Duke football holds on to beat Florida State, earns bowl eligibility with historic first

Duke ended a lifetime of misery against Florida State on Friday night, and earned a chance to play in a bowl game for the third consecutive season.

Riding its hard-hitting defense, the Blue Devils beat the struggling Seminoles, 23-16, to record their first win over Florida State after 22 previous losses.

The victory, in a game that saw only one offensive touchdown, clinched bowl eligibility for Duke (6-1, 2-1 ACC).

The Blue Devils took advantage of four Florida State (1-6, 1-5 ACC) turnovers to win on a night when their offense produced only 180 yards.

Running back Star Thomas rushed for 88 yards and scored a touchdown for Duke.

Here are three takeaways from the game:

Defense leads the way

Already among the nation’s leading teams in recording tackles for losses this season, the Blue Devils rattled Florida State with 11 more, including six sacks.

That’s in addition to the Blue Devils forcing four turnovers — two interceptions and two fumble recoveries.

Duke entered the game with 58 tackles for loss, No. 2 nationally among FBS teams with only Mississippi (66) having more.

Defensive end Wesley Williams led the Blue Devils with 2.5 tackles for loss, including 1.5 sacks, against the Seminoles. Linebacker Alex Howard had two sacks for the Blue Devils.

Florida State only gained first downs on 2 of 14 third-down plays. That’s in line with how Duke has played this season. The Blue Devils entered the game leading the ACC in third-down conversion defense, having allowed teams to be successful on only 29.9% of those situations.

Adventures in special teams for Duke

The Blue Devils suffered through two special-teams issues, allowing Florida State to convert a fake punt and later surrendering a kickoff return for a touchdown.

Leading 3-0, FSU faked a punt on its third possession when it faced fourth down at its own 26. Kyle Morlock took the direct snap and rambled 31 yards to the Duke 43. The drive didn’t lead to points because, after reaching the Duke 30, the Seminoles attempted a field goal. But the snap was low and Ryan Fitzgerald kicked the ball as it remained in the holder’s grip. Duke’s Wesley Williams blocked the low kick.

Duke led 17-6 at halftime when FSU’s Samuel Singleton fielded a second-half kickoff at the 5 and raced 95 yards for a Seminoles touchdown that left Duke up 17-13.

Fortunately for the Blue Devils, because of their stout defense, that was the only touchdown the Seminoles scored on Friday night.

Banged-up Duk e offense

The Blue Devils not only played without starting tight end Nicky Dalmolin but also, mostly without wide receiver, Jordan Moore, due to injuries.

Dalmolin was ruled out prior to the game due to a lower body injury. Moore, who entered the game with 30 catches for 443 yards and three touchdowns this season, didn’t start and played just a handful of plays in the first half.

Maalik Murphy threw two passes to Moore, who made one catch for 10 yards in the game.

Running back Jaquez Moore remained sidelined by a right foot injury that he suffered in the first quarter of Duke’s 26-20 double-overtime win at Northwestern on Sept. 6. A starter when the season began, Jaquez Moore has played only eight snaps since that opening-night win over Elon, when he ran for a touchdown in a 26-3 win.

Friday night’s game was the fourth game this season in which Jaquez Moore has not played at all.