Something to scream about: How Duke football’s defense flexed muscles, overwhelmed FSU

As Chandler Rivers discussed one of his crucial plays for Duke football late Friday night, a primal scream emanating from the hallway outside caused him to pause and chuckle.

That interruption proved forgivable, as it was caused by Duke defensive coordinator Jonathan Patke and linebacker Ozzie Nicholas celebrating the impressive accomplishment they all teamed up to produce.

After doing the bulk of the heavy lifting in Duke’s 23-16 win over Florida State, Patke, Nicholas, Rivers and everyone else on that side of the ball earned their exuberance.

The Blue Devils (6-1, 2-1 ACC) didn’t allow Florida State’s offense to score a touchdown. Instead, the Seminoles turned the ball over four times while Duke collected six sacks among its 11 tackles for losses.

Florida State’s two quarterbacks simply couldn’t get comfortable in the face of that onslaught.

And so, on a night when Duke’s offense produced just 180 yards, the Blue Devils not only earned their sixth win of this season, they beat Florida State for the first time in program history.

“Defensively, we were just outstanding,” Duke coach Manny Diaz said. “So many great contributions. But overall, I just thought our front in the way that we played, in the way that we were relentless getting up on the quarterback was just the telling difference in the game.”

Rivers and Nicholas had plenty to do with Duke’s success as Patke called the plays that sprung them loose.

A junior cornerback, Rivers perfectly read the Seminoles play to sprint across the field to intercept Brock Glenn’s first-quarter pass and return it 36 yards for the game’s first touchdown.

Because of that play, Duke took a 7-3 lead and never trailed again.

But that was just the start.

The Seminoles, and Glenn in particular, proceeded to turn the ball over on their next two offensive snaps, as well.

That’s crazy,” Rivers said, “because that provided a lot of momentum for the team, for the fans at the game.”

The second turnovers came courtesy of Nicholas, who hit Glenn as the quarterback ran. That caused a fumble that Ryan Smith recovered for the Blue Devils in Florida State territory.

A Star Thomas touchdown run for Duke resulted from that miscue.

The next time the ball was snapped to Glenn, he fired a pass that Nicholas intercepted and returned to the Seminoles 11.

Those three turnovers led to 17 Duke points which proved to be enough for the Blue Devils to subdue the scuffling Seminoles (1-6, 1-5 ACC).

“The game was won by our defense creating turnovers in the first half,” Diaz said. “The three turnovers on the three straight possessions allowed us to take control of the game.”

After 22 previous games with Florida State resulted in Duke losses, many by lopsided margins when the Seminoles were dominating all of the ACC, the Blue Devils finally broke through against their tormentors.

A graduate transfer from Princeton, Nicholas wasn’t part of any of those previous Duke losses to the Seminoles. But he’s super proud to be part of the group that’s ending such streaks.

“Super cool,” Nicholas said. “You know, I only got here in the summer. But I really feel like I’m part of this Duke family and part of this brotherhood community. Everyone’s just been so accepting of me as an individual. Being a part of it is really incredible to see and to do something historic is just great. Great for the energy, for the community, for everything. It’s a blessing to be a part of, truly.”

And even more history occurred on Friday night.

For just the fourth time since the 1961 season, Duke has started a season with at least six wins in its first seven games. The Blue Devils were 7-0 in 1994 and also had 6-1 starts in 2014 and 2015, the latter two after David Cutcliffe had resurrected the moribound program.

As the Blue Devils celebrated their historic win over Florida State, the 13-game ACC losing streak that brought an end to the David Cutcliffe era after the 2021 season was pushed further and further back in everyone’s minds.

Now, Duke has qualified for a bowl game for three seasons in a row. Over the past two seasons and the first part of this one, the Blue Devils are an impressive 15-2 at Wallace Wade Stadium.

No, the win over Florida State won’t earn Duke any style points as its offense failed to reach 200 yards of total offense and quarterback Maalik Murphy only threw for 70 yards.

Duke’s special teams allowed Florida State’s Samuel Singleton to return the second-half kickoff 95 yards for a touchdown.

Those occurrences normally lead to a loss.

Instead, Duke’s defense wouldn’t allow it.

So when it was done, they wanted to let the world know how great it felt.

“I feel like that’s a lot of kids’ dreams growing up,” Rivers said. “You see Florida State, a big-time team. Like, if I don’t go to Florida State, I want to beat Florida State then. So I feel like it’s just us being the first team to do that at Duke is amazing. And of course, we want to keep making history this year, keep doing new stuff.”