As Duke, Virginia Are Opposing Each Other Friday Night In Charlottesville Duke, Virginia Are Looking To Get Back To Their Winning Ways Following Losses To Georgia Tech, North Carolina ,SMU
Recently,
Saturday’s haven’t been so kind to either Duke or Virginia because they’ve lost games to Atlantic Coast opponents to Georgia Tech, North Carolina, SMU.
Could playing on a different day a Friday help Duke, Virginia who are opposing each other in Charlottesville?
Duke comes into the game with Virginia with record of 4-2 overall 1-2 in Atlantic Coast Conference is twelfth in the Atlantic Coast Conference standings because they’ve lost two straight Atlantic Coast Conference games. They lost at Georgia Tech on Saturday October 10, 2026 though they came back to take 25-21 lead on running back Nate Sheppard’s 5 yard rushing touchdown Gavin Strange kicked, made extra point Saturday putting Duke ahead 25-21 with 6:34 remaining in 4th quarter Duke sustained first loss of the season because Gavin Strange missed field goal to force overtime following Georgia Tech taking 28-25 lead on Trelain Maddox touchdown.
Gavin Strange was taking the place of Cosme Salas because of undisclosed injury.
Before Duke lost to Georgia Tech in regulation 28-25 Jordan Allen who is running back caught 5 yard pass from Alberto Mendoza who is quarterback putting Georgia Tech ahead 7-0 before Duke evened the score 7-7 with touchdown of their own with Nate Sheppard running for 5 yard touchdown before Trevor Maddox would run for 5 yard touchdown Aidan Burr would kick, make extra point giving Georgia Tech the lead 14-7 before Duke would respond with Gavin Strange kicking , making 35 yard field goal getting Duke within 14-10 in 2nd quarter. In 3rd quarter Trelain Maddox would run for 60 yard touchdown Aiden Burr would kick, make extra point extending Georgia Tech’s lead over Duke 21-10 in 3rd quarter before Duke would respond with a touchdown of their own by Jared Richardson who is wide receiver from Walker Eget who is quarterback Walker Eget would pass to Jonah Burton who is wide receiver to complete two point conversion getting Duke within 21-18 of Georgia Tech.
According to ESPN App
Following Duke sustaining first loss of the 2026 season at Georgia Tech Saturday Head Coach Manny Diaz shared his thoughts by saying it was two teams going after one another we kind of felt like the game would come down to the last play of the game it did, and unfortunately that play didn’t go our way.
You can’t really learn about yourself until your in that situation down 11 the way our guys battled the way we believed we could win a football game the drives we made , the individual efforts some of the plays Walker Eget made were big time plays.
Though,
Head Coach Manny Diaz wasn’t the only one to share his thoughts following Duke’s 28-25 loss at Georgia Tech as Nate Sheppard who is running back who scored a touchdown did as well saying We have a lot of resilience. We show a lot of toughness and a lot of effort even when playing from behind.
According to Chip Alexander News & Observer article https://www.newsobserver.com/sports/college/acc/duke/article317491386.html
Then on Saturday October 17, 2026 Duke lost yet again this time 24-20 to tobacco road rival North Carolina in Durham Duke took 20-17 lead with 4:39 remaining in regulation in 4th quarter as quarterback Walker Eget touchdown pass to running back Nate Sheppard for 7 yards.
Though,
Duke took 20-17 lead on Walker Eget pass for touchdown to Nate Sheppard Duke lost to North Carolina 24-20 Saturday as Jaylen McGill ran for 24 yard touchdown.
Though,
The game wasn’t the only thing Duke lost as they also lost possession of Victory Bell because they didn’t win the game.
Following Duke’s 24-20 loss to North Carolina Head Coach Manny Diaz shared his thoughts saying There’s frustration in defeat but this is just what college football is going to be like week in and week out. I would be surprised if we’re not this the next six weeks it comes down to who can finish and who can do simple well in not so simple at times . That has been our battle cry on how we’d win the game . We’ve got great fight and great spirit . To rip -off 20-0 run in middle in the middle of the game but we’re not where we need to be to finish games . But it can look differently quickly because I think there’s enough in that locker room worth fighting for. This game was similar to where we were a week ago . We had a chance to make a stop on defense and win a football game and our inability to do that , and we had them in fourth down backed up I think was crucial play of the game and ultimately cost us the game.
