KING OF THE CHAOS
Duke football upsets Virginia in overtime for first ACC Championship title
By Abby DiSalvo Sports Editor
CHARLOTTE— The Blue Devils left the Queen City newly crowned.
After advancing to the ACC Championship game by way of a fiveteam tiebreaker, unranked Duke upset No. 16 Virginia to secure the program’s first outright conference title since 1962. The Blue Devils went 4-for-4 in the red zone and 3-for-3 on fourth down to clinch the 27-20 victory.
"We've gone through a lot of adversity this year, maybe more so than any other team in the country," head coach Manny Diaz said. "I think that has a lot to do with why we were able to overcome the adversity of the last two minutes of regulation tonight. We said we were gonna win the game on the last play of the game, and we did it in a very, very Duke fashion."
When the two teams entered the first overtime in the championship game's history, freshman running back Nate
Sheppard immediately took the ball 23 yards on three consecutive carries. Two touches from Anderson Castle came up empty, as did an attempted pass to wideout Cooper Barkate. A fourth-down reception by tight end Jeremiah Hasley — along with a roughing-the-passer penalty on the Cavaliers — finally turned in the points Duke needed and backed Virginia up to the 40-yard line.
The Cavaliers took the ball in an attempt to match the score, but linebacker Luke Mergott intercepted a trick-play throwback pass thrown by quarterback Chandler Morris to squelch any momentum Virginia had left. The Blue Devils streamed onto the field in a sea of white-and-blue celebration, having defied the odds and snapped Duke’s 10game losing streak to ranked opponents.
"There's no better feeling," quarterback Darian Mensah said. "To bring a championship to a school that was primarily known for basketball on the football field, I think that's a statement that me and the seniors on this team really have tried to make."
Virginia emerged from the halftime break trailing by seven and lit a fire in the crisp December air. Morris found Cam Ross with a 29-yard rocket after totaling just 37 yards in the entire first half, and J’Mari Taylor rushed the ball deep into Duke territory.
The Blue Devils, however, held tight to their fledgeling 14-7 lead. After putting together a critical stop to bring up third down at the 5-yard line, Ma’khi Jones pressured Morris out of the pocket and DaShawn Stone deflected his attempted touchdown pass. Virginia kicked a field goal to set the score at 14-10.
Duke stormed back onto the field, intent on widening the deficit with 7:19 to play in the third quarter. Sheppard picked up 12 yards on the ground, and Barkate reeled in a 38-yard reception to put him over 1,000 yards on the season. A facemask penalty on the Cavaliers brought the Blue Devils
See photos from the game and on-field trophy presentation
Amy Zhang Photography editor
the action from Duke's 27-20
'We're the underdogs': Duke football embraces adversity in ACC Championship victory
By Elle Chavis Sports Managing Editor
CHARLOTTE—As Virginia charged down the field in search of its first touchdown, linebacker Luke Mergott forced what should have been a turnover. The redshirt sophomore ripped the ball from J’Mari Taylor and into the hands of teammate Jaiden Francois. But, a facemask penalty on Chandler Rivers snatched the turnover away.
On the Cavaliers’ next offensive drive, the Blue Devils stood firm as they forced their opponents to stare down a thirdand-2. Then Mergott was called offsides, turning the third-and-2 into a first-and-goal that quickly resulted in Virginia tying the game 7-7.
Mergott didn’t let these early mistakes phase him. He simply kept his head up and focused on the next play, providing lockdown coverage that held Virginia to 344 total yards of offense, a far cry compared to the 540 the Cavaliers racked up when the two teams faced off earlier in the season.
And, when it mattered most, the 6-foot-3 linebacker came through for his team.
After a game-tying touchdown sent the teams to overtime, Duke drew first blood and lined up against the Cavaliers on defense. A roughing-the-passer penalty forced Virginia to start at the 40-yard line instead of the 25. Facing quick pressure, quarterback Chandler Morris scrambled on a trick play and threw the ball to the left side of the field — right into the outstretched arms of Mergott.
The interception — Morris’ second of the night and the first of Mergott’s career — ended the game and gave the Blue Devils their first outright conference crown since 1962.
cheeks, grinning as he celebrated with his teammates.
“The ball is in an undisclosed location,” Mergott joked after the game. “I’ll probably sleep with it tonight.”
