FB: Florida State 41, Duke 16

[airowe]

3 PM Saturday. Duke has the chance to make a serious statement with a win here. The bye was great for resting the healthy players and helping to heal the unhealthy ones.

My boy @thedevilwolf is feeling like Duke makes it four wins in a row and FSU four losses. http://www.dukehoopblog.com/2011/10/...florida-state/

If you live anywhere close to Durham, come out and support these guys.

[-bdbd]

3 PM Saturday. Duke has the chance to make a serious statement with a win here. The bye was great for resting the healthy players and helping to heal the unhealthy ones.

My boy @thedevilwolf is feeling like Duke makes it four wins in a row and FSU four losses. http://www.dukehoopblog.com/2011/10/...florida-state/

If you live anywhere close to Durham, come out and support these guys.

It'll be interesting to see how badly the FSU confidence is dinged up after the Wake loss. At a macro level, I wonder how they react emotionally - angry and focused and seeking some revenge, or unconfident, searching and unfocused, licking their wounds??? By contrast Duke is riding a 3 game streak, playing at home and following a (healing) bye week. While you always hesitate to predict a win over an FSU team (especially one that entered the season as a top-10 squad in the NC hunt), this is as good a set-up as we've seen heading into the FSU game in many years.... Hmmmm.

And for once FSU will be playing more dinged-up than us!

[Devil in the Blue Dress]

3 PM Saturday. Duke has the chance to make a serious statement with a win here. The bye was great for resting the healthy players and helping to heal the unhealthy ones.

My boy @thedevilwolf is feeling like Duke makes it four wins in a row and FSU four losses. http://www.dukehoopblog.com/2011/10/...florida-state/

If you live anywhere close to Durham, come out and support these guys.

I like thedevilwolf's assessment about how the game can go and why. Florida State has a lot to lose. They haven't really been able to put together a great game this year. Sometimes even good coaches can't figure out how to use what they have.

Duke's on an upward trend of improved play and self confidence. If it comes down to strategies, I think Coach Cutcliffe is better at it than Jimbo.

[Bob Green]

3My boy @thedevilwolf is feeling like Duke makes it four wins in a row and FSU four losses.

An excellent read. Thanks for the link.

[dpslaw]

Check out this tweet!

The DevilWolf (@thedevilwolf)
10/10/11 9:21 AM
FSU bans Twitter, forcing their players to put their thoughts down on paper instead. After all, on paper is where FSU shines the most.

[OldPhiKap]

Not sure I'd be talking smack. FSU is rightly favored by a dozen or more.

[mkline09]

Not sure I'd be talking smack. FSU is rightly favored by a dozen or more.

While I share his enthusiasm and optomism I'm not going to start poking at the Noles considering they are still pretty darn talented. The chances of a victory are certainly there, but Duke's margin for error is so small that the smack talk just doesn't ring true. If Duke wins this one then they and we to an extent get a little credibility to smack a lip or two.

[Devil in the Blue Dress]

Not sure I'd be talking smack. FSU is rightly favored by a dozen or more.

Those odds reflect great progress being made in Durham, NC. I'm looking forward to a good game, not one like those in the past with monsoons and massacres in the stadium.

[awhom111]

The ACC website list of RSN affiliates for this game is now online here:
http://www.theacc.com/live/2011-acc-...e-at-duke.html

Just a warning that this is not always the most accurate based on my experiences from the past few weeks. If one of your cable stations is on this list, I would double-check the website or local listings to make sure the game is on the channel stated and not on an alternate or the main channel instead of whatever is on the list.

Some of us get our pay TV from a national provider and may get one or more of these channels as a part of our package. It may or may not be blacked out if you are out of market for that channel so that ESPN can charge you for it. You will probably have to wait until the time of the game to figure out if you can watch it.

[OldPhiKap]

Those odds reflect great progress being made in Durham, NC. I'm looking forward to a good game, not one like those in the past with monsoons and massacres in the stadium.

The line has as much to do with what's happening in Durham as in Tallahassee. Which is a nice change from the years when all that mattered was how (and to what extent) the other team would roll us.

