EVANSTON-Duke’s baffling mastery over Northwestern continues.

The Blue Devils won their sixth straight game over the Wildcats in dramatic fashion on Friday night at Northwestern Medicine Field at Martin Stadium, tying the game at 13 with 14 seconds left and then winning it, 26-20, in two overtimes.

It was an ugly game that saw plenty of mistakes and sloppy play from both teams. But Duke’s sputtering offense caught fire in overtime, scoring twice on Maalik Murphy touchdown passes, one a 25-yarder to Jordan Moore and the other a three-yarder to Eli Pancol.

The Blue Devils didn’t convert their mandatory two-point conversion try after Pancol’s score, leaving the door open for Northwestern to win the game on their second possession.

With Cam Porter doing most of the damage on the ground, the Wildcats reached the Duke three-yard line. But Mike Wright lost eight yards on an option on the next play, and his desperation throw into the end zone to Frank Covey IV fell incomplete to give the Blue Devils the win.

The loss was David Braun’s first since being named Northwestern’s head coach last November, breaking a streak of six straight victories. The Wildcats fell to 1-1 on the season, while Duke improved to 2-0.

Neither team’s offense could muster 300 yards in regulation.

Wright struggled for much of the game, completing 20 of 36 passes for 158 yards and one interception that Duke turned into its only touchdown through four quarters. He also had a couple other passes that could have easily been picked off.

Murphy wasn’t much better but found his touch in overtime, racking up all 50 yards and both TDs through the air. He finished 24-of-39 for 242 yards, with three touchdowns and one INT.

What makes the loss particularly galling is that Northwestern looked like it had all but locked up the win on Duke’s game-tying field-goal drive in the closing minutes, when Anto Saka strip-sacked Murphy and Najee Story recovered the ball at the NU 23-yard line. But a review overturned the call on the field and Duke got one more shot.

They made it count as Todd Pelino, who had missed a 33-yard chip shot earlier, hit a 22-yarder to send the game into overtime.

Northwestern was sloppy from the outset in this one. First, Jason Reynolds II was called for unnecessary roughness on the opening kickoff. Then the Wildcats got whistled for a false start before their first offensive snap to put them all the way back to their own 8-yard line.

But Cam Porter dug them out of their self-imposed hole. He broke a tackle and sprinted 44 yards down the sideline before being dragged down from behind by Alex Howard at the Duke 46.

The Wildcats reached the Duke 34 when Wright made a blooper-reel play on third down. He cocked the ball back to throw, lost the handle and then pulled it out of the air for a gain of two yards. He was credited with a completion to himself, believe it or not, but it was short of the first down.

Jack Olsen came on to draw first blood with a 44-yard field goal that barely cleared the crossbar in a crosswind.

Northwestern and Duke then took turns handing each other scores with turnovers in their own end of the field.

Wright floated an ill-advised pass down the sideline to a well-covered Covey, and safety Terry Moore leapt up to intercept it at the NU 29-yard line. Murphy then threw a perfect strike to Pancol for a 16-yard touchdown and a 7-3 lead at the 4:50 mark of the first quarter.

Duke returned the favor in the second quarter when Que’Sean Brown muffed Luke Akers’ punt and Joseph Himon II recovered it at the Duke 11. A roughing the passer call against the Blue Devils’ Ozzie Nicholas on an incomplete pass moved them closer, and Porter punched in the touchdown from four yards out to give the Wildcats the 10-7 edge.

Northwestern wound up taking that three-point lead into the locker room, as the defense limited Duke to just 94 yards in the first half.

The Wildcats will be kicking themselves for blowing two golden opportunities to take control of the game early in the third quarter. Twice they were given the ball in Duke territory after turnovers, but they couldn’t convert either giveaway into points as the offense bumbled their chances away.

First, after holding Duke to a three-and-out, a pair of walkons combined for what appeared to be a game-turning play. Noah Taylor blocked Kade Reynoldson’s punt at the Duke 24, and Joe DeHaan recovered it at the Duke 9 to give the Wildcats the ball. But the offense lost one yard on three plays before Olsen came in to clang a 29-yard field goal off the right upright.

Not to worry, they got another chance a few plays later when Theran Johnson intercepted a Murphy pass on the sideline to give the Wildcats the ball at the Duke 45. But Caleb Komolafe fumbled the ball back to Duke on third down and Nicholas took it to the Duke 46.

Unlike Northwestern, Duke got some points out of their opportunity. They brought in Henry Belin IV for several plays as a Wildcat quarterback, and he and Murphy got the Devils down to the NU 32. From there, Pelino drilled a 49-yard field goal with the wind at his back to tie the score at 10 with seven minutes left in the third quarter.

The Wildcats finally found some rhythm offensively in the fourth quarter. They strung together a few first downs, mostly with running plays, and Olsen, kicking this time with the wind mostly at his back, hit a 35-yarder to put the Wildcats back on top, 13-10, with 11:39 left.

Duke’s offense finally snapped out of its stupor, helped by a pass interference call against Coco Azema and a 21-yard pass from Murphy to Nick Dalmolin. The Blue Devils reached the NU 16-yard line, but it was all for naught as Pelino’s 33-yard field goal attempt sailed wide right with 5:11 left.

Northwestern, though, went three-and-out, and Duke took over at its own 45 with two minutes to go. They eventually cashed in with a tying field goal in the closing seconds.

Northwestern got the ball first in overtime and scored a touchdown when Porter dove and hit the goal-line pylon on a play that was held up after review. But Duke got it right back in one play when Murphy hit Moore, who finished with a game-high 11 catches for 121 yards, for a 25-yard score.

Murphy hit Moore again for 22 yards to set up Pancol’s touchdown grab. Porter ran for 17 yards on three carries and caught a five-yard pass from Wright to get the Wildcats close. But Wright’s run to the right proved disastrous when Chandler Rivers dropped him for an eight-yard loss.

Northwestern finished with just 287 yards of total offense on 73 plays, an average of 3.9 yards per play. Porter led all rushers with 93 yards on 16 carries and two TDs.

The Wildcats host Eastern Illinois next Saturday at 6:30 p.m.