Duke and Florida State football have now faced off 23 times. In the first 22 contests, the team from Tallahassee, Fla., prevailed, often by wide margins.
Heading into Friday’s contest after a much-needed bye week, Blue Devil fans surely wished for this streak to end. They got just what they were looking for; Duke took a 7-3 lead in the first quarter off a Chandler Rivers pick-six and never looked back, and three more Seminole turnovers solidified the Blue Devils’ 23-16 win over Florida State in Durham.
“The game was won by our defense,” head coach Manny Diaz said after the win. “Our front, the way that we were relentless getting after the quarterback, [that] was just the telling difference in the game.”
On the Blue Devils’ (6-1, 2-1 in the ACC) opening drive of the fourth quarter, a would-be Maalik Murphy interception was undone by a defensive holding call. Running back Star Thomas then found a seam, rushing for a 44-yard gain, the longest run of the night by either team. Shortly after, junior kicker Todd Pelino booted a 39-yard field goal, his third of the night, to give Duke a 23-16 lead with under nine minutes to go.
The Seminoles looked poised to start their next drive. Florida State (1-6, 1-5) running back Lawrance Toafili gained 17 yards in two plays and the away team’s offense looked poised to score with under six minutes left.
Defensive lineman Christian Rorie had other plans, though, stripping the ball from running back Kam Davis. Rorie, a sixth-year senior, had played just 16 snaps all season entering the contest. Fellow lineman Preston Watson secured it, getting the Blue Devils back on offense with 5:18 left in the game.
The Blue Devils could not ice the game thanks to a Caleb Krings holding penalty, and the Seminoles’ offense got to work with 2:43 remaining. On a fourth-and-4 following the two-minute timeout, quarterback Brock Glenn found Ja’Khi Douglas for a 15-yard gain, keeping Florida State’s hopes alive. A sack and a false start penalty forced a fourth-and-24, and a desperation lateral play by Glenn was unsuccessful, sealing the Blue Devils’ victory.
Duke’s special teams had a disastrous start to the second half, as Seminole returner Samuel Singleton Jr. took a Ryan Degyansky kickoff 95 yards to the house to cut Duke’s advantage to 17-13. For the second time in two years, Florida State earned a return touchdown against the Blue Devils.
The offense was unfazed, however. On a second-and-five on the ensuing Blue Devil drive, backup quarterback Henry Belin IV took the snap and handed it off to wideout Sahmir Hagans, who pitched it back to Murphy. The Texas transfer then tossed a jump ball back to Hagans to convert the first down. Five plays later, Pelino nailed a 44-yard field goal to get Duke to a 20-13 lead.
“This is what our guys do. They just play, they don’t panic,” Diaz said about the post-kick return drive. “Talking to our players in the locker room, I really think they expected to win. I don’t feel like there [were] a lot of surprised faces.”
After a benching in the first half, Glenn returned late in the third quarter, rushing for a 17-yard gain to breathe life back into a stagnant Florida State offense. At the top of the fourth, Glenn found an open Douglas, who secured an easy first down to get the ball to Duke’s 27-yard line. Seven plays later, Fitzgerald kicked his third field goal of the night to cut Duke’s lead to four.
The Blue Devils started off quiet on offense for the third week in a row, failing to score on each of their first four drives. Sixty-two yards on eight total drives were all Duke had to show through the first half, star wideout Jordan Moore failed to secure a catch until less than four minutes remained in the third quarter and the Blue Devils’ leading receiver, Que’Sean Brown, finished with just 20 yards on the day. To make matters worse, tight end Nicky Dalmolin was inactive after suffering a season-ending lower leg injury, thinning Duke’s run-blockers.
No offense, no problem for these Blue Devils.
Duke’s tenacious defense forced Florida State into a third-and-long near the first quarter’s close. Glenn looked towards wide receiver Jalen Brown, but junior cornerback Chandler Rivers snatched the ball out of the air, returning it 36 yards for a touchdown to put the home team up four.
“Turnovers happen, but the formula to me has never been complicated,” Diaz said. “If you do a great job versus the run and make quarterbacks have to throw, that’s usually when bad things happen.”
The Seminoles’ offensive woes had just started, as linebacker Ozzie Nicholas punched the ball out of Glenn’s hands and graduate defensive end Ryan Smith recovered it for the second takeaway of the night on the very next play. Defense turned into offense, as Murphy led a methodical 10-play drive that ended in a Thomas touchdown on fourth-and-1 to give the Blue Devils a 14-3 lead at the top of the second quarter.
The night got even longer for Glenn on Florida State’s next drive, as his errant pass ended up in Nicholas’ hands for the Princeton transfer’s second big play of the night. Four plays later, Pelino kicked a 27-yard field goal to extend Duke’s lead to 17-3.
Three drives, three takeaways.
Head coach Mike Norvell benched Glenn and brought in third-string quarterback and true freshman Luke Kromenhoek in the second quarter. The backup could not do much more, and a 52-yard field goal from Ryan Fitzgerald resulted in a halftime score of 17-6.
The Blue Devils will remain at home to take on SMU Oct. 26 at 8 p.m.
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