The Mycenaean

Saturday, September 29, 2024, the Duke Blue Devils took on the University of North Carolina Tar Heels at Wallace Wade Stadium. This game held high stakes for the Duke Blue Devils and Carolina Tar Heels.

UNC has had a rough start to the season so far, losing their previous week’s game on Saturday September 21, 2024 against James Madison 70-50. Going into the game, Duke was seen as the underdog, even with a 4-0 winning streak. 

While Duke is in the midst of centennial celebrations, 100 years of Duke University being around, this game was the second-greatest score comeback in Duke University history.

“I was really worried in the first half and I thought it was over. But um, you know, it was that made the second half more exciting,” said Owen Deak, junior. Deak was cheering on Duke at the game.

The game started with a field goal for UNC at the 10:19 mark of the first quarter. The 40-yard field goal was scored by Noah Burnette. UNC wasn’t done there; Jacolby Criswell made a pass to J.J. Jones for a touchdown at 4:34 in the first quarter.

UNC continued their scoring with a touchdown by Bryson Nesbit that was thanks to a 10 yard pass by Criswell, marking the score 17 to 0 at 5:43 in the second quarter.

The two teams went into halftime with most fans of both teams believing the Tar Heels would win the game.

“I was cheering for UNC, and I left when we were up, so in my mind, we still won,” said Kevin Dang, junior.

Many UNC fans like Dang believed that UNC would be taking “the Victory Bell” home with them. “The Victory Bell” is a traveling trophy between the two teams. The teams have met on an annual basis since 1922, but the victory bell did not come into play until 1948. The bell was designed and created by Duke and UNC student bodies of that year. The bell has traveled between the two football teams on their annual meetings and has inspired similar trophies throughout college football.

While the bell travels between the two teams, it has not been in Durham for over five years. This game was UNC’s first loss to Duke since 2018, but that didn’t become apparent until the second half.

The 3rd quarter started with UNC scoring another field goal at the 8:23 minute mark. The field goal was scored by Burnette from 37 yards.

Duke made a striking comeback in the 3rd quarter with a 29 yard pass by Malik Murphy, leading to a touchdown by Star Thomas at the 5:49 minute mark. Todd Pelino kicked the ball, scoring the one point conversion.

Going into the 4th quarter, the score was UNC 20, Duke 7, but not for long. At the 14:21 minute, mark Thomas scored another touchdown with Pelino taking the kick and scoring their second touchdown.

Peyton Jones scored Duke’s third touchdown at the 5:42 minute mark with a 20-yard run, tying the game. Pelino took the kick for the field goal, scoring he locked in the 20-21 win for Duke.

Fans of both sides sat in fear as the Duke defense kept UNC from scoring in the last minutes of the game. The Tar Heels finally accepted defeat in the last 20 seconds of the game, letting the clock run out the last little bit.

Before the clock was out, fans from the duke student section, along with other duke fans, rushed the field forming a huddle around the duke football team and their newly acquired bell. 

Not only did the team rally over their victory against UNC and the claiming of the victory bell, but the team celebrated their 5-0 start to the season. Duke has not had a 5-0 start to the season since 1994.