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Much like a year ago, Duke and Pittsburgh engaged in a thrilling shootout, with some strange twists and turns along the way. Only this year, it took double overtime to decide the winner. And this year, it was the Blue Devils who emerged with the victory.

After totaling 56 points in the first half, the two teams combined for just 3 points in the 3rd quarter, setting up a wild finish at Heinz Field. With the game tied at 38 and just 2 seconds left on the game clock, Coach Cutcliffe called two timeouts to ice Pitt's Chris Blewitt. The strategy worked, as the kicker missed wide left on a potential game-winning 26-yard field goal attempt.

In the first overtime period, both offenses kept the ball on the ground, as Duke's Anthony Boone ran in a 12-yard touchdown, only to be matched by Pitt's James Conner, who muscled in from 14 yards out.

But in the second overtime, the Duke defense dug in its heels, forcing a 42-yard field goal, giving the ball back to their offense with a chance to win the game. Facing 3rd and short from the 5 yard line, Thomas Sirk pounded it in behind center Matt Skura for the win.

Prior to overtime, the story of the day was Pitt's James Conner, who entered the day as the ACC's leading rusher and ended with a career high 263 yards on 38 carries. Jeremy Cash and the Duke defense were dominated by the Pittsburgh offensive line for much of the afternoon. The Panthers controlled the clock through the game, winning time of possession 41:08 to 18:52.

Two key second half sacks managed to stop some of the bleeding for the Blue Devil defense. The first came from Dwayne Norman on a 3rd down safety blitz on Pitt's first drive of the second half. Duke went on to hold the Panthers scoreless in the 3rd quarter. With the Panthers driving and looking to take a 4th quarter lead, Dezmond Johnson, in his first game back from injury, took down Chad Voytik in the red zone, ultimately forcing a field goal to tie the game at 31 with 13:22 to play. But with the calendar turning to November, DeVon Edwards again came up big for the Blue Devils; "Mr. November" brought the ensuing kickoff back 99 yards for the touchdown to put Duke up 38-31.

In the first half, the only thing that could stop either offense was itself. Both teams scored touchdowns on 4 of their 5 first half possessions. The Panthers opened the game with a 9-play drive that stalled at the Duke 30-yard line and ended with a fumbled snap on a field goal attempt. For the Blue Devils, their drive stalled early in the second quarter after an offensive holding penalty. Outside of those two miscues, the two offenses rolled for just under 600 total yards and 56 total points in the first half alone.

As the first half was winding down, the Blue Devils found themselves trailing 28-21 with just 1:17 left in the 2nd quarter, but Anthony Boone orchestrated an efficient 10 play, 75-yard touchdown drive to tie the game as the two teams headed to the locker room. Boone finished the day 23/31 for 266 yards and 4 total touchdowns in one of his strongest outings of the season. Jamison Crowder had a monster game, totaling 9 catches for 165 yards and 2 scores, passing Clemson's Sammy Watkins to take over 2nd place in receptions in ACC history. And it was Thomas Sirk who played hero for the day, finishing with 2 touchdowns on his only 2 carries of the game.

Duke remains alone atop the Coastal Division and travels to Syracuse to take on the Orange next week at 12:30PM on the ACC Network.