Duke Blue Devils Have a Credible College Football Playoff Case; Will the Committee Listen?
They called it the “doomsday scenario.” Honestly, that feels a bit dramatic for a football game, but after watching Duke pull off a 27-20 overtime stunner against Virginia, the ACC offices might actually be looking for a bunker right now.
The Blue Devils, sitting at 8-5 and unranked, weren’t supposed to be here. They slid into the championship game thanks to a tiebreaker system so complicated you’d need a PhD in advanced calculus to explain it. But none of that math mattered when Darian Mensah was scrambling for his life in overtime.
The Overtime Miracle In Charlotte
Let’s talk about the game itself, because it was an absolute heart-stopper. Duke blew a 10-point lead in the final five minutes of regulation, letting Virginia march 96 yards to tie it up. It felt like the momentum had totally shifted. The Cavaliers had the energy, the crowd, and seemingly, the game in hand.
But Manny Diaz’s squad didn’t fold. In overtime, facing a fourth-and-goal from the one-yard line, Mensah rolled out. It looked like a disaster waiting to happen. But then he found Jeremiah Hasley wide open in the end zone. A few moments later, Linebacker Luke Mergott snagged an interception to seal the deal, and just like that, Duke had its first conference title since 1989.
It was messy, it was stressful, and for the players on that field, it was pure, unadulterated joy. You can’t script that kind of emotion.
Manny Diaz’s Ultimate Revenge Game
We have to acknowledge the elephant in the room—or rather, the Hurricane. Diaz was unceremoniously dumped by Miami a few years back. Now, in just his second year in Durham, he’s hoisting the ACC trophy while Miami sits at home watching on TV.
“If you think people hate Duke now, just wait until we win the ACC,” Diaz reportedly told his team earlier in the week. He wasn’t wrong. He’s built a gritty, resilient team that finds ways to win, even when the box score says they shouldn’t. That’s coaching. And for Diaz, this victory has to taste sweeter than any Gatorade bath.
The Committee’s Worst Nightmare
Here is where things get weird. By winning, Duke might have accidentally knocked the entire ACC out of the College Football Playoff.
The system guarantees a spot for the five highest-ranked conference champions. The problem? Duke isn’t ranked. James Madison, the Sun Belt champ, is sitting pretty at No. 25. Unless the committee decides to catapult an 8-5 Duke team into the Top 25 come Sunday, the ACC champion is likely staying home.
It exposes a massive flaw in the current format. We have a Power 4 champion that conquered a gauntlet of a schedule, potentially losing a playoff spot to a Group of 5 team simply because the polls haven’t caught up.
“The ACC champion should go to the College Football Playoff this year and every year,” Diaz argued post-game. He’s got a point. You play the games to win titles, not to satisfy an algorithm. Regardless of what the committee decides, nobody can take this night away from Durham. They came in as the chaos agents, and they left as kings.
