The Atlantic Line
North Carolina wins the Victory Bell back from Duke 24-20 with a late McGill touchdown
Jaylen McGill scored with 1:53 left as North Carolina beat Duke 24-20 in Durham. Duke has now lost two straight ahead of a Friday trip to Virginia.
North Carolina blew a 17-point lead at Wallace Wade Stadium on Saturday and still won. Jaylen McGill ran 24 yards for a touchdown with 1:53 left, and the Tar Heels beat Duke 24-20 to take the Victory Bell back to Chapel Hill after two years in Durham. CBS 17 noted that each of the last four games in the series has been decided by seven points or fewer.
The Tar Heels led 17-0 in the first half. Billy Edwards Jr. threw a 5-yard touchdown pass to Jordan Shipp, Demon June ran in from 4 yards and Rece Verhoff kicked a 28-yard field goal, according to NCFootballNews. Then the offense stopped scoring. Duke got back into it when Andrew Pellicciotta returned a fumble 9 yards for a touchdown. Gavin Strange added two field goals, and Nate Sheppard caught a 7-yard scoring pass with 4:39 to play to put the Blue Devils up 20-17.
According to The Associated Press, McGill's run gave North Carolina its first points since early in the second quarter. Duke still had one last drive, but Kenton Dopson III intercepted Walker Eget at the UNC 15 in the final seconds. NBC Sports pointed out that this was Bill Belichick's first win over Duke.
Duke had more yards, 381 to 326, and converted 8 of 18 third downs. North Carolina converted 4 of 12. Sheppard had been questionable all week with an ankle injury. He was held to a season-low 77 rushing yards on 20 carries but caught 11 passes for 98 yards. Eget completed 24 of 38 passes for 249 yards and a touchdown. Edwards went 15 of 25 for 191 yards and a score, and Shipp caught seven passes for 75 yards.
The win puts North Carolina at 4-2 on two straight road wins, 24-20 at Duke and 21-17 at Pittsburgh. Both of its losses came to ranked or name opponents: Notre Dame and Clemson. Next for the Tar Heels is Syracuse in Chapel Hill on Saturday, October 24, on ACC Network.
What it means for Duke at Virginia
Duke also falls to 4-2. Its last two losses, at Georgia Tech and against North Carolina, came by a combined seven points. Before that, the Blue Devils won four in a row, beating Tulane 17-3, winning 31-27 at Illinois and routing Stanford and William & Mary. They have a short week before playing at Virginia on Friday, October 23, on ESPN. With the ankle that limited Sheppard in the run game, the six days of rest are worth watching.
On this site's board, Virginia is favored by 2.5 points across six venues. FanDuel has the best price on the Cavaliers' spread at -105, and DraftKings has the best on Duke +2.5 at -110. On the moneyline, Novig lists Virginia at -127 and Duke at +108. The best prices anywhere are Virginia -125 at FanDuel and Duke +110 at DraftKings, so the venues are only two cents apart on each side. Sportsbook hold on the moneyline runs from 4.1% to 4.6%.
The total is 48.5. Novig has the over at -113 and the under at -117. FanDuel has the best over price at -105, and DraftKings has the best under at -110. Duke has scored 20 and 25 points in its two losses. To pull level before November, it will have to keep scoring after halftime, which North Carolina did not do in Durham.
