The first half also amounted to a series of missed opportunities for Virginia Tech’s offense.
Burmeister threw a 12-yard touchdown to tie the game with 4:26 left in the first quarter, but he went 7 of 18 in the first half and threw an interception in the final minute of the second half that cut short a promising drive in Duke territory. The ball was a badly under-thrown attempt to Raheem Blackshear that went right into the arms of Duke cornerback Jeremiah Lewis.
Tech had to settle for a 21-yard field goal from Brian Johnson — his sixteenth straight without a miss — on the offense’s most productive drive of the half, a 16-play, 76-yard drive that lasted more than seven and a half minutes. The Hokies converted two third down attempts on the drive and a fourth and short inside the 20-yard line.
Blackshear had a pair of long runs and Khalil Herbert had his longest carry of the half for 12-yards to get Tech into scoring position. Tech coaches and players went wild for Herbert when he bowled over Lewis on the first down run right in front of the team’s sideline.
Burmeister tried to hit Mitchell in the end zone from Duke’s 4-yard line, but safety Marquis Waters broke the play up.
Duke went up early thanks to an early gift from the Hokies when Robinson fumbled a punt return and recovered the ball in the end zone.