On Saturday night, Duke football improved to 8-3 overall and 4-3 in conference play under first-year Blue Devil coach Manny Diaz, clinching a 31-28 home victory over the Virginia Tech Hokies (5-6, 3-4) ACC) in Wallace Wade Stadium.

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Redshirt sophomore quarterback Maalik Murphy threw for a career-high 332 yards. And he connected with graduate wide receiver Eli Pancol for three scores — all in the first half — to set a new Duke football season record with his 25 touchdown passes. Pancol, who ended his Wallace Wade career in style, tied career highs with those three TD catches and 188 yards.

And Duke’s defense stopped the Hokies when it mattered most, ensuring the Blue Devils recorded a third straight eight-win campaign, joining David Cutcliffe’s 2013-15 seasons as the only such stretches in program history.

“What an absolutely extraordinary game,” Diaz remarked in his opening statement to the media afterward. “So many momentum shifts. So many mistakes. We really didn’t play our best. I felt like we were a little out of character for a lot of the night, a little emotional on Senior Night. I think that had something to do with it. But in the end were we resilient.

“We talked about mental toughness and the ability to overcome obstacles, which I think we did. Virginia Tech, to their credit, presented some obstacles. I think we presented some for ourselves as well.

“When it came down to winning time, we found enough plays to win the game.

“I’m really excited to sit on eight wins with one more game to go. It was great to close out Wallace Wade Stadium and win 16 of the last 19 here. There’s a lot of positive momentum going forward for our program right now. A lot of great recruits here tonight There are just a lot of things pointing in the right direction for Duke football.

“There’s a happy dressing room of guys down there celebrating the success they had today. I don’t know if anyone would confuse that with excellence, but we were successful. At the end of the day, that’s all that matters, just finding a way to win the game .”

The Blue Devils travel to Winston-Salem for their regular season finale against the Wake Forest Demon Deacons (4-7, 2-5 ACC) at noon ET Saturday (ACC Network).

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