Duke and Florida State don’t have much of a football rivalry.
That’s what we call an understatement.
The two programs have met 21 times. Florida State has won 21 times.
Most were blow-outs, scores like 45-7, 70-26, 63-14, 56-7. You get the drift.
Florida State’s period of national dominance largely overlapped with a period when Duke football wasn’t very good. They joined the ACC after Steve Spurrier had left for greener pastures. Maybe the Ole Ball Coach could have figured out something.
But Fred Goldsmith took a 7-0 team, ranked 16th, down to Tallahassee back in 1994 and came back on the wrong end of a 59-20 beat-down. David Cutcliffe’s best Duke team played FSU in the 2013 ACC title game and lost 45-7 to a team that won the national title a few weeks later.
Only one game between the two teams was settled by less than 19 points and that was in 2017, at Wallace Wade. This was not a great Florida State team. They came to Durham 1-3 and would end their season 7-6.
Duke was 4-2 going into that lost opportunity.
The game was tied 10-10 in the fourth when Cam Akers ran 42 yards for a score that put the visitors on top. Daniel Jones drove Duke from their 15 to the FSU 30 in the final 90 seconds before several misfires in the end zone ended the game at 17-10.
The most recent game was a COVID-19 game in 2020, won by FSU 56-35. They came into that game 2-6.
Like I said, not much a rivalry.
Is the year Duke flips the script?
Well, they may have to do it without Riley Leonard. Mike Elko told the media today that Leonard was “day-to-day” but it sure seemed like the focus was getting Henry Belin IV ready for the gauntlet.
And gauntlet it is.
“Is Florida State back” has been one of the talking points for the talking heads for a few years now and the answer for 2023 seems to be an emphatic yes. The undefeated ‘Noles are ranked fourth in the AP poll and are coming off a 41-3 win over Syracuse, a win accomplished without injured star wide receiver Johnny Wilson, who’s expected back for the Duke game.
Listening to Elko today was a sobering experience. We all know what “coachspeak” sounds like but when Elko ran through one FSU position group after another, it didn’t sound like coachspeak.
“An extremely talented football team.” “Jordan Travis is playing at a really elite level and really has been for the better part of two years.” “Skill to burn all over the place.” “A complete offense to be sure.” “Best front four that we’ve seen at our time here at Duke.” “The two linebackers are all over the field, making a ton of plays.” “The secondary is extremely aggressive.”
Yikes!!
Oh, did I mention that it’s homecoming? Expect about 80,000 very loud fans. Yes, Duke is going to be playing loud music at practice this week but we all know this isn’t the same thing.
But before you take up drinking, let me mention one thing.
Florida State isn’t going to be the only really good football team on the field Saturday night. It’s past time to get rid of the qualifiers. Duke can run, throw, catch, block and kick at a high level. But most of all Duke can defend. The Blue Devils have allowed 9.83 points per game, fourth nationally, trailing only Michigan, Penn State and Ohio State, pretty elite company.
Duke has allowed only 298 yards per game, second in the ACC to Clemson. The Blue Devils lead the ACC in fewest passing yards allowed and are eighth nationally.
That’s pretty impressive. But it’s even better than that. Remember Clemson’s only points came on a 20-yard drive, NC State’s only points came on a zero-yard drive and Northwestern and Connecticut scored at the end of blow-out losses. Only that final drive against Notre Dame has marred a defense that’s been darn near perfect this season.
After State’s loss to Duke Saturday night Dave Doeren said the Wolfpack was playing a team that didn’t beat itself. Elko pretended to not understand the concept when I asked him about it but did offer some clarity into how Duke tries not to beat itself.
“We try to play complementary football, we try not to turn the football over, we try not to commit penalties, we try not to give up explosive plays. We have a formula for winning football that we try to go out and execute and it that mean’s we don’t beat ourselves, then maybe that’s what we do.”
Elko said that Duke is getting more experience playing on the big stage, while adding that this one is different than Clemson or Notre Dame.
“I think our team is now used to going through a week where they’re talking about the game that we’re going to play. I think they’re used to having the idea of what a spotlight game is. But we haven’t done this on the road yet so it will be a new challenge for us.”
Challenges galore. But a team, a program, a culture that is built to handle challenges. Elko is 14-5 at Duke and all the losses have been by eight points or less. He’s not doing this with smoke and mirrors.
I’ll get deeper in the weeds as kickoff approaches.
The defense needs to have an A+ game Saturday. They are capable of it. Offense needs long, time consuming drives that produce points and keep the FSU offense sidelined. I’m hoping for a low scoring game with limited possessions.
Let’s say 16-14 Duke.
Riley, don't come back too soon. Defense win us this game, like 7-3.
GoDuke!