It sure seems as though Manny Diaz is enjoying his return to head coaching in the ACC. After leaving his job as Penn State’s defensive coordinator for the past couple of years to accept an offer to be the head coach at Duke, all Diaz has done is win games. And on Saturday, he led the Blue Devils to a fifth-straight win to start the season and end a five-game losing streak to in-state rival North Carolina.
North Carolina has won five consecutive meetings in the Tobacco Road rivalry with Duke, including a 47-45 victory last season and a 38-35 win the previous season. On Saturday in Durham, Diaz and Duke flipped the scrip[t with a 21-20 victory. A Peyton Jones 20-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter gave Duke the 21-20 lead after entering the fourth quarter trailing 20-7.
Diaz is now 5-0 as head coach at Duke and has the Blue Devils one win from becoming bowl-eligible. They will get a chance to become bowl-eligible next week with a road game at Georgia Tech.
It was a good day for another former Penn State coach in the ACC. Former Penn State head coach Bill O’Brien, now the head coach at Boston College, coached his team to a come-from-behind victory at home against Western Kentucky with a backup quarterback. O’Brien and Boston College are 4-1.
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