Duke wide receiver [autotag]Eli Pancol[/autotag] played at Wallace Wade Stadium for the last time on Friday night, and he made sure he left the locker room with a win as the Blue Devils defeated Virginia Tech 31-28.
Afterward, Pancol stopped by the ACC Huddle desk to talk about his emotions during the victory lap in Durham.
“Seriously, it felt like a dream come true,” Pancol said simply. “Someone asked me out there, ‘What’d that feel like?’, it felt like a dream come true. I prayed for this.”
“My cousin who was there, her daughters, they wrote a little Christmas list for me, they said to get some touchdowns and get some catches,” he continued.
Well, Pancol certainly delivered on that promise, and he wasted no time doing so. He outraced the Virginia Tech secondary twice on the opening two possessions, scoring touchdowns of 86 and 77 yards in the first seven minutes.
Pancol finished with 188 yards and three touchdowns on five catches, but he told the ACC Huddle crew that his production remained dependent on the looks from the Virginia Tech defense.
“It could’ve been anybody,” he said simply.
The Duke wide receivers have certainly traded big performances over the last five weeks, but none have done so as consistently as Pancol. After he missed the entire 2023 season with an injury, the veteran wideout has 721 yards and nine touchdowns through the first 11 games of his final season.
Saturday’s game was the second time Pancol eclipsed 100 yards within the last month after his 138-yard performance against SMU in Week 9.