Home Duke 27, ‘Hoos 20: Cardiac Cavs rally, force OT, but Duke scores, seals game with INT
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Duke 27, ‘Hoos 20: Cardiac Cavs rally, force OT, but Duke scores, seals game with INT

Chris Graham

Virginia (10-2) faces Duke (7-5) in the 2025 ACC Championship Game, with kickoff in the 8:15 p.m. ET quarter-hour.

#TeamAFP is in the press box at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte. We will have live updates before, during and after the game – with scores, stats, analysis, highlights and more.

Pregame Coverage


Game Coverage


Update: 7:55 p.m. About 20 minutes to kickoff.

Lots of good seats still available. Not unexpected.

The press box is to capacity.

Pregame meal: BBQ and mac.


Update: 8:03 p.m. Dabo Swinney on ACCN:


Update: 8:12 p.m. Thirty-nine degrees at kickoff. Coldest kickoff temp in ACC history.


Update: 8:22 p.m. Both teams have had to burn timeouts because of personnel issues on Duke’s first offensive series.

Duke has a third-and-long just inside the 50.


Update: 8:33 p.m. Duke scores first, on a 16-play, 75-yard drive that bled 9:38 off the clock.

Scoring play: 12-yard pass from Darian Mensah to Jeremiah Hasley.

Nice play call. Virginia went with a Cover 0 blitz, and Duke went to a middle screen.

Duke was 3-for-4 on third downs and 1-for-1 on fourth downs.

Key play: Jacob Holmes called for offsides on fourth-and-7 near midfield with Duke in punt formation.

Duke converted the fourth down.

Duke 7, Virginia 0, 5:22/1st


Update: 8:45 p.m. Will Bettridge misses wide right from 45 yards.

The drive stalled because of a false start on first down at the Duke 26.

Harrison Waylee got 11 yards to get it back to second-and-4 at the Duke 20, but a loss of two on a second-down run, and then a sack of Morris on third down, forced the field-goal try.

Duke 7, Virginia 0, 1:31/1st


Update: 8:50 p.m. Corey Costner picks off a Mensah pass and returns to the Duke 23.


Update: 8:58 p.m. Chandler Morris 10-yard TD pass to J’Mari Taylor.

Quick scoring drive after the INT.

Virginia 7, Duke 7, 14:16/2nd


Update: 9:12 p.m. Duke goes back on top with another long drive.

Thirteen plays, 75 yards, 8:02.

Key play: fake punt on fourth-and-3 at the Duke 32.

Two special-teams mistakes open up the scoring drives.

TD: 16-yard TD run by Nate Sheppard.

Duke is 4-of-7 on third downs and 3-of-3 on fourth downs.

Duke 14, Virginia 7, 8:14/2nd


Update: 9:30 p.m. Two-minute timeout. Duke has the ball, second-and-8 at the Duke 22.

If Virginia can get a stop, a chance to get a two-minute drive before the half.

Virginia gets the ball to start the second half.

Duke 14, Virginia 7, 2:00/2nd


Update: 9:44 p.m. End of the first half: Duke 14, Virginia 7.

Duke has the lead at the break due to two penalties on the Virginia special teams that artificially extended Duke drives.

The first, an offsides penalty on Jacob Holmes and a fourth-and-7 near midfield, set up a fourth-and-2 that Duke converted into a first down, and later a score.

The second, on a fourth-and-3 at the Duke 32, was failing to snuff out a Duke fake punt, which went for a first down, and resulted, later, in a Duke TD.

Those two mistakes turned what should have been short Duke drives ending in punts into long scoring drives, in fact, the two longest TD drives in ACC Championship Game history.

Virginia has one short scoring drive, set up by an INT by Corey Costner, which was converted into a TD on a 10-yard pass from Chandler Morris to J’Mari Taylor.

Morris is 9-of-14 passing for 89 yards and the TD, but he’s not attacking downfield.

Six of his pass attempts have been intended for Taylor, the tailback.

