Florida State routs Duke football 45-7 in ACC championship game

CHARLOTTE—Duke hung with the top-ranked team in the country for one quarter. The final three quarters of play turned a night to remember into a night to forget.

Playing in their first ACC championship game in program history, the Blue Devils got a taste of why No. 1 Florida State will likely be headed to the BCS national championship game. After being held scoreless in the first period by Duke for the first time this season, the No. 1 Seminoles cruised to the conference championship 45-7 Saturday at Bank of America Stadium. Heisman hopeful Jameis Winston earned MVP honors for Florida State, completing 19-of-32 passes for 330 yards and three touchdowns, running for another score.

"Winston is a very good football player," redshirt senior defensive end Kenny Anunike said. "He can sling it. He can run. He has a big old offensive line that likes to keep him clean. We just didn't do our job of getting back in his face enough and causing problems."

The setback was the Blue Devils' first loss since falling to Pittsburgh 58-55 Sept. 21 at Wallace Wade Stadium, before the team went on an eight-game winning streak. Duke avoided its first shutout loss since 2008 when Josh Snead ran it in from five yards out with 1:01 left in the game.

It was the Blue Devil defense that set the tone early, keeping the vaunted Florida State offense off the scoreboard for the first 17:34 of play. The Seminoles had a chance to score in the first quarter, but Ross Cockrell was able to force the ball out of running back Devonta Freeman's hands at the 3-yard line, and Jeremy Cash jumped on it to keep the game scoreless.

Duke's defense was opportunistic on the evening—forcing three Florida State turnovers—but came away with no points to show for it. The Seminoles turned three Blue Devil turnovers into 18 points on the evening.

"For a while we took the edge, and we just couldn't take advantage of the opportunity," Duke head coach David Cutcliffe said. "I think if we made a—scored when we attempted the field goal, if we could have punched one in there for a touchdown, anything there where we could score and get a lead, it changes a little bit of the mentality of the game."

After Freeman's fumble, Duke responded by moving the ball 67 yards on its next series for the team's longest offensive drive of the night, but Ross Martin missed a 48-yard field goal to keep the game scoreless after running back Jela Duncan let a third-down pass slip through his hands.

Recording five straight three-and-outs, the Blue Devils failed to produce anything on offense in the second quarter. During that period, the Seminoles scored as many points as Duke gained yards—17.

Redshirt sophomore Kelvin Benjamin reeled in a 14-yard touchdown pass from Winston against two Duke defenders to get Florida State on the board in the opening minutes of the second quarter.

Winston struggled to find his rhythm in the first quarter, completing just 3-of-8 passes, but recovered to go 9-for-13 in the second. After halftime, the Seminoles posted 21 points in a span of 6:50 to put the game out of reach.

"We were on the field a little too much," Cutcliffe said of his defense. "You know going in that a big, strong quarterback that moves around well will extend plays, so you have to maintain your disciple in coverage."

The Blue Devils were able to crack the scoreboard at the end of the game when quarterback Anthony Boone settled down and led a 14-play, 75-yard drive that took 6:24 off the clock and culminated in Snead's scoring run.

A physical game for both teams took its toll as the game became more lopsided. Offensive tackle Perry Simmons was carted to the locker room and did not return to the game. Simmons, a redshirt senior, had started all 50 games of his collegiate career, but Cutcliffe said that "he's got a fairly significant knee injury," which could put him in jeopardy for Duke's bowl game.

Backup quarterback Brandon Connette was knocked out of the game after he replaced Boone in the third quarter.

Sophomore safety Dwayne Norman was disqualified from the game after being called for a controversial targeting penalty midway through the fourth quarter. He was the first Duke player to be tossed from a game under the NCAA's new targeting rules, which were instituted at the beginning of this year. Norman will be suspended for the first half of the Blue Devils' bowl game for the hit on Florida State tight end Nick O'Leary.

"All he was doing was breaking on the football," Cutcliffe said. "I'm disappointed that what occurred that late in the game with the score what it was, and we lose a guy for the first half of the bowl game. You know, that's not ideal."

The Blue Devils will wait for their bowl selection Sunday, where they will learn their postseason destination and opponent. Duke will make a bowl trip for the second consecutive season for the first time in program history. Despite the crushing loss to Florida State, the Blue Devils will enter their final game of the season searching for their first bowl victory since 1961.

"This has been one heck of a year. We're definitely going to be back here next year, I can promise you that," Boone said. "We've still got a bowl game to win, and that's still one of our big goals for this year. We went to a bowl game last year and got a taste of it, but this year we want a victory."