Duke Comeback Falls Short at Virginia 42-34

Saturday, November 21

Charlottesville, Va.

3:30 PM

Duke University

Virginia

Duke Comeback Falls Short at Virginia 42-34

11/21/2015 7:27:00 PM | Football

By: Duke Sports Information

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. -- The Duke football team came six yards and a two-point conversion shy of completing its largest comeback in program history. Down 42-20 entering the fourth quarter, the Blue Devils fell on the road to the Virginia Cavaliers Saturday, 42-34. The loss moves Duke to 6-5 (3-4 ACC) on the year, while Virginia improves to 4-7 (3-4 ACC). Freshman receiver T.J. Rahming headlined the day for the Blue Devils, hauling in 12 passes for 190 yards, both Duke freshman records, and a touchdown.

The home team built an early 21-0 lead, finding the endzone on its first three drives of the game. In need of a spark, the Blue Devils received it from kickoff return specialist DeVon Edwards. The redshirt junior received the ensuing kickoff and outran the Virginia coverage 94 yards to the endzone to put Duke in the scoring column. The score was Edwards' third of the season and sixth of his career, one shy of tying former Clemson standout C.J. Spiller for the ACC career record.

With the Cavaliers driving again, cornerback Breon Borders halted the Virginia threat, picking off an errant pass for his second interception of the season. Duke was able to capitalize on the turnover as kicker Ross Martin converted a 36-yard field goal to bring the score to 21-10 with 3:36 left on the clock. As the half drew to a close, Virginia used a four-play, 79-yard scoring drive to go up 28-10 with 1:08 left in the second quarter, but Duke answered quickly with a 42-yard field goal from Martin in the waning seconds to head into the locker room down 15.

After a Duke fumble that led to a Virginia touchdown to push the score to 35-13 in favor of the Cavaliers, Duke responded with a 14-play, 67-yard drive that culminated with tight end Braxton Deaver hauling in a seven-yard pass from quarterback Thomas Sirk. Virginia answered with its sixth touchdown of the day on the next possession, connecting on a 50-yard toss to extend the lead to 42-20.

In the fourth quarter, reserve quarterback Parker Boehme came in and led the Blue Devils' offense on a furious comeback, tossing one touchdown to Rahming and running in another to cut the Virginia lead to eight. After the defense forced a Cavalier punt with less than a minute to play, Boehme marched Duke down to Virginia's six-yard line, but a turnover-on-downs with an incomplete pass in the endzone with five seconds left on the clock sealed the win for the home team.

The Blue Devils will conclude the regular season next weekend, traveling to Winston-Salem, N.C., to battle Wake Forest Saturday, Nov. 28 at 12:30 p.m. The contest against the Demon Deacons will be aired on the ACC Network.

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