Most of the players on Duke’s and Florida State’s current football rosters were in diapers the last time the schools met in a game that carried much importance other than personal pride.
It occurred 17 years and 363 days prior to this Saturday’s meeting pitting the ACC’s first-place teams: FSU in the Atlantic Division and Duke in the Coastal. That contest didn’t go too well for the Blue Devils, though.
Unbeaten at 7-0 and ranked 13th nationally, Duke couldn’t contain Seminoles’ quarterback Danny Kanell, who passed for 394 yards to lift the 5-1 and No. 9 ‘Noles to a 59-20 romp.
That was the last season Duke qualified for a bowl until a week ago, when the Devils rallied to beat North Carolina for their sixth victory. Getting number seven at Doak Campbell Stadium is a significant task for a team that doesn’t have more than a handful of players FSU probably even looked at in high school.
But football isn’t just about talent, otherwise Duke wouldn’t have taken care of the Tar Heels or a few other teams on its slate. But make no mistake, the level of athlete has been upgraded several notches in coach David Cutcliffe’s five years at the helm. And the combination of personnel and coaching has Duke 6-2 overall and 3-1 in the ACC and thinking about winning a conference championship.
“Coach Cutcliffe has done a tremendous job with those guys,” FSU coach Jimbo Fisher said Wednesday. “He has them playing tremendous football. They are very sound, very good players, dynamic explosion on offense, defense, cause a lot of problems, different blitz packages, pressures. Do a great job in special teams.”
Those entities come together when Duke wins. The average score of Blue Devils’ victories is 41.2 to 21.8, but in defeat it’s 45.5 to 16.5.
As explosive as No. 11 FSU (7-1, 4-1) has been at times, its recipe for a victory first rests with its defense. Shut down Duke and put pressure on a defense that has been hit hard by injuries and the game could turn into a one-sided affair.
Allow Duke wide receiver Conner Vernon and Duke’s talented corps of pass-catchers space to get open and quarterback Sean Renfree will find them and keep the Devils in the contest. Opponents have learned that focusing mainly on Vernon doesn’t always pay off because of Jamison Crowder, Desmond Scott and friends. But it’s Vernon who most concerns Fisher.
Vernon is the ACC’s all-time leading receiver with 243 receptions and is just 93 yards shy of passing former FSU star Peter Warick as the league’s all-time leader in receiving yards, too.
“You watch him play, He’s much quicker and faster than people think,” Fisher said about Vernon, who is a Florida native. “When he sticks that foot in the ground and the angles and leverage he plays with and how he dips his shoulder and rips his shoulder, and he’s got tremendous hands. He’s got precision.”
While Fisher is worried about why Duke is dangerous, Cutcliffe understands handling success is something none of his players have ever experienced in college.
“There are some challenges associated with that, because that’s all people around them are talking about,” Cutcliffe said. “They’re good when they’re with us. They have practiced well…
“They know they have to prepare to even have a chance at a game like this. So hopefully we get our energy as emotionally charged as well as we’d like, but certainly I think they’ve prepared well to this point.”
Duke bounced back from an ugly 50-13 loss at Stanford in the second game of the season. That game actually offered many lessons, all of which were received. And the Blue Devils also handled losing a 20-0 lead at Virginia Tech two weeks ago, only to fall 41-20.
All Duke did a week later was blow a two-touchdown lead to UNC before driving 87 yards and scoring the game-winning touchdown with 13 seconds left against a team that had won 21 of the previous 21 contests in the series.
FSU has the parts to make this a simple process if all goes according to its plans, though it must learn to play without tailback Chris Thompson, who is out for the season. Fisher points to James Wilder and Devonta Freeman as more than capable of filling the void.
It may never come down to what FSU’s tailbacks do, though. The outcome likely will hinge on how Duke’s offense performs and if the Blue Devils can flip the field a couple of times.
Otherwise, the opponent, location and the overwhelming personnel advantage owned by the Seminoles may be too much for even these Devils to overcome.
