Maalik Murphy and Jordan Moore connected for a 39-yard touchdown on Duke’s last play of the regular season, clinching a win over Wake Forest.
Every Duke football fan, and likely everybody on the Blue Devils sideline, wanted a field goal. [autotag]Maalik Murphy[/autotag] and [autotag]Jordan Moore[/autotag] wanted a touchdown.
With eight seconds left in a tie game in Winston-Salem, Murphy bounced on the balls of his feet in the pocket for two seconds too long. With the clock winding down and head coach Manny Diaz still holding a timeout in his pocket, Duke wanted to push for a shorter field goal attempt at the buzzer, but the chances of completing a pass in time dwindled with each beat that Murphy held the ball.
With just a few seconds left, Murphy’s eyes flitted back to the right, and he wound up and threw the ball over the top of the Demon Deacons defense. It looked for a moment like the first-year Duke quarterback was simply throwing it away in an effort to preserve a second, but Wake Forest’s defense noticed Moore slip behind them just seconds too late.
Moore snagged the pass just a few yards from the goal line, and a quick spin move ensured the closing safety wouldn’t stop him short of the painted grass. Touchdown, Blue Devils.
Despite a slow start from the Duke offense, the Blue Devils left Winston-Salem with a 23-17 victory on Saturday afternoon to clinch a nine-win season and sweep their in-state conference rivals.
Despite the Demon Deacons already losing their chance at a bowl appearance with seven losses in their first 11 games, Wake Forest still came out steadier than the Blue Devils on Saturday afternoon. The home team picked up 93 yards of offense in the opening quarter thanks to a drive deep within Duke territory, only remaining scoreless thanks to a missed 43-yard field goal attempt, but the Demon Deacons’ five first downs boded poorly for the remainder of the game.
While Todd Pelino put Duke in front with a 45-yard field goal through the cold wind, Wake Forest answered within minutes. Quarterback Hank Bachmeier and running back Tate Carney combined to pick up 67 yards on just four plays, most notably with Bachmeier’s 30-yard over-the-shoulder strike to wideout Horatio Fields that set up the Demon Deacons in the red zone.
Carney bruised the remaining eight yards into the end zone on the following snap, and after a quick interception from Murphy, Wake Forest rumbled back across midfield on the ensuing possession. The Blue Devils managed to hold them to a field goal, preventing star wideout Taylor Morin from converting a third-and-7 in the red zone to keep it a one-score game, but the first-half results were stunning given each team’s form.
Through the first two quarters, Wake Forest outgained Duke 236-122 despite bringing the most porous defense in the ACC into Week 14. The Demon Deacons converted 14 first downs to the Blue Devils’ six, and they held the ball for 19:48 of the opening 30 minutes.
With the Blue Devils hoping to clamber back into the game early in the third quarter, disaster struck. Running back Jaquez Moore, in his second appearance since Week 2, fumbled a third-down screen pass within 15 yards of his own end zone to give Wake Forest an easy path to a two-score lead.
The Duke defense forced a third-and-5 on the ensuing possession, but Bachmeier hit Fields in stride over the middle to let his wideout walk into the end zone and build a 17-3 advantage.
As he’s done over and over again in 2024, however, Murphy gave his team new life with one great throw at the right time. With the Blue Devils 42 yards from the end zone with less than 18 minutes left in the game, he dropped a 30-yard sideline pass in the bucket to redshirt freshman Que’Sean Brown for a lightning strike into the red zone.
Running back Star Thomas galloped into the end zone from three yards out just a few plays later, and when Wake Forest star Demond Claiborne fumbled the ensuing kickoff back to the Blue Devils, Duke officially retook command of the game. Moore, the running back, redeemed himself with an 18-yard carry into the red zone, bouncing off multiple potential tacklers, and Murphy put the go-ahead score on the board himself with a read-option run that fooled the entire Demon Deacons defense.
Duke’s final drive to victory started with 82 seconds left on the board, and the 39-yard last-second touchdown helped Murphy lead the team 76 yards while using just a single timeout. The former Texas Longhorn ended the game with 235 yards and a score, completing 26 of his 34 attempts, and the Blue Devils outgained Wake Forest 211-82 in the second half.
