Duke's Trick-Play Touchdown Seals 19-16 Road Win at Virginia
On the night of October 23, 2026, the Duke football team staged a stunning road comeback in Charlottesville, beating Virginia 19-16 on a trick-play touchdown pass with 1:14 left to close out a difficult stretch of the schedule. In the final moments, Duke quarterback Nate Sheppard, in a designed play, threw to Brodie Keefe, who completed the 28-yard touchdown catch to put the Blue Devils ahead.
Virginia tried to answer, but Patrick Smith-Young intercepted a pass with 43 seconds left to seal the win. Duke head coach Manny Diaz said afterward that it was another wild college football game — ACC games are always this tight — and that after falling short in the final four minutes in each of the previous two weeks, his team had finally learned how to finish.
He noted the team was not broken by earlier losses: after Virginia kicked a field goal to take the lead, the offense still drove 75 yards under pressure for the touchdown, and the defense closed the game with an interception — the very definition, he said, of team football. The win is vital to Duke's morale and restores confidence heading into a dense stretch of the schedule.
Source: GSM News
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 弗吉尼亚州议会大厦。图片经 Wikimedia Commons。 Virginia State Capitol. Via Wikimedia Commons.
