Mensah, Duke running backs lead Blue Devils past mistake-prone Wake Forest 49-32

DURHAM, N.C. (AP) — Darian Mensah reached a record-setting passing touchdown total for Duke as the Blue Devils stayed alive for a chance at an Atlantic Coast Conference championship by defeating Wake Forest 49-32 on Saturday.

Duke (7-5, 6-2 ACC) can reach next week’s ACC title game if a couple of results in the conference fall its way later Saturday night.

Mensah also ran for his first TD of the season. The transfer from Tulane finished the game 24-for-35 passing for 268 yards in the air.

Anderson Castle and Nate Sheppard each had two touchdown runs and the Blue Devils never trailed in defeating Wake Forest (8-4, 4-4) for the fourth year in a row. Sahmir Hagans caught a touchdown pass and made an 80-yard kickoff return to set up the first points of the fourth quarter.

Robby Ashford threw for two touchdowns and 342 yards and ran for a touchdown and a two-point conversion, but Wake Forest’s three-game winning streak ended. The Demon Deacons committed four turnovers – including a fumble at the Duke 18-yard line with 6:38 left – and were hit with 97 yards worth of penalties.

Duke, which used a fake field goal to set up the winning touchdown a week earlier at North Carolina, pulled off a successful fake punt with less than 10 minutes to go with punter Kade Reynoldson running for a first down. The Blue Devils didn’t score on the drive but chewed up an extra 2 1/2 minutes while holding a 42-32 lead.

Mensah’s third-quarter touchdown pass to Hagans for 30 yards set the Duke single-season record with 27 before he added another in the game’s final minute.

The Takeaway

Wake Forest: The Demon Deacons beat SMU and Virginia – both possible qualifiers for the ACC title game – in the latter half of the season. The Demon Deacons allowed at least 30 points in all four of their losses, though this was season-high total against them.

Duke: The Blue Devils haven’t defeated a team with a winning ACC record, but they went 4-0 (3-0 in the league) against in-state opponents.

Up Next

Wake Forest: Awaiting bowl matchup

Duke: Either in next week’s ACC championship game or awaiting bowl matchup

___

Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here and here (AP News mobile app). AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-football