Head Coach Manny Diaz comments to his team following 24-20 loss to North Carolina Saturday? I told the team there’s good football team in our locker room that has had two very difficult heartbreaking results that have come down to last play of the game.’’ . We pride ourselves on winning these type of close games and we’ve let two get away from us.
According to Chip Alexander News & Observer
Meanwhile,
Virginia comes into the game with Duke with record of 4-3 2-2 in the Atlantic Coast Conference is tenth in Atlantic Coast Conference standings because they lost their previous game to 24th ranked SMU on Saturday October 17, 2026 as they lost 23-13 in Dallas Texas where it was mostly about the kicking game for Virginia as Will Bettridge kicked, made 47 yard field goal evening score 10-10 in 2nd quarter In the 3rd quarter Will Bettridge kicked, made 43 yard field goal making score 16-13 before Jalen Hale who is Wide Receiver would 37 yard pass from quarterback Kevin Jennings Brendon Bard would kick, make extra point putting game out of Virginia’s reach!
Following Virginia’s 23-13 loss to 24th ranked SMU Head Coach Tony Elliott shared his thoughts saying Coming into it, we knew that we were gonna have to find a way to slow them down,”and a big piece of it was to keep the ball away [from them].”
According to Jeff White’s article https://virginiasports.com/news/2026/10/17/cavaliers-fall-on-road-to-no-24-mustangs
Duke is the defending Atlantic Coast Conference Champion because on December 6, 2025 it took overtime for Duke to top 16th ranked Virginia 27-20 to win ACC Championship Saturday night in Charlotte as tight end pass Jeremiah Hasley caught 1 yard pass for touchdown from quarterback Darian Mensah , Cosme Salas kicked, make extra point.
Before Duke won in overtime topping Virginia 27-20 in the 1st quarter Jeremiah Hasley caught 12 yard pass from Darian Mensah Todd Pelino kicked, made extra point giving Duke 7-0 . In the 2nd quarter Jmari Taylor who is running back for Virginia caught 11 yard pass from Chandler Morris , Will Bettridge kicked, made extra point evening score 7-7 before Nate Sheppard who is running back for Duke ran for 16 yard touchdown , Todd Pelino kicked, made extra point putting Duke ahead 14-7 . In the 3rd quarter both Duke, Virginia kicked field goal Will Bettridge kicking , making 24 yard field goal to cut Virginia’s deficit Duke’s lead to 14-10 before Duke added to their lead with Todd Pelino kicking, making 29 yard field goal . In the 4th quarter Todd Pelino would kick, make 23 yard field goal extending Duke’s lead to 10 points to 20-10 before Virginia’s Will Bettridge would kick, make 42 yard field goal getting Virginia within 20-13 before wide receiver Eli Wood would catch 18 yard pass from quarterback Chandler Morris , Will Bettridge would kick, make extra point evening the game at 20 points a piece forcing overtime.
According to ESPN App
Following Duke topping 16th ranked Virginia 27-20 in overtime to win ACC Championship Saturday night in Charlotte as Jeremiah Hasley caught 1 yard touchdown from Darian Mensah , Cosme Salas kicked, made extra point Head Coach Manny Diaz shared his thoughts on his team by saying “Their belief in each other and the things we’ve gone through this year,”
and the mental toughness of these guys, they were rewarded tonight. We said we were going to win it the Duke way. We were going to win it on the last play of the game. Luke Mergott won the game on the last play of the game.
Following Duke topping 16th ranked Virginia 27-20 in overtime to win ACC Championship Saturday night in Charlotte as Jeremiah Hasley caught 1 yard touchdown from Darian Mensah , Cosme Salas kicked, made extra redshirt junior Defensive End Wesley Williams shared his thoughts by saying For me,”I’ve only been here for four years, but how far we’ve come in those four years, is magical, honestly. It’s nothing but God’s grace and hard work. We just stand on that every day.
According to Stephen Wiseman News & Observer article https://www.newsobserver.com/sports/college/acc/duke/article313317709.html
Meanwhile,
Virginia Head Coach Tony Elliott had this to say about his 27-20 loss to Duke There is nothing I can say to them to take away the pain. But I also told the guys how proud I am of the team that was picked to finish 14th out of 17 teams and earned the right to be here. ... When you're trying to climb that mountain, the air is thin and the margin for error is very, very small."