Just as the Blue Devils weren’t supposed to be in Charlotte, Mergott wasn’t supposed to have such a prominent role on the field this season. When star linebacker Nick Morris Jr. went down with a seasonending injury against N.C. State in Week 4, Mergott stepped up to the middle linebacker, or mike, position.
As injuries continued to devastate Duke’s linebacker room, the Berlin, Md., native kept improving on the season, growing into a vital part of Jonathan Patke’s defensive scheme. With a microphone in his helmet to communicate with the defensive coordinator, Mergott assumed more confidence as the ‘quarterback’ of the defense.
“He's a poster child for the adversity we've had on defense this year,” head coach Manny Diaz said. “He's become more comfortable now with being an every day, every down player … We almost can't take him off the field because we're so thin at linebacker, and he's got a knack.”
It all culminated Saturday night with the conference title on the line.
“Once it went up, I knew it was coming down,” Mergott said. “[I] came down with it, just got swarmed next thing I knew.”
He's a poster child for the adversity we've had on defense this year.
After the game, Mergott still cradled the football, eyeblack smeared over his
Mergott’s resiliency is common across Duke’s locker room. Despite painful losses, the Blue Devils have had an uncanny belief in themselves — a core value driven by Duke’s senior class. When those veterans arrived in Durham, the Blue Devils were coming off of nine-loss seasons.
Since then, the group — headlined by Aaron Hall, Wesley Williams, Vincent Anthony Jr., Jeremiah Hasley and Rivers — has turned Duke into a championship contender, hallmarked by signature wins against Clemson and
Virginia, two straight years of sweeping the Tobacco Road rivalry and four straight years of bowl eligibility.
“Coach always says we’re the underdogs,” Halsey said. “We've lost some close ones, some that we should have won, some we got our face punched and again, just to be considered the underdogs, to overcome so much, to persevere. I mean, that's just what this group is.”
We kew this was gonna take all four quarters. We knew it was gonna come down to the last play.
JEREMIAH HASLEY
Redshirt junnior tight end
Diaz and his squad embraced the underdog mentality, with the Cavaliers coming into Saturday night’s contest as 3.5-point favorites.
The controversy surrounding Duke’s appearance in the conference title game did not faze the Blue Devils. There was never a doubt in their minds that they deserved to be in Charlotte.
While the outside world debated the potential ramifications of their unlikely win, the scrappy bunch kept their heads down and kept their focus.
Those seniors who lit the fire in Duke’s locker room put on a masterclass in Bank of America Stadium. With Morris and the Virginia offense deep in Duke territory on third-and-6, Anthony took down Morris for a loss of six yards. The sack — the 15th of his career — pushed the Cavaliers back and forced them to kick a field goal on their first drive, which Will Bettridge missed. Plays like that defined the Blue Devils’ defensive performance on the evening.
Newcomers, in the form of offensive weapons Darian Mensah, Nate Sheppard and Cooper Barkate, also bought into Duke’s relentless determination, never giving up even when Virginia forced the game into overtime.
"We knew this was gonna take all four quarters. We knew it was gonna come down to the last play. And it did for sure," Hasley said. "We thrive in those positions."
The fans clad in blue and white held their breath in overtime when Mensah rolled out to the right as the pocket disintegrated.
But the Blue Devils kept their composure, and Mensah eventually found Hasley in the end zone for what would be the game-winning touchdown. Calm under pressure. Resiliency in the face of adversity. Duke’s exclusion from the 12-team College Football Playoff — despite Diaz’s insistent belief that the team deserved to hear its name called in the CFP selection show — may leave the Blue Devils disappointed. It does not change the grit they showcased Saturday evening to make program history.
To hold Virginia to one of its lowest total offensive performances. To remain unfazed in the face of the Cavaliers’ last-ditch touchdown drive. To continue fighting in overtime. To hoist the conference trophy over their heads.
MANNY DIAZ Head Coach on LUKE MERGOTT
Amy Zhang | Photography editor
Bottom left: Redshirt junior tight end Jeremiah Hasley scored bookend touchdowns in the 2025 ACC Championship game.
Bottom right: The Blue Devil defense forced several key stops against the Cavaliers.
