Pelino’s fake FG run sets up Duke’s winning TD at UNC – and gave a kicker a rare offensive highlight

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (AP) — Todd Pelino lined up a late field goal that would push Duke ahead of rival North Carolina, went through his paces like he always had done.

It had to look like routine — even though it was about to be anything but.

Instead, holder Kade Reynoldson took the snap and flipped it to Pelino. And the senior kicker took off around the left side into open grass, converting a trick-play fake into a game-turning 26-yard gain that ultimately set up the Blue Devils’ go-ahead touchdown in what became Saturday’s 32-25 win against the rival Tar Heels.

“That’s the first time in a football game I’ve ever had the ball in my hands, in college,” Pelino said, referring to logging offensive stats rather than anything with kicking or holding on special teams.

The fake turned into the kind of memorable moment that will be part of the long-running lore of the rivalry between neighboring Atlantic Coast Conference schools. At the time, the Blue Devils (6-5, 5-2) had blown a 24-10 lead and found themselves down 25-24 with time dwindling.

The Blue Devils eventually drove the UNC 27-yard line, then sent Pelino out for a 45-yard kick for the lead on a fourth-and-3.

Only Duke had been planning for this opportunity for a while.

“We felt like it was there,” coach Manny Diaz said. “And we had seen evidence through the course of the game that it was there. They were rushing hard. We had invited a little bit, we didn’t block great on the wing last week.”

Then there was the fact that a kick would put Duke up just two on a night when the Blue Devils had struggled to get stops.

“Up by two is not great, right?” Diaz said. “Like a field goal beats you. It didn’t necessarily feel like a gamble. It felt like something we felt like would be there. And I just felt it was really important for us to try to cash in on a play that could potentially get us a touchdown.”

Pelino said the Blue Devils had been working on it for more than a month.

“We had to check out of it if they were in a certain look, and they weren’t in that look, so we knew we were going to run it,” Pelino said. “I’m picking out the spot and Kade goes, “Flipper left.” I was like, ‘Here we go.’”

Pelino ultimately sprinted around the left side and into open grass, breaking free and closing in on the goal line. But he opted not to dive for the pylon or reach the ball out to get the touchdown in order to avoid a turnover before being taken down at the UNC 1-yard line.

“Honestly I think it was a good thing I didn’t reach the ball out,” Pelino said, “because again, what if I fumble and it goes through the back of the end zone and that turns a great play into a horrible play?”

Instead, Anderson Castle punched it in for his third 1-yard touchdown run at the 2:18 mark, then Darian Mensah connected with Nate Sheppard on the left side for a 2-point conversion and what became the 32-25 final score.

As for North Carolina, getting caught by that trick play likely ensured coach Bill Belichick — after winning six Super Bowl titles in the NFL with the New England Patriots — won’t reach a bowl game in his first college season.

“There’s always a chance of a fake,” Belichick said when asked whether he thought there was a chance of a fake.

So what was the biggest mistake?

“That we didn’t have it covered,” he said flatly.

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