When the Duke Blue Devils hosted the North Carolina Tar Heels Thursday, it was all about the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets.
North Carolina’s dominant 45-20 victory over the rival Blue Devils handed Georgia Tech the ACC Coastal crown and placed Paul Johnson‘s team in the ACC Championship Game against the No. 3 Florida State Seminoles.
The school already released a statement with reaction to winning the ACC Coastal:
Georgia Tech AD Mike Bobinski, head coach Paul Johnson on the Yellow Jackets winning the ACC Coastal division: pic.twitter.com/ziXd9yJJfK
— Matt Fortuna (@Matt_Fortuna) November 21, 2014
Meanwhile, Duke fell to 4-3 in the division, while North Carolina improved and now sports the same conference record.
Coach Cut on the loss to UNC: “We’re not going to pout or feel sorry for ourselves at all.” Says focus is on 2 game season.
— Andrea Adelson (@aadelsonESPN) November 21, 2014
The Blue Devils’ defense simply didn’t show up to play Thursday. North Carolina racked up a whopping 592 total yards. The Tar Heels were dominant at the point of attack and ran the ball for 316 of those yards. Three different players ran for at least 96 yards. Sophomore running back T.J. Logan led the way with 116 yards on 18 carries.
North Carolina quarterback Marquise Williams also proved to be a difficult matchup for Duke. The dual-threat quarterback accumulated 374 total yards and four total touchdowns. Dukes’ offense only gained four more yards than Williams did.
Williams’ effort placed him in North Carolina’s record books:
Marquise Williams has 3,402 total yards this season, most in school history #UNCvsDUKE pic.twitter.com/7U3F5QSm09
— ESPN College Football (@ESPNCFB) November 21, 2014
The quarterback’s performance almost made everyone forget about the fact he also fumbled the ball three times.
The entire contest was plagued by mistakes. A combined six turnovers were committed. Duke was never able to recover from two early fumbles, though.
Blue Devils quarterback Anthony Boone also didn’t rise to the occasion. The senior signal-caller was 22-of-40 passing for 262 yards.
Once the first quarter ended, Duke was never in the contest. The Tar Heels went into Wallace Wade Stadium, ran their rivals out of the building and claimed the Victory Bell as their own.
Both teams are still bowl eligible, but the light at the end of the tunnel isn’t as bright as it once was for Duke. Instead, the Blue Devils ran smack into a Ramblin’ Wreck.