The Pick Six of a Lifetime

This story originally ran in the 11.9 Issue of GoDuke, the Magazine – April 2020

After seeing their streak of four consecutive bowl appearances come to end in 2016, David Cutcliffe and his Blue Devils had plenty of optimism heading into the fall of the following year.

Daniel Jones would be in his second year as the starting quarterback, and this time he had an entire offseason to prepare for that reality, as well as lessons learned from an initial campaign that saw unparalleled individual achievements juxtaposed with collective disappointment.

Three games into the 2017 season, those seeds of optimism were beginning to bloom. Duke was 3-0 for just the second time under Cutcliffe, riding high off consecutive double-digit wins over power five opponents in Northwestern and Baylor. All three of those wins had also come at home, and Duke's first road trip was going to be in familiar territory — but perhaps not for September.

In 103 previous meetings between Duke and North Carolina, the two had never met so early in the season. In fact, you had to go all the way back to 1925 to find a game that was played even as early as October 10, long before the Victory Bell was even introduced in 1948. A trophy, by the way, that was still nestled inside the Yoh Football facility when the day began, after Duke had won the previous year's meeting 28-27 in Durham. In that game Jones had thrown for 240 yards and rushed for another 94 accounting for three total touchdowns, including the game-winning toss to tight end David Koppenhaver with just over two minutes to play.

Now looking for their fourth win in six tries against the Tar Heels, Duke made the eight-mile trek to Chapel Hill with temperatures hovering in the 80s but not a cloud in the sky. While the Duke offense had been rolling through its first three games, on the first two drives of this one they had just two first downs, and it was North Carolina that struck first — a 34-yard field goal setup by a 47-yard completion to Austin Proehl from Chazz Surratt on a flea flicker.

Trailing for the first time Duke responded quickly. A rushing attack that had gone for more than 200 yards in each of the first three games saw Brittain Brown burst through for 38 yards, setting up a first down at the Tar Heel 28. One play later Koppenhaver, who had that go-ahead score a year earlier, scored the first points of the afternoon for the Blue Devils. It took just over a minute and only three plays to grab a 7-3 lead on Jones' first scoring toss of the day, and that's where things stood at the end of the opening quarter.

An ensuing three-and-out for North Carolina combined with a 27-yard field goal from Austin Parker saw Duke go ahead 10-3, and the lead looked like it might expand just before halftime before Parker's 24-yard attempt with 22 seconds was blocked. That frustration for Duke was compounded two plays later as Surratt found Anthony Ratliff for 35 and then 45 yards, marching 80 yards in just 13 seconds to tie the game just before halftime, 10-10. Statistically Duke had dominated the first half, 11 first downs to 5, 119 rushing yards to just 22 allowed, but despite having the football for more than 18 of the first 30 minutes the game was tied.

The Blue Devils had the ball to start the third quarter and methodically reclaimed the lead. It took more than seven minutes, and 19 plays, but this time Parker's attempt from 24 was good, and Duke went in front 13-10. North Carolina answered quickly, though, their quarterback Surratt showing off his ability to scramble as he danced free for 56 yards and a 17-13 lead.

That's where things stood heading into the fourth quarter, a familiar and even comfortable spot from the viewpoint of Duke senior safety Alonzo Saxton. "From the gate we knew we could play with them — they're a good team but we knew we had something going," Saxton said. "We knew that is was going to be a fourth quarter game, and it came down to the fourth quarter."

Duke relied on its defense early in the final quarter, getting the North Carolina offense off the field twice in the first six minutes, before the Blue Devil attack got their initial first down of the frame on a highlight reel catch for junior T.J. Rahming in double coverage, good for 45 yards and a first down at the Tar Heel 29. Three plays later Cutcliffe was facing his most difficult decision of the game. Trailing by four midway through the quarter and facing fourth-and-five at the North Carolina 24-yard line, he opted to go for it. His faith in his sophomore quarterback was rewarded when Jones found Johnathan Lloyd for 12 yards and the biggest first down of the game.

"We just made a commitment to ourselves not to lose the game," Lloyd would say afterward. "I just saw what the defense gave me, and I took it. Daniel put it right on me and it made it easy for me to go get the first down."

Moments later Shaun Wilson plunged in from one yard out to give Duke the lead 20-17 with just over six minutes to go. Now, could the defense get a stop?

In Duke's first three wins, the defense had made a habit of not just getting stops, but scoring themselves. Senior cornerback Bryon Fields Jr. had returned an interception for a touchdown in the opener against N.C. Central, and junior linebacker Ben Humphreys had done the same two weeks later to seal the win against Baylor. Fields' return marked the third interception return for a score of his career, equaling a school record.

Facing third-and-12 at the Duke 44 with just over four minutes to go and now trailing by three, Surratt found himself under heavy pressure and at the last moment opted to try a two-handed overhead pass across the middle of the field.

"Pressure on the QB, there's nothing else like it," Cutcliffe said after the game. "He then tries to force something, and Bryon is right there." Fields intercepted the pass and took it 61 yards for a touchdown, effectively sealing the win and doing so in the sliver of the stadium where the Duke fans and family could celebrate along with him.

"Shout out to the defensive line, they've been playing their butts off all year. I'm not exactly sure who it was who had pressure on the play, but it was only possible because of them," Fields said. "I was just back covering my guy, and I knew what route was coming and was able to step in front of it and I got some great blocks on the way to the end zone and we were able to change the game as a defense."

The win was Duke's fourth in six years against North Carolina, but also marked the 500th win in program history, and the 100th in the head coaching career of Cutcliffe.

"I just told the team, thank you," Cutcliffe said. "Someone asked me what do you think about when you think of 100 wins. I said you think about an awful lot of players and coaches and families and that part of it is nostalgic. But honestly for it to happen in Chapel Hill is obviously pretty special.

"They make us travel with 72 players and you know as I came off the field, I see this huge group of our players that came in with tickets and sat in the stands — that was the greatest moment of it all to be honest with you."

Players Mentioned

Brittain Brown

Austin Parker

Duke information