DURHAM — The Victory Bell is becoming a mainstay in Chapel Hill.
North Carolina dominated Duke for three quarters, and withstood a furious late rally to win 24-19. The win marks UNC’s 20th in 21 tries against Duke, and its seventh consecutive series win.
UNC (7-5, 4-4 ACC) also solidified its bowl game bid with that seventh win, coupled with a few surprising outcomes around the ACC.
“We doggone feel like we earned it this year,” free safety Deunta Williams said.
That also seals the third consecutive winning season for the UNC program, which is the first time that has happened since 1998 when the Tar Heels had nine straight winning seasons. The mark is even more of a feat considering the turmoil and turnover that the football team had to deal with to get there.
“It’s good to have all the stats and stuff, but this team being able to do what we’ve done through all the adversity and kind of being at the front of that is one of the things that I cherish the most,” quarterback T.J. Yates said. “I challenge any other team in the country to go through what we did and come out like we did. I’m very proud of that.”
After the first 55 minutes of the game, it looked like UNC was cruising to a rather easy victory, as the Tar Heels were outgaining Duke by 319 yards of total offense and holding a 24-10 lead. But with five minutes to go, Duke got a safety after a fourth-down interception and penalty gave the Tar Heels the ball on their own 2-yard line.
“Playing these guys is always kind of annoying,” Yates said. “They keep coming back and keep coming back. They’re a good team. We did a lot of things to shoot ourselves in the foot, as far as penalties and little breakdowns, but overall we got the win and that’s all that matters.”
From there, Duke scored another touchdown on a six-play, 45-yard drive to get within five, but the UNC defense tightened up when it needed to, holding Duke to 17 yards on what would have been a game-winning drive when Duke got the ball on its own 24 with 43 seconds remaining.
