ACCCG: Florida St 45, Duke 7 -- Post-Game Thread

[SoCalDukeFan]

Living on the West Coast it is nice to see Duke football and not have the discussion about how bad they are or a lawsuit involving a female placekicker.

Duke clearly plays tough big boy football. I would expect with continued improvement in recruiting the team gets better and better. It looks like we have lots of young talent in the defensive backfield but are probably losing some veteran offensive lineman.

Rather that criticize Duke's offense, I think it makes more sense to acknowledge how good FSU's defense is.

I would have loved it for us to score first, too bad we missed the field goal and dropped the one pass. We weren't going to score many points so once FSU got their offense going it was all over.

I did not want an all SEC BCS Championship game but giving Ohio State's loss would have taken it. I am looking forward to seeing Auburn's offense against the 'Noles defense.

SoCal

[77devil]

It was Kelby Brown, not Kyler Brown.

Not unless they switched jerseys. #56 made the hit.

[sagegrouse]

It was a borderline call. Norman hit the receiver in his midsection, but the refs ruled Norman led with the crown of his helmet. I will not go as far as calling it a bad call, but it was certainly a call that didn't need to be made.

Oh, the poor O'Leary. He gets laid out by Norman about four-tenths of a second after receiving the ball; the ball dribbles away; and he is lying on his back, crying like a baby. The ref feels so sorry for him he decides to throw a flag -- a full second after the pass arrives.

From what I could see it was a shoulder pad to the midsection. Good sticking! Great play, Dwayne! I am glad to see you won't miss an entire game.

sage

[77devil]

Yeah, the perspective for me is just how good FSU is. Seems to me they could be the best team ever from FSU, the best team ever from the ACC, and one of the better college teams in a long time. While they don't really compare to an NFL team, they have a ton of guys who will likely play in the NFL. I suppose we need to see how FSU will do against Auburn, but they really do seem to be an extraordinary college team.

Can Duke approach that level? Don't really think so, but Duke can continue to get better. Great job by Coach Cut and the team.

Whether or not the best FSU ever, I agree that they are loaded in a way we almost certainly never will be. Not going to happen with Duke's admission standards. The commentators mentioned that one NFL GM said 8 of the 11 on the FSU defense will play in the league.

[Indoor66]

Maybe FSU demonstrates why Cut recruits SPEED, SPEED, SPEED. Darn they were quick - as well as big.

[DevilFalcon]

For the first quarter it really looked like we could hang. Then self imposed mistakes took us away from at least 10 points. After that things just unraveled. I am proud of Duke for making it and playing hard. I wish Boone had not had such an off night.
I am highly disappointed in Duke fans. I was at the game in a sea of maroon. There were a couple of pockets of Duke fans, but really guys where were you!? (Before I get flamed, I am not pointing out this board specifically just our fan base in general.)

[loran16]

Oh c'mon. It's a competition. Duke has big boys on their team. They can handle it. Only thing worse than getting drubbed, is complaining about how much another team "ran up" a score, when what they were doing was playing football. Sometimes it feels more classless to complain about how a team competes, which FSU was competing fairly, than whether or not a team puts up a higher score. It's not like Duke didn't continue to compete to put up 7 points and get that donut off the scoreboard. And the basketball analogy doesn't jive. This was the ACC CHAMPIONSHIP between two Top 20 teams. Not Duke versus South East Podunk State at home. Being that college football is based on pageantry and voters -- fans should come to expect that teams compete hard for all 4 quarters.

Shake hands and move on.

Yeah I'd also add that the NCAA Tournament doesn't really care too much about margin of victory. There's no benefit to running up the score - you still have to get through the tourney.

In theory, if FSU looked weak at points this season, another team might've been #1. And honestly? They'd taken out their starters every game this season - what if the BCS Title Game was close through 3 quarters? Would you want your starters to have no experience playing 4 quarters going into the title game?

[Faison1]

Oh, the poor O'Leary. He gets laid out by Norman about four-tenths of a second after receiving the ball; the ball dribbles away; and he is lying on his back, crying like a baby. The ref feels so sorry for him he decides to throw a flag -- a full second after the pass arrives.

From what I could see it was a shoulder pad to the midsection. Good sticking! Great play, Dwayne! I am glad to see you won't miss an entire game.

sage

You and I saw something different. In no way am I sticking up for O'Leary, but Norman's helmet was squarely planted in O'Leary's ribs. It's a miracle if he didn't walk away with a couple broken ones.

I don't think there was anything dirty about it. Our D was laying lumber all night long. But the rule is meant to make the defender keep his head up, something Norman clearly did not do.

[Bob Green]

It looks like we have lots of young talent in the defensive backfield but are probably losing some veteran offensive lineman.

