FSU's first loss to the Blue Devils represents a new program low

For the first time in program history, Florida State lost to Duke – the result of a four-turnover game in which the Seminoles fell behind from the first quarter.

After a 23-16 loss on Friday night, the Seminoles are now 22-1 against the Blue Devils. It was a disastrous night that overshadowed a decent performance by the defense, as FSU changed quarterbacks twice and committed multiple special teams errors, even on a night where they scored their first kickoff return touchdown of the year had. The offensive line struggled all night with the lightning-quick nature of Duke's defense, and the wide receivers were pretty nervous about the number of drops they were making. The Noles had the ball in Duke territory with seven downs after the two-minute warning, but Jeremiah Byers gave up a sack too easily, committed a false start and a sack on fourth down ended their night.

Florida State's defense played valiantly, giving up 17 of its 23 points due to turnovers. In the first half, Fuller's unit gave up just 1.9 yards per play and did not allow the Blue Devils into the end zone in the second half. Duke managed an abysmal 3/16 on third down, and FSU held them to just 3.7 yards per rush.

Ultimately, the mistakes, particularly those from Florida State's veterans, led to the Seminoles' third straight loss, each more agonizing than the last.

The Seminoles started on the right foot, forcing Duke to make a three-pointer early in the day and getting into field goal range on their first two offensive plays from scrimmage. Ryan Fitzgerald gave FSU an early lead and the defense forced a punt on the first three Duke possessions of the game.

Kyle Morlock perfectly executed a fake punt on fourth-and-4 from his own 26-yard line in the first half, sparking FSU's offense after it had been stagnant.

From there, however, things quickly went south.

Malik Benson dropped a wide-open pass on third down in Duke territory, ending their drive, and a bad snap led to Ryan Fitzgerald's first miss of the season. On the ensuing offensive attack, FSU got behind the sticks again, and on 3rd-and-10, Brock Glenn committed the first of three straight turnovers on three consecutive plays, but this one did the most damage. The redshirt sophomore threw an out route down the sideline late, and the Blue Devil defender undercut the route and ran the interception back for six.

To add insult to injury, on the next play Glenn called his own number against a quarterback keeper and lost the ball to a peanut punch. The Blue Devils hit the ball into the end zone and took the lead with a 10-play, 36-yard drive in which the defense allowed three third-down conversions and called two offsides penalties.

In what seemed like a joke, Glenn threw an interception on the third straight play, this time directly to the Duke linebacker as he officially surrendered. The Blue Devils took over at the FSU 11-yard line, but a three-and-out gave them a field goal and a 14-point deficit.

Mike Norvell then made his first quarterback change of the night, bringing in true freshman Luke Kromenhoek. The Georgia native didn't complete a pass on his first drive, but he led the Seminoles into field goal range and ended the half with a drive aided by an illegal hands-to-the-face call penalty against Duke. It could have been six instead of three, but Kentron Poiter dropped what would have been a touchdown on the second of three brutal drops in the first half.

The Seminoles were down 17-6 at the end of the half when a hard putback by Hykeem Williams ended the drive.

Sam Singleton, desperately needing an explosive play, managed a 95-yard kickoff return touchdown early in the second half, the second straight year FSU returned a kickoff against Duke. With the lead cut to four, the Blue Devils marched the ball down the field into field goal range, restoring their lead to seven.

After back-to-back three-and-outs by the offense, Norvell brought Glenn back into the game, and the Memphis native responded with three consecutive explosive plays to start the drive. However, a delay of game, an incompletion and an illegal block behind led to the Noles leaving the red zone and Fitzgerald coming back for a successful 48-yard field goal.

Just when it seemed like FSU was getting back into the swing of things, the pendulum swung back to Duke's side with an explosive 44-yard run that put them in the red zone before the Seminoles prevented them from making a field goal.

For the second consecutive possession, Glenn moved FSU into opposing territory with multiple completions for first downs. But of course the Seminoles got in the way again, and true freshman Kam Davis, who had proven to be safe today, lost the football at the Duke 31-yard line, ending the drive and giving the ball to the Blue Devils back for a touchdown with 5:16 left.

The Seminole defense recorded a three-pointer after the fourth offensive turnover of the day and a bad punt returned Florida State to its own 41-yard line. Once again, two negative plays early in the drive put Glenn behind the uprights on third down.

Duke 23, FSU 16: Game stats

Total yards

FSU: 291

Duke: 180

Yards pass

FSU: 129

Duke: 70

Rush yards

FSU: 162

Duke: 110

Punish

FSU: 9-65

Duke: 5-44

1. Downs

FSU: 16

Duke: 10

3rd Downs

FSU: 2-14

Duke: 3-17

4. Downs

FSU: 2-3

Duke: 1-1

Total games

FSU: 66

Duke: 59

Avg. Yds/Play

FSU: 4.4

Duke: 3.1

Average Yds/Completion

FSU: 10.8

Duke: 5.8

Avg. Yds/Rush

FSU: 4.1

Duke: 3.1

Sack Adj Rush Yd(Avg.)

FSU: 190 (5.6)

Duke: 110 (3.1)

Red zone

FSU: 2-2

Duke: 2-2

Time of possession

FSU: 29:15

Duke: 30:45

Sales (Def Pts Off)

FSU: 4 (17)

Duke: 0 (0)

Fumbles lost

FSU: 2-2

Duke: 0-0

Sacks (Def Yds)

FSU: 0 (0)

Duke: 6 (28)

TFL (Def Yds)

FSU: 6 (14)

Duke: 11 (47)