A fake punt gaffe the likes of which you’ll probably never see again has pushed Duke to a 26-14 halftime lead over Northern Illinois in the Quick Lane Bowl.
Trailing 7-0 with 4:32 to play in the first quarter, Northern Illinois punter Matt Ference trotted onto the field for what everyone thought would be a boot from his own end zone. Everyone but him, that is.
Instead, Ference decided to pass. It was fourth and 18.
What in the world? pic.twitter.com/QMahng8avM
— FootballScoop (@FootballScoop) December 26, 2017
Duke took over at the NIU 11-yard line and needed three plays to score, a 1-yard Shaun Wilson run that gave the Blue Devils a 14-0 lead a dozen minutes into the game.
Northern Illinois struck back with two quick scoring drives. The first was a 2-play, 68-yard drive that saw Marcus Childers hit Spencer Tears for a 43-yard gain and then Tre Harbison score on a 25-yard rush. After forcing a three-and-out, the Huskies tied the game on a 67-yard strike from Childers to Jauan Wesley, knotting the score at 14-14 with 12:22 left in the first half.
Duke re-gained the lead on a 33-yard touchdown pass from Daniel Jones to T.J. Rahming, but William Holmquist‘s PAT missed. The Blue Devils pushed their lead back to two scores with an 11-yard swing pass from Jones to Wilson with 1:33 left before the break, but Jones’s 2-point pass was intercepted in the end zone.
Jones hit 16-of-23 passes for 178 yards with two touchdowns and no interceptions while rushing six times for a team-high 28 yards and another score. Wilson added 10 carries for 23 yards and a touchdown.
For Northern Illinois, Childers connected on 6-of-10 passes for 141 yards with a touchdown with eight carries for 20 yards, while Harbison led all runners with 53 yards on nine carries with one touchdown.
Duke will receive to open the second half.