Duke could lose every game for the remainder of the season, but after Saturday's performance against the Cavaliers, it won't make a difference.
The Blue Devils (1-4, 1-1 ACC) outlasted a beleaguered Virginia squad to gain their first victory of the season in dramatic fashion. In the Cavs' first-ever overtime game, Virginia quarterback Dan Ellis threw a pass that was intercepted by Duke's Lamar Grant on the Cavs' final possession to give Duke a 24-17 victory in double overtime.
"It's great to be back," Blue Devil quarterback Spencer Romaine said. "I don't know if it could be any sweeter than [Saturday]. For us it finally panned out."
After a scoreless first half, Saturday's game at Scott Stadium came down to a touchdown pass by Duke receiver Scottie Montgomery off of a Letavious Wilks fumble to send the game into overtime.
Both teams' generally reliable kickers missed field goals in single overtime that could have given their team a victory. However, Romaine finally connected with Benjamin Watson on a seven-yard touchdown pass in double overtime to give the Devils the points they would need to eke out the win.
Still, it was only after Grant's interception on the furious, final drive by the Cavaliers (3-3, 2-2 ACC)- in which an apparent touchdown catch by Ahmad Hawkins was ruled out of bounds - that Duke could celebrate the victory.
"I thought [Hawkins] caught the ball," Virgina running back Thomas Jones said. "But it goes back to way before that play. The game should have been out of hand before that. It's really hard to believe we lost the way we lost."
Jones provided the lone bright spot for the Cavaliers with 185 yards on the ground.
Although most of the Cavs' day was plagued with mistakes and miscues, it seemed they would still salvage a win after an 80-yard Virginia drive culminated in a three-yard Jones touchdown run with 1:24 remaining to give Virginia the 17-10 lead. Yet Duke answered back.
After a 29-yard bomb to Montgomery to set Duke up at the Virginia 24-yard line, the Devils drove down to the Cavaliers' nine where they would pull out a miracle play.
With 15 seconds remaining, Romaine handed the ball off to Wilks, who attempted to hand it off to Montgomery on the reverse. However, Cav linebacker Byron Thweatt stuffed Wilks at the 15-yard line, where he coughed up the ball.
Yet Montgomery had the presence of mind to scoop up the fumble and heave it across the field to teammate Richmond Flowers for the game-tying touchdown.
"We might have been able to get the clock down [on the last drive in regulation] so they wouldn't have gotten that bizarre play at the end," Cav coach George Welsh said. "I thought about telling [Ellis] not to go into the end zone - to just sneak it and run the clock down ... but we're not going to beat anybody with all the mistakes we made."
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