Throw Duke's fourth-string quarterback, a swarming Florida State defense and the high-octane Seminole offense into the same mix, and what results is a recipe for disaster.
After giving up an early touchdown, the No. 3 Seminoles (5-0, 3-0 in the Atlantic Coast Conference) stormed back with 35 unanswered points in an 18-minute stretch in the first half en route to a 51-27 waxing of Duke (2-4, 0-3) Saturday evening in Wallace Wade Stadium.
"We won because we had better players than they did," FSU coach Bobby Bowden said. "I would grade them higher than I would grade us tonight. They really played super in the second half. We won the game and I'm thankful, but Duke deserves all the credit, not Florida State."
Defensive tackle Chris Combs set the tone for the Duke defense early, falling on a mishandled snap to fullback Khalid Abdullah deep in Florida State territory and setting up Duke's offense at the FSU 19.
Starting quarterback Bobby Campbell wasted no time putting his team on the scoreboard. On the series' first play, Campbell rolled right and rifled a bullet to Scottie Montgomery at the one. Campbell then dove into the end zone on a quarterback keeper to give Duke a 7-0 lead-the first time Duke has ever led FSU in a football game.
A holding penalty forced Florida State to go three downs and punt on the ensuing possession, and the Blue Devils took over on their own 36-yard line-that's where it fell apart for Duke.
After FSU stuffed two Duke runs up the middle, the Blue Devils faced a third-and-11. With Campbell 4-for-4 at that point and lined up in shotgun formation, everybody in the stadium figured Campbell would drop back and throw-everybody except Goldsmith, who had elected to call a quick kick.
"You're out there with three, four new guys on the punt team, on a point in the field where they like to come after it, and you got third down and real long," he said. "Our passing game works when we can keep them off-balance and throw the quick passes. But third and 11, that's not the situation you want to be in. [The quick kick] has been very successful for us in the past, and at that point on the field, we could've turned the field over."
What may have been a questionable decision festered into even poorer execution. The FSU line got good penetration off the snap, forcing Campbell to punt a dead duck straight up in the air. By the time the ball rolled to a stop 15 yards from the original line of scrimmage, the momentum had shifted 180 degrees.
Neither Montgomery nor replacement quarterback Kevin Thompson would comment on the team's reaction to Goldsmith's call.
FSU quarterback Thad Busby then began the Seminole air show, completing 8-of-12 passes on Florida's next six possessions, five of which ended in the Duke end zone. The FSU freshman running back tandem of Davy Ford and Travis Minor carried the ball a combined 15 times for 93 yards on those six drives, each scoring a touchdown.
Things had soured on the Blue Devils even before the game turned ugly, when Campbell separated his left shoulder while trying to avoid the FSU pass rush late in the first quarter. His replacement, Thompson, was fourth on Duke's depth chart when the season began.
Having a fourth-stringer playing against FSU "was a bad position to be in," Goldsmith said. "He started very slowly, as time went on, he adjusted to the speed of the game, and he did a pretty nice job. I just don't understand the thing with the quarterbacks, I've never been in a situation like this. We'll just have to adjust."
The speed of the FSU defense had an effect on an obviously flustered Thompson, who was hurried a number of times and tossed an interception on an ill-advised throw in Duke territory.
"[FSU's] pass rush is the best in the nation, they get back there quick," Thompson said. "You have to know where you're going with the ball before the ball is snapped, because you have to get rid of it quick. I just kind of settled it to the pace of the game and the tempo [as the game progressed]. It's whole lot different than practice."
Thompson did settle down enough to lob a 61 yard touchdown pass to a streaking Scottie Montgomery late in the second quarter to pull Duke within 21 points at 35-14. For the game, the sophomore was 5-of-16 passing for 79 yards, two touchdowns and one interception.
The Blue Devil defense highlighted Duke's day against FSU, yielding only one drive of more than 60 yards, and stifling Seminole offense to only a field goal in the second half.
"Our kids really got after [the FSU offense]," Duke coach Fred Goldsmith said. "I saw some tremendous second effort in getting up off the ground, getting after the quarterback, jumping over blockers, coming over head-first and bouncing off the ground and going after them.
"You've gotta be proud of the defense the way they played tonight. It seems strange to say after you've given up 51 points, but most of that was not against [the defense]."
A punt block and a fumble returned for touchdowns ruined an otherwise solid second half turned in by the Blue Devils, who were only outscored 16-13 in the final 30 minutes.
"We played a pretty good game, all except for maybe two minutes in the first half, and two or three minutes in the second half," Montgomery said. "We had little things happen to us that we hope don't happen. Against a team like FSU, those things can't happen, and tonight they happened, and tonight we lost."
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