Associated Press
DURHAM ó Tyrell Sutton ran for two touchdowns and Northwestern’s defense made two critical fourth-down stops down the stretch, leading the Wildcats to a 24-20 victory over Duke on Saturday night.
Omar Conteh scored the go-ahead score for Northwestern (2-0), which was outplayed most of the game. The Blue Devils (1-1) had a 472-328 advantage in total offense and nearly doubled up the Wildcats in time of possession, but a few key mistakes kept them from winning their first two games for first-year coach David Cutcliffe.
The final one came on fourth-and-5 from Northwestern’s 24 with about 90 seconds remaining. Thaddeus Lewis scrambled around the pocket before finding Clifford Harris open for what appeared to be the winning touchdown. But tackle Cameron Goldberg was called for holding to bring it back, and Lewis’ desperation pass intended for Johnny Williams fell incomplete on the next play.
The Wildcats ran out the clock from there.
Harris ran for 86 yards and a touchdown, Lewis finished 22-of-42 for 256 yards while adding a scoring run and freshman Johnny Williams added 11 receptions for 135 yards for Duke.
Sutton led Northwestern with 66 yards rushing and C.J. Bacher was 14-of-31 for 226 yards.
Goldberg’s hold came after a botched punt early in the second quarter gave the Wildcats their second touchdown. On the first play following the miscue, wide receiver Eric Peterman took a reverse hand-off and then threw a pass back to Bacher for a 25-yard gain down to the Duke 4.
From there, Sutton rambled in to make it 14-7. The Blue Devils rallied behind Lewis, who sat out a series in the second quarter while backup Zack Asack led a drive that culminated in Nick Maggio’s 21-yard field goal.
Lewis completed a fourth-down pass to a diving Austin Kelly that barely gained enough to move the chains, then completed the comeback by running 16 yards for a touchdown to give Duke a 20-17 lead early in the fourth.