Duke's devilish defense gashes UNC's football team Saturday

The North Carolina football team is used to living by the big play. On Saturday, UNC died by it.

Duke gashed the Tar Heel defense for big plays throughout the game, and the Blue Devils rode the long gains to a dramatic 33-30 win.

“They did whatever they wanted to do,” coach Larry Fedora said. “They threw it, they ran it, they did whatever they wanted to do.”

The Blue Devils had 22 plays that gained 10 or more yards — eight runs and 14 passes.

On their game-winning drive, the Blue Devils had three plays of 10 yards or more and converted three third downs and one fourth down.

Duke quarterback Sean Renfree capped the drive and the game with one last exclamation point — a fourth-down touchdown pass that gave his team a 33-30 lead with 13 seconds left.

The Blue Devils found holes in the middle of the North Carolina defense all night long.

Almost all of Duke’s long runs went straight up the gut or through the right side of the offensive line, and the Tar Heels couldn’t stop them.

And in the passing game, Duke repeatedly found space between the safeties in North Carolina’s zone defenses and took advantage of soft coverage on the outside.

“They were running good on us, so when they did throw it, maybe the (defensive backs) were kind of respecting the run,” linebacker Kevin Reddick said.

“And then they passed it on us, and (the backs) kind of weren’t aware.”

Tre Boston, a safety, led the Tar Heels in tackles with 17 — a sign Duke was successfully getting the ball downfield and forcing UNC’s secondary to make stops.

Reddick said it was Boston’s job to make those tackles when Duke ran the ball to Boston’s side.

But Fedora said it wasn’t good that a defensive back had to make so many plays.

Boston did make a few tackles on shorter runs, but most of his tackles were not made close to the line of scrimmage.

Of Boston’s 17 tackles, eight came on gains of 10 or more yards, and 10 were on plays that resulted in Blue Devil first downs.

While Duke was shredding UNC’s defense, the Tar Heels were struggling to move the ball vertically.

Through three quarters, the Tar Heels got a 34-yard run and a 39-yard catch from tailback Giovani Bernard — but not much else down the field.

Redshirt junior quarterback Bryn Renner had thrown for just 36 yards on 19 passes through the first three quarters and backup Marquise Williams threw one pass for 39 yards.

But despite Duke’s slew of big plays, it looked like North Carolina might have gotten the biggest one late in the fourth quarter.

Erik Highsmith was stripped after a long reception, but Bernard came out of nowhere to scoop up the fumble and run it in for a touchdown, giving UNC a 30-26 lead.

“I chased the ball, followed the ball,” Bernard said. “Something that we stress is don’t end the play.

“It’s a matter of following your players — you never know what could happen.”

The Blue Devils, though, as they had all game, came right back with more big plays.

And fittingly, their last offensive play — the game-winning touchdown — was the biggest.

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