With Charlotte showdown looming, Duke players grapple for tickets

CHARLOTTE—For Duke football players, finding a ticket to the ACC championship game was harder than getting there.

Nearly a full year after playing the 2012 Belk Bowl at Bank of America Stadium, the Blue Devils return seeking a conference championship against No. 1 Florida State. With more than a dozen players from the Charlotte area, including eight starters, Duke is a team with a number of local ties to the Queen City—which makes tickets for Saturday's game a sought-after commodity in the Blue Devil locker room.

"It's a feeding frenzy in the locker room, whenever someone says they have an extra ticket, everybody jumps on them," redshirt senior offensive guard Dave Harding said. "Everybody tries to scoop them up early, and by the time the game rolls around there seem to be a few that pop open."

Each Duke player was allotted six tickets for this weekend's ACC championship game. With so many in-state players and anticipation for the showdown with Florida State running rampant, redshirt junior quarterback Anthony Boone said he was the most aggressive player on the team when it comes to finding extra seats.

"I'm the sneakiest," Boone said with a wry smile. "I went ahead and sent my mass text messages out on like Sunday.... I'm probably the most efficient."

Duke's starting signal-caller said he ended up with 14 tickets for Saturday's contest, though he lamented the fact that he has ended up with more in the past. Boone added that although tickets for the game were scarce, he'll have plenty more support in the stands for the Blue Devils' matchup with Florida State.

"I'd be surprised if I didn't have between 200 and 300 people there that I knew or knew me there in the stands," Boone said.