Dan Orner had missed field goals of 44 and 50 yards, as well as an extra point. But with his Tar Heels down by two points with four seconds remaining, Orner took a few strides, swung his leg and booted an ugly, left-hooking kick that somehow found its way between the uprights.
It's true that fate had frowned on the Blue Devils, just as it had done so many times before. Placing the game's balance in fate's hands, however, was a scenario that Blue Devil lapses brought about in the first place.
The biggest of Duke's shortcomings was its mentality during UNC's game-winning drive. The Tar Heels had the ball on their own 25-yard line with 46 seconds remaining, but were able to drive 45 yards to set up the winning kick, as UNC quarterback Darian Durant threw two quick strikes for 17 and 12 yards to open the drive, and then found Sam Aiken for 10 yards on a fourth-and-four play to set up Orner's field goal.
Addressing his team's defense on the drive, Duke head coach Carl Franks said that the Blue Devils did not play a simple prevent defense, but instead hoped to keep Durant guessing.
"We mixed it up on them," Franks said. "We played some man coverage and came after them. We [also] played some zone coverage."
Instead of either forcing UNC to run out the clock or turn the ball over on downs, Duke effectively did neither.
"We never play prevent," safety Terrell Smith said. "But at that point, you kind of get lax. You think, 'There's 30 seconds left. Don't let them get deep.'"
For Franks, the result of this defensive inconsistency was not a fault of the defense, but instead a credit to Durant.
"I felt like we were in pretty good shape with 53 seconds left," Franks said. "They made a bunch of plays. Durant made some critical throws, and they made some good catches, just like they had been doing for most of the day."
Durant did make some big passes, but his running ability was equally damaging. The Blue Devils had difficulty containing the UNC quarterback, who racked up 71 yards rushing on the afternoon. More damaging, however, was Durant's scrambling within the pocket. One of Durant's sack escapes came in the third quarter, as the Tar Heels faced a third-and-10 at Duke's 24-yard line. Duke defensive end Micah Harris penetrated the Carolina line and wrapped his arms around Durant, but was unable to drag the quarterback to the ground. The play resulted in a 20-yard completion to tight end Bobby Blizzard; Carolina later converted a fourth-and-goal play from the Duke one-yard line to tie the game at 14-14.
"We had him wrapped up," Franks said. "He stepped out of the tackle and made some great plays. You have to complement him on one heck of a performance."
Singling out Durant's abilities does explain how the Tar Heels were able to win their 13th straight game against Duke, but it fails to capture the more important concept-how the Blue Devils were able to lose.
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