The football team blew a great opportunity Saturday night. Believe it or not, Duke, who annually loses to Florida State by an average of 37 points, had a legitimate chance of beating the third-ranked Seminoles. Instead, Florida State did what it does every year-roll over the overmatched Blue Devils, this time by the score of 51-27.
This is the type of outcome expected whenever the No. 3 team in the country takes on the Blue Devils, but Duke did not face a No. 3 team. It faced a sloppy football team. It faced a team that committed a school-record 20 penalties for 138 yards. It faced a team that had extra points sail below the goal posts. The Seminoles only converted 35 percent of their third downs, and they allowed 185 yards of kickoff returns.
Drive after drive, the Seminoles found themselves in the hole due to false starts, illegal procedures and holding calls. Time after time, Florida State's poor play gave Duke opportunities, but critical mistakes by the Duke offense kept the game a landslide.
"I've never seen so many penalties in all my life," FSU coach Bobby Bowden said. "We did not play the way we should have. We looked like we never played in our lives."
For the Blue Devils, the special teams and defensive units played as well as they could have, considering the talent on the FSU sideline. Duke averaged over 26 yards per kickoff return, often giving the Blue Devil offense great field position. Scottie Montgomery had 146 of these yards, and one of his longest runbacks was negated by a penalty.
Defensively, Duke was up to the challenge of facing one of the nation's most potent offensive attacks. The Blue Devils forced two turnovers, both of which gave the offense the ball inside the Florida State 20-yard line. In the second half, Duke's defense only allowed a scant three points.
True, the defense did give up five touchdowns in the first half, but it cannot take all of the blame. It was the defense that gave up a 54-yard pass from Thad Busby to Peter Warrick and a 79-yard drive for the Seminoles' second score of the game. But it was the offense that made the mistakes to put the game out of reach.
Things could not have started off any better for the offensive unit. In the opening drive Duke looked solid, moving up field to give Sims Lenhardt a 52-yard field-goal opportunity, which fell just short. After Chris Combs recovered a fumble, Bobby Campbell led a two-play drive, capped by his one-yard TD run.
Things went downhill, however, as soon as Goldsmith elected to run a quick kick. Most fans knowledgeable of Duke football knew they would see at least one quick kick during this contest, but most would not have guessed that it would come when it did. Up 7-0 on their own 35, the Blue Devils faced third-and-11. Campbell was 4-for-4 for 36 yards at this point, but Goldsmith called for the punt. The punt traveled only 15 yards and led to a Seminole game-tying touchdown, but more importantly, it seemed to kill Duke's spirit. After the game, neither Montgomery nor Kevin Thompson would comment on their coach's decision.
The next drive saw the departure of Campbell due to a shoulder injury, and fourth-string quarterback Thompson took the field. Thompson played fairly well, considering the circumstances, but the offense continued to make mistakes that would cost Duke dearly.
Early in the second quarter, Duke got the ball at the FSU 45 after Montgomery's 53-yard return. On the very next play, Dawud Rasheed coughed up the ball and the Seminoles recovered. It was another blown opportunity for the Blue Devils.
Still, Duke's defense came up with a big stand and forced FSU to go three-and-out. On the very next drive, however, Thompson threw an interception, followed by a personal foul call, to give the 'Noles the ball on Duke's four-yard line. The defense almost stopped the Seminoles' attack, but on fourth-and-1, Busby plunged over the goal line, giving FSU a two-TD lead.
"They are one of the best teams in the nation, if not the best," Montgomery said. "When you play against a team like that, you just can't have mistakes, and we had too many mistakes."
Things only got worse after halftime. In Duke's first possession of the second half, Tony Bryant sacked Thompson, knocking the ball loose. Sam Cowart picked up the ball and ran it 24 yards for the score. Four plays later, Brian Morton had his punt blocked by Dexter Jackson and recovered by Derrick Gibson for another Seminole touchdown. Later in the third quarter, an interception would give Duke the ball on the FSU 11- yard line, but the Blue Devil offense could only muster a field goal.
Thompson and the offense would settle down and play reasonably well in the fourth, but by then, the damage had been done. Through sloppy play, the more-talented Seminoles would give Duke its best opportunity possible to pull a huge upset. Through equally sloppy play, however, the Blue Devils did not convert.
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