FB: Duke 23, Florida State 16

Bob Green

Moderator
Duke (5-1) hosts Florida State (1-5) on Friday night. Early Vegas lines have Duke favored by 3 points. ESPN Football Power Index gives Duke a 58% chance to win.

Discuss the game here.
 
It would be huge for Manny in his first year to not only win the Bell (check) but also get the 1st program win over FSU since they joined the ACC. I hope they used the bye week to tighten some things up on offense, maybe try to figure out how to make it more consistently productive. It doesn't help that FSU also had a bye week to help the backup get more acclimated on offense. It would be interesting to see how hot Norvell's seat would get to be the 1st FSU coach to lose to Duke in 30+ years. Hey, if Vandy can beat a top 10 Bama team, its Duke's turn to beat a crappy FSU team.
If I'm honest, I'd feel better about our chances if Loftis was the QB.
 
Hopefully the coaches were able to work on the offense and insert some more plays to call. We are probably better than FSU but our lack of offense gives almost everyone a chance…
Duke must put together time consuming offensive drives. A rested Duke defense should be able to shutdown the FSU offense which has proven extraordinarily anemic
 
Hopefully the coaches were able to work on the offense and insert some more plays to call. We are probably better than FSU but our lack of offense gives almost everyone a chance…
Duke must put together time consuming offensive drives. A rested Duke defense should be able to shutdown the FSU offense which has proven extraordinarily anemic
Absolutely agree the offense must stay on the field so the defense doesn’t get fatigued. The multiple three and outs killed us in the loss to Georgia Tech. Looking at stats, FSU is ranked 109/133 in Rushing Defense giving up 182 yards per game. Duke must run the ball Friday night. Balance is always key so whether we run to setup the pass or pass to setup the run doesn’t matter to me as long as we successfully do both. FSU Pass Defense is 74/133 yielding 219 yards per game.

I keep saying (publicly and to myself) the offense is going to find its groove so perhaps it will happen Friday.
 
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I'm hopeful, but I'm also fearful that this is the game that old FSU shows up and blows us up.
If FSU does show up and blow Duke up, its because Duke was unprepared or executed poorly. We're halfway through the season, and a team that thought they could win the conference is now looking at a very minor bowl (at best) appearance that none of their starters will play in. I do think there will be something in terms of pride that FSU has never lost to Duke in the ACC that may motivate them. Whether its enough, especially if Duke plays well remains to be seen. In either event, "old FSU" is not showing up at any point this season.
 
It would be huge for Manny in his first year to not only win the Bell (check) but also get the 1st program win over FSU since they joined the ACC. I hope they used the bye week to tighten some things up on offense, maybe try to figure out how to make it more consistently productive. It doesn't help that FSU also had a bye week to help the backup get more acclimated on offense. It would be interesting to see how hot Norvell's seat would get to be the 1st FSU coach to lose to Duke in 30+ years. Hey, if Vandy can beat a top 10 Bama team, its Duke's turn to beat a crappy FSU team.
If I'm honest, I'd feel better about our chances if Loftis was the QB.
Um, you can delete the two bolded phrases and this post remains true. (Honestly, more true, as it loses the implication that Duke actually beat FSU in some ancient season.)
 
As I'm sure many are aware, Manny Diaz is an FSU grad so should be properly motivated to prepare well for this one, especially with the bye week.
 
Game is a sell out, hopefully the FSU fans will not travel as well as they have in years past. Sure would be nice to get our first win over the Noles and clinch bowl eligibility on the same night!
Any word on health status of Jaquez Moore? He has only played in 3 games, so he could redshirt this year if he plays one or no more games, so it could be he opts for that and a year of Grad School at Duke or elsewhere.
 
Game is a sell out, hopefully the FSU fans will not travel as well as they have in years past. Sure would be nice to get our first win over the Noles and clinch bowl eligibility on the same night!
Any word on health status of Jaquez Moore? He has only played in 3 games, so he could redshirt this year if he plays one or no more games, so it could be he opts for that and a year of Grad School at Duke or elsewhere.
I've got a feeling that the game is a sellout because of those FSU fans. Duke folks don't usually show up for a Friday night affair. (Our current tailgate attendance count backs this up.)
 
It's Duke Week in Tallahassee...

Meanwhile, it's always Duke Week in Durham.

GoDuke has the press conference videos for head coach Manny Diaz, defensive coordinator Jonathan Patke, and offensive coordinator Jonathan Brewer. Also some transcribed quotes here.


"If you closed your eyes on our practice field yesterday and today, you would have been able to hear the difference coming off the bye week. It's not that we practiced poorly before the bye, but there's definitely a renewed energy and enthusiasm amongst our football team. It came at an important time for us and our players were able to refresh themselves as much as possible midway through October. Of course, Florida State is in the same situation, so I'd imagine they've got the same boost in their practices that we have in ours. I got to watch a lot of really, really close games this past Saturday that were all decided by a handful of plays and were tight going down the stretch. I expect that same thing to happen here on Friday night."
 
This is definitely a trap game. FSU is bad this year but they still out talent us nearly everywhere, and 'putting it all together' for them is largely mental. Our offense has got to show them something early if we want to win this. I think Vegas is a little off here.
Actually, I'm a bit used to our offense starting slow (not the same thing as liking it). Instead, I'll be looking at the results from FSU's first two possessions. If they are stops, I'll be feeling good about our chances.
 
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