What we learned as Duke football suffered a key ACC loss to No. 12 Georgia Tech
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Georgia Tech's late big plays, including a 95-yard fumble return, decided game.
- Duke's offense produced 373 yards but turnovers and special teams errors hurt.
- Defense showed resistance with tackles for loss but failed to record a sack.
Saturday did not produce a game of many razzle-dazzle plays or touchdowns galore. More like a heavyweight fight, punch after punch.
No. 12 Georgia Tech got in the heaviest blows in the end.
Duke and Tech went at it for 60 minutes Saturday like they were playing for an ACC championship. Which, by season’s end, they may be. If so, the Yellow Jackets now have the better path after a 27-18 victory at Wallace Wade Stadium.
The Yellow Jackets came into Wade Stadium undefeated, ranked No. 12 and underdogs, according to Vegas types. Georgia Tech coach Brent Key had used that as extra motivation during game week, saying he told his team, “Here we are again, boys, us against the world.”
Georgia Tech (7-0, 4-0 ACC) produced the biggest single play of the game late in the first quarter, a startling 95-yard fumble return by safety Omar Daniels. It came after the Blue Devils had reached the 1-yard line, and staked Georgia Tech to a 7-0 lead.
Duke (4-3, 3-1 ACC), again playing from behind, dealt with several self-inflicted wounds in the first half but got a tying score on quarterback Darian Mensah’s 20-yard pass to tight end Landen King with 27 seconds left before halftime.
Duke took a 10-7 lead in the third quarter, and it was 10-10 in the fourth before the Yellow Jackets put together their longest offensive possession of the game: a 12-play, 89-yard drive that ended on Aidan Birr’s second field goal of the game, a 23-yarder that pushed Tech into a 13-10 lead with 11:01 left in the fourth.
The Yellow Jackets, 7-0 for the first time since 1966, then sealed it with a late touchdown drive, running back Malachi Hosley scoring from 10 yards for the 20-10 cushion with five minutes remaining.
Georgia Tech quarterback Haynes King, always cool under pressure, passed for 205 yards and ran for another 120. King capped off the victory with a 32-yard run, followed by a 28-yarder for a touchdown with 2:10 left in the game for the final 17-point spread.
Duke, which had an extra week to prepare for the ACC headliner, got 373 yards and two touchdowns passing from Mensah, who completed 32 of his 44 throws. Mensah, who had 193 yards in the opening half, faced increased pressure in the pocket in the second half and often had to throw on the run.
Mensah honed in on wide receiver Cooper Barkate for 13 catches for 172 yards for the Blue Devils.
“We knew it was going to come down to a four-quarter game,” Duke coach Manny Diaz said. “When you boss a game like we did for the first 37 minutes of the game and only have a three-point lead, at some point a team as good as Tech is going to have a response.
“When they responded, they were able to take game control. They were able to respond with the kind of red-zone efficiency that we didn’t.”
What did we learn about Duke in the ACC loss?
Duke defense finally bent
The Duke defense, with linebackers Kendall Johnson and Tre Freeman returning from injuries, limited the Georgia Tech offense and kept King contained for the most part in the opening half.
But King, a redshirt senior not lacking savvy, has proven to be a big-play guy at Tech and hurt the Blue Devils with some explosives in the second half. His 49-yard completion to tight end Josh Beetham in the third quarter set up a score-tying field goal, and a 30-yarder to Isiah Canion led to Birr’s go-ahead field goal in the fourth.
Leading 13-10, the Yellow Jackets ran off clock and picked up the Hosley TD for the 10-point lead. King’s late TD run capped a 17-point fourth quarter for Georgia Tech, which had 110 yards in total offense at halftime and finished with 376 yards.
“The second half they just executed better than us,” Duke cornerback Chandler Rivers said. “They didn’t do anything different, just executed better.”
Duke’s defense produced six tackles for losses but did not have a sack in the game.
“When they took control of the game, a lot of it was really in the passing game,” Diaz said. “I thought (King) did a great job of throwing the ball into some tight windows and making some plays. As well as we had played, they were able to lean on us and take control of the game.”
Falling behind early
Teams always stress the importance of “sudden change” in football games. Usually, it comes on a turnover where the defensive unit has to pop on helmets and hustle back on the field.
There’s nothing more sudden than a fumble scoop and score, nor more impactful as a momentum shifter.
So it was with Daniels’ fumble runback early in the game. The Blue Devils had been pinned at their 3-yard line but had put together an efficient drive that began with a pass to Barkate that had the wideout barely step out of bounds at the Duke 38 on what could have been a massive offensive play..
Barkate caught three more passes in the drive as the Devils moved inside the Georgia Tech 10, which is Anderson Castle territory for Duke. The big running back punched the ball to the 1, but Mensah then mishandled the handoff on second-and-goal.
The ball came loose. Daniels grabbed it at the 5 and that was that. Make it 7-0, Jackets.
“I think it was a game of two of the best teams in this league, and when two really good teams play against each other, it’s not hard to figure out what’s going to decide it,” Diaz said. “Giving away seven points on a scoop and score, and then with our issues in the red zone, you’re not going to beat a team as good as Tech.”
The Blue Devils had not had a turnover since the Tulane game and were plus-11 on turnovers in winning three straight ACC games. They would have another in the first half — on downs — after a botched field goal.
By halftime, the stats all favored Duke: 238 yards to 110, a 14-7 edge in first downs and 18 ½ minutes in possession time.
Special teams can be unpredictable
A constant concern for coaches is kicking-game breakdowns and gaffes on special teams, and both Duke’s Manny Diaz and Tech’s Brent Key felt some angst Saturday.
For Diaz, it came in the second quarter with Todd Pelino lining up for a 30-yard field goal. But holder Kade Reynoldson had trouble with the snap, then tried to run, only to be dropped for a 13-yard loss and a Duke turnover on downs.
For Key, an anxious moment came on the second-half kickoff. Duke’s Sahmir Hagans had a 35-yard runback and Tech kicker Aidan Birr was blasted on a block and had to be helped off the field.
Duke took advantage of the favorable field position and soon had a 10-7 lead on a short Pelino field goal.
Key didn’t like what happened next, either. Tech’s Shane Marshall juggled the kickoff in the end zone, decided to run it out and was clobbered at the Tech 14.
Birr’s 40-yard field goal in the third quarter tied the score 10-10 and a 23-yarder in the fourth gave the Jackets the lead. Pelino missed on a 46-yarder with Tech leading 20-10.
This story was originally published October 18, 2025 at 3:50 PM.
