How Duke Football Can Flip Script Coming Down to Wire

The Duke Blue Devils have been in two straight games that have come down to the final seconds. They have been on the losing end of both contests.

Last weekend, Duke had a chance to send a road game against Georgia Tech to overtime, but freshman kicker Gavin Strange missed a 33-yard field goal in the final seconds. This weekend, Duke dropped its second straight outing after North Carolina took the lead with under two minutes to go, and the Blue Devils couldn't execute on their final drive.

After starting the year 4-0, the Blue Devils have now gone through two straight grueling defeats. Duke fell to Georgia Tech and North Carolina by a combined seven points.

Against Georgia Tech, the Blue Devils put together a solid last-chance drive to give themselves a chance to extend the game. The Yellow Jackets took the lead with under a minute to go, and Duke drove 59 yards in about 50 seconds to put itself in a position to get to overtime. Unfortunately, Strange missed the game-tying field goal, and Duke fell 28-25.

The Blue Devils were in full control against the Tar Heels in the second half up until the final couple of minutes. After the Heels got out to a 17-0 lead, Duke held them scoreless until Jaylen McGill found the end zone with less than two minutes remaining. UNC faced a 4th-and-4 situation with about three and a half minutes to go, and a stop could've put the game out of reach. Carolina converted and went on to score.

Duke's last-ditch effort this past weekend was much less impressive, resulting in a Walker Eget interception to seal the deal. In his postgame press conference, head coach Manny Diaz was asked about his frustration levels after two consecutive close losses.

"Well, there's a frustration in defeat, obviously...," Diaz said. "...This is just what college football is going to be like week in and week out. I mean I wouldn't be surprised if we're not in this the next six weeks. And so, it's just going to come down to who makes those plays and who can finish and...who can do simple well."

The Blue Devils are in desperation mode, needing a victory to get some sort of momentum back. Duke (4-2, 1-2 ACC) heads to Charlottesville next to face Virginia (4-3, 2-2 ACC), which is coming off a 23-13 loss at SMU.

Hope isn't lost for Diaz and Co., but changes need to happen quickly if they want any chance of another highly successful campaign.