Duke's Pellicciotta Returns a Missed Field Goal 109 Yards for a Kick Six Against NC State

Duke safety Andrew Pellicciotta caught Kanoah Vinesett’s short 50-yard field goal at the back of the end zone and returned it 109 yards for a touchdown on the final play of the first half, the Associated Press reports. The Kick Six turned a would-be 24-6 game into 31-3 at the break, and Duke went on to win 41-3 at NC State on Saturday.

What happened on the final play of the half?

NC State lined up for a 50-yard field goal with two seconds left before halftime and Duke holding a 24-3 lead, Duke Wire reports, hoping to cut into the deficit before the break. The kick came off Vinesett’s foot fine, but it fell short into the wind and landed in the waiting arms of Pellicciotta at the back of the end zone. A mere 109 yards later, the Blue Devils’ safety had returned it for a touchdown, extending the lead to 31-3. The play was officially credited as a 100-yard return, the Associated Press reports, though it was closer to 109 yards as a true length-of-the-field run, since Pellicciotta caught the kick nine yards deep in his own end zone, Saturday Down South reports. It is also believed to be the first time in Duke history that a player returned a missed field goal that was not blocked for a touchdown.

How did he get all the way there?

By following the grass and the blockers. Pellicciotta brought the kick out first to the left side with a wall of blockers, the Associated Press reports, then cut across the field to the right side with multiple blockers ahead of him. At one point it looked like he might run out of grass near the sideline, but the sophomore cut back slightly inside of a would-be tackler, then another who was being blocked, and as he ran the final yards, multiple blocking teammates behind him had their arms raised in jubilation. “I was just searching for grass,” Pellicciotta said. “I know in a situation like that, the last play of the half, you’ve just got to do whatever you can to find room and stuff like that. Search for blockers, and they helped me out a little bit.” He did not think he would make it all the way until about the 15-yard line: “I don’t know, I was running out of gas pretty fast.” Defensive tackle Preston Watson, who blocked on the play, said: “I don’t know how he did it with his leg, because I was tired and I was out there blocking.” Duke coach Manny Diaz added: “I mean, that play must have taken 30 seconds, it felt like.”

Why did the return matter so much?

Because it ended the game before halftime did. The Associated Press calls it an emphatic close to the half that drained whatever life was left out of the Wolfpack, who would get the ball to start the third quarter, and had boos cascading down in Carter-Finley Stadium. NC State interim coach Todd Goebbel, who fell to 1-1 since taking over after the firing of longtime coach Dave Doeren, took the blame himself: “Everything from this game needs to start with me. We need to do a better job of covering the football, but we had multiple opportunities the entire time to get him down and we didn’t.” The return also slammed the door on any idea the Wolfpack might win for the second time in as many games under an interim coach. College football has produced another no-call that decided a rivalry game this season, but a single special-teams play swinging a game by 14 points in the final seconds of a half is rarer than a bad call.

Who is Andrew Pellicciotta?

A sophomore safety who had missed the past two games with a lower-body injury, the Associated Press reports, and turned in a highlight-reel moment on a dominant afternoon for the Blue Devils. He was listed as probable on the initial and Thursday-night injury report before being removed entirely, the Fayetteville Observer reports, and the return was his loud statement in his first game back. The play almost stole the spotlight from a massive first half by Nate Sheppard, who rushed for 168 yards and two touchdowns on just 13 carries, Duke Wire reports. Pellicciotta’s return was the kind of play a coach walks through in practice without ever expecting to see: “It’s something you kind of sometimes maybe walk through the motions in practice, you’re like, ‘Ah, this may not happen.’ But then when it does and it hits home, it hits hard,” Watson said.

What does the win mean for Duke?

It keeps a good season rolling. Duke moved to 7-2 with its third consecutive victory, Saturday Down South reports, and the 41-3 win was a dismantling of an in-state rival on the road in Raleigh. NC State fell to 4-4 in a rough season that saw the Wolfpack enter the game weeks removed from a coaching change. It was also the second week in a row that a Duke game involved a returned kick for a score, Duke Wire reports, with Boston College returning a blocked field-goal attempt last week for a safety, the only two points the Eagles would put on the board in Duke’s 47-2 win. Michigan’s season has also turned on off-field drama rather than the field itself, and the Eagles and Jaguars started their London game with two ejections on the opening kickoff, but Duke’s week turned on a single return that will be replayed all season.

What happens next?

Duke keeps its push going at 7-2 with three straight wins, and Pellicciotta has a play that will follow him for the rest of his college career. Saturday Down South puts it plainly: if Pellicciotta does nothing else in a Duke uniform, he will always be remembered for what he did on the first Saturday of November at NC State. For the Wolfpack, the interim-coach era continues with Goebbel at 1-1, and the question is whether a team that could not tackle one returner can hold together for the rest of the season. Jalon Daniels celebrated his first NFL win by calling his mom onto the postgame desk, a reminder that the best moments of a football weekend are usually the human ones, and Pellicciotta’s 109-yard sprint belongs on that list.