By BRYAN STRICKLAND

bstrickland@heraldsun.com; 419-6671

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. -- With eight minutes left in Duke's crucial matchup against Virginia on Saturday, it began to look like it just might not be the Blue Devils' day.

Duke had moved the ball up and down the field but never into the end zone, and when the Cavaliers came up with an interception on another deep drive, the Blue Devils appeared to be in trouble.

Duke teams in the past might have been finished, but the new and improved version of Duke football was just getting started.

"It was an explosion there," Duke coach David Cutcliffe said after his Blue Devils scored 16 points during the game's final four minutes to rally to a 28-17 victory at Scott Stadium. "When you kick field goals like we did in the first half, experience tells you that you're probably going to have to overcome a deficit.

"It was a pretty amazing finish on our team's part."

With the strong finish, the Blue Devils (5-3, 3-1 ACC) claimed sole possession of second place in the Coastal Division and claimed their third consecutive victory, the first time Duke has accomplished that since 1994.

"This is crazy," senior defensive end Ayanga Okpokowuruk said, moments after celebrating with a group of Duke fans in the stands behind the end zone that nearly outnumbered the Virginia fans that remained. "We're having fun right now. We're enjoying every minute of it.

"This is why we came here -- to turn it around. It feels great."

While the program's turnaround becomes more evident with each passing Saturday, it was harder to see a turnaround coming specific to Saturday's game. The Blue Devils dominated early everywhere but on the scoreboard, settling for three Will Snyderwine field goals. Then over the middle quarters, Virginia (3-5, 2-2) slowly but surely gathered momentum.

When Cavaliers quarterback Jameel Sewell hit tight end Joe Torchia in a seam for a 21-yard score and a 17-12 lead with 11:17 left, Duke's offense knew it had to figure out how to do something better than a field goal.

The Blue Devils again approached the end zone, but this time they couldn't even get a field goal -- Virginia cornerback Chase Minnifield picked off Thad Lewis in the end zone with eight minutes left.

"I knew we had a tough matchup in the red zone; I was too prophetic," Cutcliffe said. "When the field gets shorter, and you're physically mismatched -- their secondary is really powerful and quick -- it gets a little tough. But our offense kept plugging."

Instead of folding, Duke found a different way: The Blue Devils started scoring before their offense even reached the red zone.

First, Duke's defense, which held Virginia to 196 yards, quickly got the ball back for the offense. Then Lewis, who completed 24 of 40 passes for 343 yards even while being sacked six times, ignored an oncoming rusher and hit Conner Vernon across the middle in stride for a 42-yard score and an 18-17 lead with 3:45 left.

"Sometimes you have to take a big hit to have a great play made, and then Conner did a great job of catching the ball and running with it after," Lewis said. "I saw him beat his man despite the pressure in my face, and I knew I had to get it done."

Virginia got the ball back with plenty of time left, but Okpokowuruk and Co. again refused to give Sewell time to operate. After two incomplete passes, Okpokowuruk hit Sewell from behind and forced a fumble that teammate Chris Hatcher picked up and toted 7 yards for a 25-17 lead.

"I did a spin move, and I didn't think it was going to work really," Okpokowuruk said. "But I turned around, and the quarterback was standing right there."

With that, Virginia fans who had smelled victory just moments earlier streamed to the exits, even though the Cavaliers still could catch up with a touchdown and two-point conversation.

In the end, the fans were right.

Duke's defense again refused to yield even a first down, and soon after Snyderwine drilled his fifth field goal in as many attempts to erase any lingering doubt -- the kind of doubt that's suddenly in short supply in Duke football circles.

"Our defense played a complete football game -- big hits, tremendous job of stopping the run and tremendous job of competing and challenging every pass," Cutcliffe said. "Our kicking game with five field goals? Wow. What can you say? That was a complete football game and certainly not an easy game.

"I couldn't be more proud of a group of people. We never lost focus for a minute on believing that we were going to win the game."

NOTES -- While Lewis became the seventh quarterback in ACC history to top 9,000 passing yards, Vernon (seven catches, 103 yards) broke the school's record for receptions by a freshman with his 38th, which came on the game-winning touchdown. ... Donovan Varner matched Vernon catch for catch, with seven for 113 yards. ... Snyderwine has connected on 11 consecutive field goals.