Duke stirs CFP pot, defeats Virginia in OT of ACC title game - ESPN

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Duke won its first outright Atlantic Coast Conference title since 1962 and threw the College Football Playoff into chaos Saturday night when Darian Mensah connected with Jeremiah Hasley for a 1-yard touchdown on a fourth-down play in overtime, and the unranked Blue Devils held on to defeat No. 17 Virginia 27-20.

The Blue Devils (8-5) are unlikely to make the playoff field, opening the door for a second Group of 5 team — likely James Madison — to make it.

Duke last won an ACC regular-season title in 1989, sharing it with Virginia in Steve Spurrier's final season as the Blue Devils' coach. The conference championship game was created in 2005, and Duke got there this year thanks to a five-team tiebreaker.

«So proud of this team,» Duke coach Manny Diaz said in his postgame, on-field interview on ABC. «Their mental toughness, their resilience, wow. These guys, they never give up.

»They are ACC champions, and they deserve to be here."

Virginia (10-3), the ACC regular-season champion, would have reached the CFP for the first time in school history with a victory but fell short when Chandler Morris was intercepted by Luke Mergott on the Cavaliers' first offensive play of OT.

Mensah threw for 196 yards and two scores — both to Hasley — while Nate Sheppard ran for 97 yards and a score for Duke.

«These guys deserve to be in,» Diaz said of his Blue Devils and the CFP.

Virginia trailed by 10 with 5:02 left in regulation but got a field goal from Will Bettridge before Morris capped a 10-play, 96-yard drive with an 18-yard strike to Eli Wood in the left corner of the end zone with 22 seconds left to tie it at 20.

In the extra period, Sheppard got the Blue Devils to Virginia's 2-yard line with three runs. Duke was