UPSET
FROM PAGE 1
within 15 yards of the end zone, but a false start on fourth-and-2 forced a field goal instead of a touchdown.
Virginia (10-3, 7-2 in the ACC) attempted to patch the 17-10 wound, but Duke (8-5, 7-2) once again pulled off a fourth-down stop near painted grass. This time, Stone deflected a pass in the end zone to leave the Cavaliers empty-handed after a nine-play, 3:53 sprint. The Blue Devils came up equally short when they retook the ball, and it remained a one-score game with 8:46 left to play.
When Duke safety Caleb Weaver intercepted a Virginia pass, the Blue Devils took over at the Cavaliers’ 33-yard line to deafening roars. Mensah — the conference leader in passing yards and passing touchdowns — launched a 30-yard dagger to Barkate. Todd Pelino’s field goal brought the score to 20-10.
Virginia tacked on a field goal and mounted an impressive drive in the game’s waning minutes, which saw Weaver go down with an injury. Ultimately, the Cavaliers advanced to a fourth-and-4 at Duke’s 27-yard line, and Morris found Eli Wood for an 18-yard touchdown that leveled the score to send the game to overtime.
"Those are the moments I live for," Mensah said. "We knew this game was going to come down to the last play, and
we knew it was gonna go to overtime. We knew that Virginia was a great team ... so why not go full face into adversity?"
Duke wrote itself into the record books right off the bat, assembling the lengthiest drive in ACC Championship history on its opening possession. The 16-play, 9:38-minute attack involved three thirddown conversions and one successful fourth-down play, foreshadowing a long night of gritty gains.
That initial Blue Devil progress almost puttered out when a smattering of penalties set up fourth-and-2 on the Cavaliers’ 41yard line. Mensah, who had not yet thrown a pass for more than nine yards, finally delivered a 16-yard dart to Landen King to move the chains. Six snaps later, Hasley took a 12-yard pass to paydirt for Duke’s first touchdown of the night.
The Cavaliers responded with frantic energy. Morris sent a deep pass up the middle on his first snap, but Mergott managed to force a fumble on the next. It just so happened that officials caught Chandler Rivers for illegal hands-tothe-face, negating the recovery by Jaiden Francois. The Blue Devils made up for the error with a clutch third-down sack, forcing a field-goal attempt that Will Bettridge missed wide left. With 1:31 to play in the first quarter, Diaz’s squad clung to its 7-0 lead.
It wouldn’t last long. Virginia’s Corey Costner intercepted a pass intended for Barkate, gifting the Cavaliers possession
on Duke’s 23-yard line. To the thrill of the orange-clad fans, Morris connected with Jahmal Edrine for another nine yards. A false start pushed the regularseason champions backwards as the first quarter expired, but Taylor soon ran in a touchdown to knot the score at 7-7.
On Duke’s next drive, touches from Sheppard and Castle failed to create forward progress. The Blue Devils turned to their arsenal of special-teams chaos, securing a first down with a fake punt that Kevin O'Connor ran six yards up the middle. After suffering a 9-yard sack, an increasingly desperate Mensah sent a rocket down the left side of the field to a waiting Sahmir Hagans. The graduate wideout reeled in the catch for a 35-yard gain, and Sheppard took it 16 yards for Duke’s second touchdown of the night. With Pelino’s extra point, the Blue Devils led 14-7 heading into the break.
"As a program, we try to pride ourselves on being comfortable in the uncomfortable moments," defensive end Wesley Williams said. "Coach Diaz says it all the time: 'The ACC Championship, you win it every day. They just hand you a trophy today.' So that's kind of how we live."
Duke becomes the first Power Four conference champion to miss the 12team College Football Playoff. It will face Arizona State (8-4) in the Sun Bowl Dec. 31.
Top left: Defensive end Semaj Turner celebrates a key stop against the Cavaliers.
Top center: The Blue Devils battle the Cavaliers in the 2025 ACC Championship game.
Top right: Quarterback Darian Mensah finishes the season as the ACC's leader in passing yards and passing touchdowns.
Bottom left: Duke football celebrates an upset against Virginia in the ACC Championship.
Bottom right: Justin Pickett, Manny Diaz, Darian Mensah and Aaron Hall stand on stage with the ACC Championship trophy.
Amy Zhang | Photography editor