We lose left guard Dave Harding and right tackle Perry Simmons, but Cody Robinson and Lucas Patrick will step right in as they are quality players who have played lots of snaps the past two seasons. The offensive line will be a team strength next season as it was this season.

[77devil]

You and I saw something different. In no way am I sticking up for O'Leary, but Norman's helmet was squarely planted in O'Leary's ribs. It's a miracle if he didn't walk away with a couple broken ones.

I don't think there was anything dirty about it. Our D was laying lumber all night long. But the rule is meant to make the defender keep his head up, something Norman clearly did not do.

Norman clearly lead with his helmet. He made initial contact with it after which it slid to the side and his shoulder pad followed through. The head of ACC officials was in the ABC booth and said definitively, and without hesitation, that the hit violated the rule. Like the rule or not it was the correct call.

[OldPhiKap]

I am highly disappointed in Duke fans. I was at the game in a sea of maroon. There were a couple of pockets of Duke fans, but really guys where were you!? (Before I get flamed, I am not pointing out this board specifically just our fan base in general.)

Not sure where you were, but the whole bottom ring behind the bench and over to the tunnel end zone was packed with Duke blue. Could not see the upper level behind there. But Duke has about 6,500 undergrads at any one time while FSU has close to 32,000. I would say we drew pretty well, and had a bigger turnout than for the Belk Bowl last year (which was still pretty good -- a bit more than Cincy I would guess).

Plus, like Duke basketball, FSU football has non-alum fans in droves because of sustained success. Duke can get that in football too, but it takes time. For many folks who do not remember the glory years, this is the first season that Duke football has even hit their radar.

[Devil in the Blue Dress]

Perry Simmons (right tackle) injured his knee.

Shaquille Powell has a sprained MCL.

[OldPhiKap]

Shaquille Powell has a sprained MCL.

I thought I heard Cut say that Connette was also banged up, any word? Or did I mishear?

[roywhite]

Whether or not the best FSU ever, I agree that they are loaded in a way we almost certainly never will be. Not going to happen with Duke's admission standards. The commentators mentioned that one NFL GM said 8 of the 11 on the FSU defense will play in the league.

Yeah, we don't necessarily recruit the same guys. But Duke has a bit higher ceiling than some think IMO; look at Stanford; they have been able to win conference championships and go to BCS bowls.

[Bob Green]

I thought I heard Cut say that Connette was also banged up, any word? Or did I mishear?

You didn't mishear. Coach Cutcliffe had no details to share on any of the injuries except he did say Simmons knee injury was significant. Hopefully we hear some details on Powell and Connette today. Good news would be good.

Kelby Brown and Jela Duncan also left the game, but Coach Cutcliffe did not mention them so I'm assuming no news is good news in their cases.

[roywhite]

You didn't mishear. Coach Cutcliffe had no details to share on any of the injuries except he did say Simmons knee injury was significant. Hopefully we hear some details on Powell and Connette today. Good news would be good.

Kelby Brown and Jela Duncan also left the game, but Coach Cutcliffe did not mention them so I'm assuming no news is good news in their cases.

Not to minimize injuries (sorry to hear about Simmons...bad break to have all those consecutive starts and miss out on his last game), but among the good things a bowl game brings are:

healing time in the next 3 weeks
practice time for the whole squad that provides a head start for next year

[loran16]

Shaquille Powell has a sprained MCL.

What is the source of this diagnosis?

[Devil in the Blue Dress]

What is the source of this diagnosis?

His mother

[uh_no]

Yeah, the perspective for me is just how good FSU is. Seems to me they could be the best team ever from FSU, the best team ever from the ACC, and one of the better college teams in a long time. While they don't really compare to an NFL team, they have a ton of guys who will likely play in the NFL. I suppose we need to see how FSU will do against Auburn, but they really do seem to be an extraordinary college team.

Can Duke approach that level? Don't really think so, but Duke can continue to get better. Great job by Coach Cut and the team.

spot on...it always makes me shake my head when such comparisons are made...

so what if they have 8 guys who might make a roster...you know how many players on an NFL tea might make an NFL roster? all of them

i'll take 25 pros over 8 pros 16 times out of 16

[OldPhiKap]

You didn't mishear. Coach Cutcliffe had no details to share on any of the injuries except he did say Simmons knee injury was significant. Hopefully we hear some details on Powell and Connette today. Good news would be good.

Kelby Brown and Jela Duncan also left the game, but Coach Cutcliffe did not mention them so I'm assuming no news is good news in their cases.

If you're referring to the hit he took with about 2:30 left in the first half, I am pretty sure I saw him in the game during the third quarter. I watched him closely when he came off (it was right in front of where I was) -- they never took him back to the locker and he seemed to walk it off.