{"id":430805,"date":"2025-12-07T10:57:09","date_gmt":"2025-12-07T10:57:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/430805\/"},"modified":"2025-12-07T10:57:09","modified_gmt":"2025-12-07T10:57:09","slug":"duke-parties-like-its-1989-and-makes-its-case-to-be-in-college-football-playoff-field","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/430805\/","title":{"rendered":"Duke parties like its 1989 \u2014\u00a0and makes its case to be in College Football Playoff field"},"content":{"rendered":"

CHARLOTTE, N.C. \u2014 There was no time for the Gatorade bath, a rite of passage for most champions.<\/p>\n

Duke\u2019s players wouldn\u2019t dare do it midway through the fourth quarter, when they had a double-digit lead. And they weren\u2019t going to do it as Virginia rallied to force overtime.<\/p>\n

So, long after linebacker Luke Mergott intercepted a pass on a trick play in overtime to seal a 27-20 victory over No. 17 Virginia that ignited a sideline celebration unlike anything Duke\u2019s experienced since 1989, coach Manny Diaz thought he was safe.<\/p>\n

But when defensive end Vincent Anthony brought Diaz in for a hug and wrapped him tight, safety Caleb Weaver ambushed the coach with an orange cooler full of ice water.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought I was wise enough to duck out of the way, and it sort of hit me in the lower back, down,\u201d Diaz said. \u201cSo I\u2019m pretty cool from here up. But from here down, it\u2019s rather uncomfortable. But it does feel like victory. So I\u2019ll take it every time.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for Mergott?<\/p>\n

Through hugs and high fives, the sophomore never let the ball go. High and tight, never letting it out of his sight. He declined to disclose where he stashed the ball after emerging from the locker room without it, but he did broach the possibility of donating it to Duke. Diaz called it the play of the season.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll probably sleep with it tonight,\u201d Mergott said, adding that it ranked No. 1 for him in football moments throughout his life.<\/p>\n

\n

CHAMPS pic.twitter.com\/9SMiYZsctl<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Duke Football (@DukeFOOTBALL) December 7, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

While there may have been some internal conflict among ACC loyalists tuning in to watch Duke upset Virginia and throw the league\u2019s immediate College Football Playoff future into serious peril, there was no such split loyalty for those wearing royal blue.<\/p>\n

But there were realities to wrestle with after the confetti cannons had stopped firing and the blue-and-white paper had been sucked up off the turf by staffers roaming the field wearing backpack vacuums.<\/p>\n

The Blue Devils have less than a one percent chance to make the Playoff field, according to a model from Austin Mock of The Athletic<\/a>. The ACC\u2019s best chance to place a team in the bracket is Miami, which was absent from Saturday night\u2019s proceedings after losing a tiebreaker among the five teams that tied for second place in an overgrown superconference \u2014 a conference that will likely re-examine those tiebreakers in the offseason.<\/p>\n

Miami, despite having a near-identical resume to Notre Dame and a head-to-head win in Week 1, has trailed the Fighting Irish in the CFP rankings each week this season, first by eight spots and most recently by two. The team that separated them in Tuesday\u2019s rankings, BYU, lost 34-7 to Texas Tech<\/a> in the Big 12 title game matinee.<\/p>\n

Mock\u2019s model gives Miami a 17 percent chance to make the field.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have conviction and confidence in our teams, starting with Miami,\u201d ACC commissioner Jim Phillips told the Associated Press this week. \u201cThe second piece of that is the Virginia-Duke winner should absolutely be in this College Football Playoff.\u201d<\/p>\n

Phillips, approached on the field by The Athletic after handing the ACC title trophy to Diaz and Duke\u2019s players, declined to comment.<\/p>\n

Diaz preferred not to discuss hypotheticals regarding the Playoff scenarios involving Duke, but with \u201cnew information\u201d now headed the committee\u2019s way \u2014 i.e., a Blue Devils\u2019 win over a ranked opponent \u2014 he had plenty to say to make his team\u2019s case.<\/p>\n

On Friday night, he watched James Madison win the Sun Belt title<\/a>, beating Troy 31-14, though the Dukes led only 17-14 until they added two late touchdowns to provide the final score. JMU, No. 25 in the CFP committee\u2019s rankings this week, has the inside track to be the fifth-highest-ranked conference champion in the 12-team bracket.<\/p>\n

Diaz, though, is confident Duke will jump JMU and be included in the field.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou just can\u2019t compare going through the Sun Belt this year,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s been a really good conference in years past. But most of their top teams are just having down years. So (JMU was) probably just not challenged in a way they would have been going through a normal Sun Belt season. Sometimes that happens.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou gotta look at who you\u2019re playing against. That\u2019s the whole point of why you play a Power 4 schedule. There\u2019s a reason why these coaches are all leaving to take Power 4 jobs. There\u2019s a recognition that that\u2019s where the best competition is.\u201d<\/p>\n

Said defensive end Wesley Williams, who had three quarterback hurries and a tackle for loss in the win: \u201cWe\u2019re a Power 4 conference champion. Simple enough.\u201d<\/p>\n

It might be simple in the committee\u2019s eyes \u2014 but not in the way that Williams, or the rest of the Blue Devils, think. The odds are against the committee granting a five-loss team admission onto the sport\u2019s biggest stage.<\/p>\n

But all the Playoff discussion overshadows a stark reality: Duke is an ACC champion. In football.<\/p>\n

The Blue Devils hadn\u2019t won an outright conference title since going 6-0 in ACC play back in 1962. William D. Murray, the coach of that team, died in 1986, three years before Steve Spurrier coached Duke to a share of an ACC title in 1989 and parlayed that into the Florida job. This week, Spurrier left Diaz a voicemail wishing him luck.<\/p>\n

The Blue Devils needed a little bit of it. They coughed up a 10-point lead with four minutes to go, allowing Virginia to march 96 yards in 10 plays to send the game into overtime after Cavs quarterback Chandler Morris found Eli Wood for a game-tying, 18-yard touchdown pass. But when Duke quarterback Darian Mensah, who arrived in the offseason with a reported two-year, $8 million deal, kneeled out the remaining seconds of regulation, both sidelines exploded in excitement.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe try to pride ourselves on being comfortable in the uncomfortable moments,\u201d Mergott said.<\/p>\n

Duke seemed unconcerned with the pressure of the moment and the self-inflicted errors that had led to it.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe said, \u2018Hey, guess what, we get to go play overtime to win the ACC. That sounds pretty fun. Let\u2019s go do it,\u2019\u201d Diaz said.<\/p>\n

And Duke did it.<\/p>\n

The Blue Devils made history. They hugged and high-fived.<\/p>\n

After Mergott snagged the interception \u2014 \u201cOnce it went up, I knew I was coming down with it. I didn\u2019t think he was going to throw it. I was on that kid,\u201d he said \u2014 the sideline spilled onto the field. Defensive tackle Aaron Hall collapsed to the ground and put his hands around his helmet. Wood, who caught the game-tying score, spiked his helmet on the turf in frustration.<\/p>\n

Team staffers passed out shirts. Red-eyed coaches hugged and wiped tears from their faces numbed by the cold.<\/p>\n

Diaz couldn\u2019t stop smiling.<\/p>\n

Duke will watch the committee roll out their decision on Sunday. But what might have been a nightmare for the ACC was a dream come true for royal blue.<\/p>\n