
September
7	vs. Charlotte	W, 38–20	2–0
14	vs. N.C. Central	W, 45–10	3–0
21	vs. James Madison	L, 70–50	3–1
28	at Duke	L, 21–20	3–2, 0–1 ACC
October
5	vs. Pittsburgh	Noon	ESPN or ESPN2
12	vs. Georgia Tech	TBA	TBA
26	at Virginia	TBA	TBA
November
2	at Florida State	TBA	TBA
16	vs. Wake Forest	TBA	TBA
23	at Boston College	TBA	TBA
30	vs. N.C. State	TBA	TBA

Photo courtesy of UNC Athletics