According to Associated Press article on ESPN https://www.espn.com/college-football/recap/_/gameId/401777328
Kick-off is set for 7:00pm from Scott Stadium!
The game is going to be televised on ESPN with Mike Monaco , Jordan Rogers, Dana Boyle commentating!
Mike Monaco is a versatile and accomplished play-by-play announcer for ESPN. Adept at calling a variety of sports, Monaco joined ESPN in 2019 and has called Major League Baseball, NHL, Little League World Series, basketball, college baseball, football, lacrosse, volleyball and softball events. He expanded his role to include tennis, making his commentator debut on ESPN’s tennis coverage at Wimbledon in 2024.
Prior to joining ESPN and the ACC Network, Monaco was with FOX Sports and the Big Ten Network from 2017-19, where he called football, hockey, basketball, baseball, soccer, lacrosse, volleyball and softball. Monaco also previously called college basketball for NBC Sports and four seasons of college basketball games at Western Michigan University.
In addition to his work with ESPN, Monaco also currently serves as the fill-in play-by-play announcer for Boston Red Sox broadcasts on NESN. He has also called games for the Chicago Blackhawks, Chicago Bulls and Chicago White Sox.
After initially filling in on Red Sox telecasts during the 2019 season, Monaco returned to NESN’s Red Sox booth in 2020, 2021 and 2022 for select spring training and regular-season games. He previously spent the 2017-19 seasons with the Triple-A Pawtucket Red Sox.
In college, Monaco interned with NESN during the 2012 Red Sox season, then served as a broadcaster in the Cape Cod Baseball League (2013 and 2014 seasons) and for the Chicago Cubs’ (2015) and San Diego Padres’ (2016) Single-A affiliates in the Midwest League.
Born and raised in Cohasset, Massachusetts, Monaco attended the University of Notre Dame. While in South Bend, he served as a play-by-play broadcaster, reporter and host for his alma mater, including on nationally syndicated Notre Dame football shows.
Jordan Rogers Jordan Rodgers joined ESPN as a college football studio analyst on SEC Network in July 2016. Rodgers is now a college football analyst on ABC and ESPN, while also making appearances on studio programming across ESPN networks, including Get Up, First Take, SportsCenter and ABC’s Saturday college football wraps. Rodgers is also the lead analyst for ESPN and ABC’s UFL coverage and won a Sports Emmy for his analysis on the SEC on ABC franchise.
In fall 2017, he joined the SEC Saturday Night booth, the franchise that features SEC Network’s marquee college football game each Saturday, alongside commentator Tom Hart and field analyst Cole Cubelic. In July 2020, he was announced as a cast member of SEC Nation, SEC Network’s Saturday football pregame show.
Rodgers was a quarterback at Vanderbilt University from 2010-12 after a two-year stint at Butte College. In 2012, Rodgers became the first quarterback in team history to lead the Commodores to back-to-back postseason bowl appearances. He led the Commodores to a 9-4 record in his senior year, completing an impressive season with 191 completions, 2,539 yards and 15 touchdowns.
The Chico, Calif. native was an offensive co-captain during his final season and was named to the SEC Academic Honor Roll in 2010, 2011 and 2012.
Rodgers spent time with the Jacksonville Jaguars, Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Miami Dolphins during his professional career. He also co-hosted CNBC’s Cash Pad with his now-wife, Joelle Fletcher.
Dana Boyle is a college football and lacrosse reporter for ESPN and ACC Network. She was named a sideline reporter for ACC Primetime Football on ACC Network in July 2024 and currently works ESPN’s Friday night college football game.
Boyle joined ESPN and ACC Network in 2020 as an analyst and sideline reporter for college lacrosse and Premier Lacrosse League (PLL) coverage. She has also contributed to college hockey coverage across ESPN platforms. Prior to joining ESPN, Boyle interned with the College Football Playoff.
A University of Virginia graduate, Boyle was a standout lacrosse player for the Cavaliers and a former All-ACC selection.
According to https://espnpressroom.com/bio/mike-monaco/
https://espnpressroom.com/bio/dana-boyle/
https://espnpressroom.com/bio/jordan-rodgers/