Virginia’s ground game has only generated 32 sack-adjusted rushing yards.

Total offense: Duke 170, UVA 115.

Darian Mensah is 14-of-17 passing for 107 yards, a TD and the INT.

Virginia gets the ball to start the second half.


Update: 10:19 p.m. Long Virginia drive leads to just three.

Drive: 17 plays, 68 yards, 7:41.

Second-and-goal at the 2, Chandler Morris made a misread, faked the handoff on a read-option, slipped, lost five yards, and then went incomplete on third-and-goal.

Will Bettridge good from 24.

Duke 14, Virginia 10, 7:19/3rd


Update: 10:28 p.m. Timeout Duke, fourth-and-2 at the UVA 7.

Duke had the offense on the field before the timeout.

Credit to Manny Diaz: he’s not playing not to lose.

Duke 14, Virginia 10, 3:56/3rd


Update: 10:33 p.m. Duke whistled for a false start on fourth-and-2.

Todd Pelino good from 29 yards on the field-goal try.

Duke 17, Virginia 10, 3:53/3rd


Update: 10:42 p.m. End three.

Virginia driving: it’s third-and-9 at the Duke 28.

Problem: Will Bettridge, not reliable on kicks at this distance.

Duke 17, Virginia 10, moving to the fourth


Update: 10:48 p.m. Virginia fails on fourth-and-5 at the Duke 24.

That could be the ballgame.

Duke 17, Virginia 10, 14:24/4th


Update: 10:56 p.m. Good news: Virginia got the stop.

Bad news: the punt was downed at the 1.

Duke 17, Virginia 10, 8:46/4th


Update: 11:02 p.m. Morris throws INT on third-and-9 at the UVA 2.

Caleb Weaver with the pick at the UVA 33.

One first down from field-goal range.

Ruh, roh.

Duke 17, Virginia 10, 7:21/4th


Update: 11:09 p.m. It’s a two-score game.

Todd Pelino good from 23 yards.

At least the Virginia D kept them out of the end zone.

Virginia needs a quick score, and then a miracle.

Duke 20, Virginia 10, 5:02/4th


Update: 11:21 p.m. Still alive, for the moment.

Will Bettridge made a nerve-wracking 42-yard kick.

Eight plays, 50 yards, 1:08 on the drive.

Duke 20, Virginia 13, 3:54/4th


Update: 11:26 p.m. Duke converted third-and-4, so … it’s now need a miracle time.

Two-minute timeout, Duke has second-and-8 at its own 48.

UVA has two timeouts.

It’s going to take a fumble.

Doing the math here: get two stops on runs, burn the TOs, UVA gets the ball back around 1:40 to go, with no TOs, probably inside the 20.

Duke 20, Virginia 13, 2:00/4th


Update: 11:44 p.m. I can’t type.

Drive: 96-yard drive.

TD pass, 18 yard, Morris to Eli Wood.

Tie game.

Virginia 20, Duke 20, 0:22/4th


Update: 11:47 p.m. Overtime.


Update 12:02 a.m. Duke scored on fourth-and-goal at the 1, on a 1-yard TD pass from Darian Mensah to Jeremiah Hasley.

The Virginia drive was pushed back to a start at the 40 because of a roughing-the-passer penalty on James Jackson.

On the first play for the UVA drive, the call was trick play: handoff to J’Mari Taylor, backwards pass to Chandler Morris, whose job was to look downfield.

Eli Wood was bracketed; Morris tried to thread the needle anyway.

INT by Luke Mergott; game over.

Final: Duke 27, Virginia 20


 

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Chris Graham

Chris Graham

Chris Graham is the founder and editor of Augusta Free Press. A 1994 alum of the University of Virginia, Chris is the author and co-author of seven books, including Poverty of Imagination, a memoir published in 2019. For his commentaries on news, sports and politics, go to his YouTube page, TikTok, BlueSky, or subscribe to Substack or his Street Knowledge podcast. Email Chris at [email protected].