Duke added another piece of history to a season full of
it.
The No. 24 Blue Devils beat rival North Carolina
27-25 Saturday to claim their first Coastal Division title and trip to
the ACC Championship Game.
They'll now face No. 2
Florida State next Saturday in Charlotte.
Leading
24-15 in the third quarter, Duke saw its edge disappear as the Tar Heels
scored 10 straight points to go up 25-24 midway through the fourth. But
the Blue Devils responded, taking over for good with Ross Martin's
27-yard field goal with 2:22 to play.
Duke (10-2, 6-2
in the ACC), has won eight straight games for the first time since 1941
and broke the program's previous single-season record for wins at nine.
It also has its their first consecutive victories over the Tar Heels
since 1987-89.
It has been an improbable turnaround
for the perennial bottom dweller, which went 13-90 in the nine years
before the arrival of coach David Cutcliffe.
After winning no more than
five games in his first four seasons, Cutcliffe led the Devils to a 6-7
record last season, capped with a trip to the Belk Bowl that ended an
18-year postseason drought.
But along with a
breakthrough in the division, the Blue Devils will also play in bowl
games in back-to-back seasons for the first
time.
There's another bit of history Cutcliffe and
Co. will try to end there: Duke hasn't won a bowl game since it beat
Arkansas 7-6 in the 1960 Cotton Bowl.
