Florida State has won all 17 games against Duke. The Seminoles’ average margin of victory is 33.1 points and they have scored at least 40 points in all but three of those games.
But this is not your daddy’s Duke. For the first time in more than two decades, Dukies have something other than the start of basketball season to get excited about in the fall.
The Blue Devils come to Doak Campbell Stadium for Saturday’s 3:30 p.m. kickoff leading the ACC’s Coastal Division and in control their own destiny, something No. 11 Florida State (7-1, 4-1 ACC) cannot claim about its standing in the Atlantic Division. The Seminoles sit atop the division but need a loss by North Carolina State to get back into the driver’s seat.
Duke (6-2, 3-1) is bowl eligible for the first time since 1994 and needed just seven games to get there. All the sweeter: The bowl-clinching victory came against bitter rival North Carolina, a 33-30 win that was sealed with a 5-yard scoring pass with 13 seconds remaining.
“It does not surprise me,” FSU coach Jimbo Fisher said. “Last year in our game, even though the score was what it was (41-16), they played good football. We had some big plays in the game. You get a quarterback and receivers like that, now you’re. … doing a great job on defense, it doesn’t surprise me at all.”
Duke is doing it through the air, led by senior quarterback Sean Renfree — who has thrown for 1,793 yards — and a trio of receivers with at least 43 catches, including Conner Vernon, the ACC’s all-time leader with 249 catches.
Duke is second in the ACC with 289.4 passing yards per game, one spot ahead of Florida State.
“We’re facing a very confident team,” FSU linebacker Telvin Smith said. “They are at the top of their game.”
The architect of this renaissance is coach David Cutcliffe, who took over in 2008. Duke won 10 games in the eight years before Cutcliffe’s arrival, including three winless seasons since 2000, but has won 21 in his 4 1/2 years.
And none was bigger than Saturday when fans rushed the field at Wallace Wade Stadium, a scene typically found inside Cameron Indoor Stadium after a Duke victory over North Carolina in basketball.
"It's means so much to be here in my fifth year," Renfree told the Raleigh News & Observer. "To be so patient, to wait for coach Cut to recruit guys, get the guys that he needs and just develop those guys, he's done a phenomenal job with that."
Cutcliffe said it was easy to get his players refocused. All he did was turn on the Florida State film.
“They may be the most complete team in the county,” Cutcliffe said about the Seminoles.
“They realize. They played Florida State last year. That helps. They know how good they are and they have to prepare even to have a chance in a game like this.”
And considering Duke is a four touchdown underdog and has not won a road game against a ranked opponent since 1971, this could be quite a comedown from one of the greatest moments in the program’s history.
“I don’t think we’re going to come out of here satisfied,” Cutcliffe said about the North Carolina win. “I think this team realizes that it can win if it plays well every time we get on the field.”
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