By the time the football team's season opener with Florida State at Wallace Wade Stadium had concluded, the formerly lush, green field had two brown streaks down the middle of it, making it appear as if something had used it as a doormat to wipe its feet on.
The shoes that made those marks, both literally and figuratively, belonged to Florida State.
On a wet Saturday night, No. 1 Florida State overwhelmed Duke 45-7. FSU's offense totaled 628 net yards, while its defense held Duke to 147 net yards, and just 17 rushing yards for the entire game.
It was the first time the No. 1 team had visited Wallace Wade Stadium since 1937 when Pitt defeated Duke 10-0. Duke is now 0-7 lifetime against teams ranked No. 1.
"It's a case of a No. 1 football team looking like a No. 1 football team, and an unranked team not being able to pull off a major upset," Duke head coach Barry Wilson said. "I have to give Florida State a lot of credit. Our demise was more what they did well than the fact we did something terrible."
Indeed, according to quarterback Spence Fischer, who relieved starter Joe Pickens in the second half, the Seminoles were out to show Duke that the 21 points Duke scored last year in a 48-21 FSU win were an aberration.
"The impression I got from them last year was they really didn't want to be out there," Fischer said. "They were just kind of lackadaisical. But they were really, really pumped up today. They got after us up front and in the secondary. I think their No. 1 ranking was well deserved."
The Seminole onslaught was led by quarterback Charlie Ward, who demonstrated why he is one of the leading candidates for the Heisman Trophy. In just three quarters of play, Ward went 22-for-31 for 272 yards and two touchdowns. Ward also rushed for 43 yards and one touchdown.
"Charlie had a very good night," Florida State head coach Bobby Bowden said. "He was in control all the way. Charlie won every round tonight."
But it wasn't just Ward and FSU's passing attack that did the Blue Devils in.
"[Ward's] a great athlete and I've been impressed with him every time we stepped on the field, a lot more this year," said Duke linebacker Scott Berdan. "[But] this year I was more impressed with their running game than anything else. We expected them to come up passing a little more. But I guess the rainy conditions and everything may have changed their game around."
If rain, which soaked Wallace Wade all afternoon, forced the Seminoles to run the football more than they had planned, then it proved to be a boost. Florida State rushed for 279 yards.
"I was surprised [with the running game]," Bowden said. "When you're working out of the shotgun and you get 270 yards like we did, and we got a lot out of the I-formation, too. "
Although the Blue Devils stayed within reach of FSU for much of the first half, the Seminoles swiftly eliminated any possibility of Duke catching them in the final five minutes of the second quarter.
On the first play following a John Krueger punt, Sean Jackson exploded up the middle, throwing away Duke tacklers and heading down the right sideline of the sloppy turf for a 54-yard touchdown run and a 20-0 lead.
Jackson led the Seminoles in rushing with 107 yards and may have had an advantage in the less than stellar field conditions, according to his coach.
"It was Jackson's kind of ballgame, he's a heavy back and he can run better in the mud," Bowden said.
After three Duke incomplete passes and another Krueger punt, FSU took over on its 38-yard and drove efficiently down the field, going 62 yards in five plays.
Finally, Ward took it in for the touchdown from 11 yards out on a stunning scramble in which he juked and jived, leaving Blue Devils defenders falling over themselves trying to tackle him.
The Seminoles added a field goal at the end of the half when Duke unsuccessfully tried a fake punt from its own 41-yard line, giving FSU the ball there.
Besides that field goal, it was an otherwise rough night for the much heralded freshman kicker for FSU. Scott Bentley missed a 32-yard field goal -- predictably enough for Seminole fans, wide right -- as well as three extra points.
If the Seminoles struggled with their special teams play, the one bright spot for Duke was its play in that area. Return specialist Leroy Gallman, who established a school record for kickoff return average in 1992, took six kickoffs a total of 161 yards, including one for 45 yards.
And though he had a punt blocked, Krueger did a solid job in the first game of his career. Krueger kicked nine punts for a 38.6 yard per punt average.
"I was certainly pleased with our punting game," Wilson said. "Patrick Manley, a true freshman, snapping to John Krueger, a true freshman. I was scared to death of our punt situation, so there were positives in there."
The special teams also were responsible for two Florida State turnovers, including one that led to Duke's only points of the night.
With 4:46 remaining in the fourth quarter, Sidney Wells broke through the Florida State line and blocked a Sean Liss punt. John Zaunich recovered the ball on the FSU 1-yard line.
After fullback J.D. Lewis dropped a Fischer pass in the end zone, Lewis came in the next play and ran up the middle for a TD to make the final margin 45-7.
Once again, the Blue Devils could have trouble deciding who will be their quarterback. Both Pickens and Fischer played a full half behind center Saturday night.
Pickens, who beat out Fischer as the starting quarterback earlier in the fall, went six-of-21 for 53 yards and one interception. He was replaced at the beginning of the second half by Fischer whose stats, nine-for-23 for 77 yards and two interceptions, were similar.
After the game Wilson said that he was undecided as to who would start for Duke in its next game.
"I wouldn't try to pick one over the other at this point," Wilson said. "We'll certainly look at the film with a lot of interest. Both of them had some good plays. Both of them threw some very good balls in spite of the conditions, but overall we just still need to get the football in the end zone. But I can't say it was the fault of the quarterbacks that we didn't do more than any other position on the offense."
Fischer, however, said that he does not expect any changes in the wake of Saturday's game.
"I don't expect any changes," Fischer said. "Joe did his best out there and he did really well. It was just the wet field [and] this being his first game -- those are tough [circumstances] to throw on a new quarterback out there. My circumstances were a little bit different. We were already 29 points behind, so the game plan kind of shifted and we were throwing a lot more."
Despite the lopsided score, Duke remains optimistic that its showing against Florida State is not indicative of the way the rest of the season will go.
"I think it's good to see that we came in here and everyone understands that this is the first game," Berdan said. "There's absolutely no reason to push the panic button yet, and we're not going to do it. Everybody's still positive because the only thing we can do is improve."
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