12.5 is about the line when we went up to BC IIRC give or take. We've come a long way. But I am not under any illusion that we are in foranything other than a real uphill battle against a talented, proud, wounded team. They will come with something to prove.

[Devil in the Blue Dress]

The line has as much to do with what's happening in Durham as in Tallahassee. Which is a nice change from the years when all that mattered was how (and to what extent) the other team would roll us.

12.5 is about the line when we went up to BC IIRC give or take. We've come a long way. But I am not under any illusion that we are in foranything other than a real uphill battle against a talented, proud, wounded team. They will come with something to prove.

No doubt that uphill will continue to be a descriptor for a while. There is progress and there is opportunity this Saturday.

[Bob Green]

12.5 is about the line when we went up to BC IIRC give or take.

The final line in the BC game was seven points. Currently, Duke is a 13 point underdog with the over/under set at 54. I'll take Duke and the over.

[msdukie]

The final line in the BC game was seven points. Currently, Duke is a 13 point underdog with the over/under set at 54. I'll take Duke and the over.

As a proud Duke alum and loyal season ticket holder since graduation (who has been to both of Duke's road wins this year) and as someone who engaged in questionable decisionmaking on so many levels by choosing to attend F$U for law school, I believe that with all of F$U's struggles and Duke's substantial progress, we are still looking at a 30 point loss.

Let's hope I'm wrong.

[uh_no]

As a proud Duke alum and loyal season ticket holder since graduation (who has been to both of Duke's road wins this year) and as someone who engaged in questionable decisionmaking on so many levels by choosing to attend F$U for law school, I believe that with all of F$U's struggles and Duke's substantial progress, we are still looking at a 30 point loss.

Let's hope I'm wrong.

Wow. 30 points is a far cry from 13.

Perspective: we lost to STANFORD by 30, and stanford is a heck of a lot better than FSU. Not to mention, we are coming off a bye week. Don't underestimate the rest + extra prep time that FSU clearly didn't have. One can also mention the night vs day difference in playcalling since the stanford game.

I just can't fathom how someone could justifiably expect a 30 point loss.

[johnb]

Wow. 30 points is a far cry from 13.

Perspective: we lost to STANFORD by 30, and stanford is a heck of a lot better than FSU. Not to mention, we are coming off a bye week. Don't underestimate the rest + extra prep time that FSU clearly didn't have. One can also mention the night vs day difference in playcalling since the stanford game.

I just can't fathom how someone could justifiably expect a 30 point loss.

I'd think it's because Stanford might be a better team than FSU, but FSU has better players. If they play together and to their potential, Stanford would have a hard time with them. And so would we.

[Duvall]

Wow. 30 points is a far cry from 13.

Perspective: we lost to STANFORD by 30, and stanford is a heck of a lot better than FSU.

You think that was Stanford's best effort?

FSU won't be a West Coast team coming east for an afternoon kickoff, and will be much more desperate.

[uh_no]

I'd think it's because Stanford might be a better team than FSU, but FSU has better players. If they play together and to their potential, Stanford would have a hard time with them. And so would we.

Wait...Stanford has arguably the best player in the country...that's gotta be worth something, no?

[OldPhiKap]

Wow. 30 points is a far cry from 13.

Perspective: we lost to STANFORD by 30, and stanford is a heck of a lot better than FSU. Not to mention, we are coming off a bye week. Don't underestimate the rest + extra prep time that FSU clearly didn't have. One can also mention the night vs day difference in playcalling since the stanford game.

I just can't fathom how someone could justifiably expect a 30 point loss.

FWIW, FSU had a bye week between its 35-30 loss at Clemson and its 35-30 loss at Wake.

[Wander]

FSU won't be a West Coast team coming east for an afternoon kickoff, and will be much more desperate.

FSU was supposed to be desperate for their last game - they were a preseason top 10 team coming off a bye week and two consecutive losses. Instead they played like complete crap against Wake.

FSU is a better team than Duke and has a better chance of beating us than not, but I don't think it will because of any sort of mental edge (or by 30 points).

[MulletMan]

Guys I think there is a difference between a middling team with no talent and a talented team that hasn't lived up to its potential. If you watched the OU-FSU game, you would know how good this FSU team is.