RALEIGH— It was time to rally in Raleigh.
As the second half began, both Duke and N.C. State faced a dogfight. The two teams had battled to a gritty 12-9 score in the game’s first thirty minutes, and each wanted a victory in Carter-Finley Stadium.
In the end, Duke took home the upset, snapping its two-game losing streak with a score of 29-19.
“Winning away, on senior night, against a team that’s desperate to get to win number six, is a hard thing,” head coach Manny Diaz said. “The fact that our guys did it and won by 10 points is huge.”
The determined Wolfpack never made it easy, re-emerging from the locker room and immediately advancing the ball down the field with a series of short gains. Despite an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on Kendy Charles, Duke refused to give up a simple score. The defense held N.C. State to a 25-yard field goal, but that was enough to tie the game 12-12.
Maalik Murphy answered for the Blue Devils. First he connected on a short pass to Jake Taylor, while the Wolfpack’s Brandon Cleveland gave the Blue Devils another 15 yards for illegal use of hands. The redshirt sophomore then threw to Jordan Moore, who took the ball 20 yards, before completing a short pass to Que’Sean Brown.
Sophomore Grayson Loftis checked in for the first time all year and broke through the middle for five yards on a designed quarterback sneak. Thomas followed it up with another seven. Murphy then rushed three yards to score the touchdown — the first one on the ground of his career — and reestablish a 19-12 lead for Duke.
“It was a long time coming,” Murphy said. “I think the running back was there, but I pulled it and was just lucky to get to the end zone, honestly.”
CJ Bailey responded with three decisive passes that moved N.C. State to Duke’s 20-yard line. But the Blue Devil defense, spearheaded by Wesley Williams, refused to allow a touchdown. Duke (7-3, 3-3 in the ACC) held the Wolfpack (5-5, 2-4) to its fifth field-goal attempt of the game, which Kanoah Vinesett missed, and the visitors clung to its lead as the third quarter ended.
N.C. State’s dismally inefficient drive at the start of the fourth ended with an interception by Terry Moore, who returned the ball 24 yards to the 20-yard line. The wide receiver Moore then caught an 11-yard pass from Murphy to put the Blue Devils in scoring position, allowing Hagans to run the ball into the end zone on the next play. Duke, now up 26-12, had some breathing room.
A 20-yard pass from Bailey followed by a 15-yard rush from Smothers moved N.C. State back down the field. Former Blue Devil Jordan Waters caught two balls for a total of 17 yards, and rushes from Bailey and Kevin Concepcion led the Wolfpack into the red zone.
On a crucial fourth-and-8, it seemed as though Duke might once again force a stop, especially when Wesley Grimes’ diving catch in the end zone went under review, but N.C. State finished the drive with a touchdown. A 26-19 score — with nine minutes left in the game — meant Duke could still fall.
“We’ve been on the road twice this year, and had the lead in both games in the second half. We ended up in that situation again,” Diaz said. “Now the question of maturity in our program is: Can we finish, and can we close?”
Each team posted a lackluster drive before the Blue Devils did just that. Murphy found Eli Pancol twice down the field, and a holding call on N.C. State’s Aydan White afforded some extra yards. Though Thomas couldn’t quite break through the Wolfpack defense and Murphy missed on a subsequent third-down pass to Moore, Pelino still pulled off a 49-yard field goal to put Duke up 29-19 and ice the game.
“This group’s got a lot of pride,” Diaz said of the team. “They're aware of the mistakes that they made in the second half of the Miami game, but that doesn't change what they've done for eight weeks and for two months prior to that. So they felt like they had to come out and set the tone tonight.”
Both teams had gotten off to a shaky start in the opening minutes, which included an uncharacteristic scramble from Murphy and a safety from Wesley Williams for the first points of the game.
With the ball once again in N.C. State’s hands, Bailey looked ready to break through the Blue Devils’ defense. However, the freshman’s eight-yard scramble ended with a fumble on N.C. State’s 32-yard line, which Duke’s Cameron Bergeron recovered.
Murphy launched the ball downfield in an incomplete pass to Hagans, but the following two rush attempts from Peyton Jones earned a combined total of only two yards. Pelino took to the field for a 50-yard field goal on fourth down, and made good on the attempt to put the Blue Devils up 5-0.
Duke finally found some momentum halfway through the first quarter when Murphy connected with Brown on a 31-yard pass down the right. After officials overturned a targeting call on the Wolfpack, Murphy immediately followed the play with another launch to Moore.
The graduate wide receiver caught the 45-yarder to deliver the Blue Devils their first touchdown of the night. After a successful extra point from Pelino, the visitors found themselves up 12-0 with just under four minutes left in the first quarter.
Duke’s defense continued to quietly impress, keeping the Wolfpack contained and preventing any major movement of the ball. Both Bailey and Waters found difficulty on ground, forcing punt after punt from N.C. State’s Caden Noonkester.
At 12-6, it seemed as though the teams would trade punts back and forth for the rest of the half. Then, with under two minutes to go, Murphy followed up an 11-yard rush by Thomas with a 20-yard pass to Brown, and continued to advance the ball downfield with Thomas’s help. Another Blue Devil score seemed imminent — until a forced fumble allowed N.C. State’s Temarcus Cooley to return the ball 70 yards downfield with under a minute left in the half. The Wolfpack found itself in field-goal position, and Kanoah Vinsett made the 37-yarder to diminish Duke’s lead to 12-9 at the end of the first half.
The Blue Devils now have the week off before taking on Virginia Tech at home Nov. 23.
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Abby DiSalvo is a Trinity sophomore and assistant Blue Zone editor of The Chronicle's 120th volume.