Florida State has been trying to recover from the loss through most of the first half of the season.
This was Duke’s first loss.
The teams will meet in Atlantic Coast Conference action Friday night in Durham, North Carolina.
Duke (5-1, 1-1 ACC) hasn’t played since a 24-14 loss to Georgia Tech on Oct. 5. The Blue Devils are winless in 22 games against Florida State.
Duke coach Manny Diaz said the break in the schedule came at a good time to regroup the team.
“The players were able to refresh as much as possible in mid-October,” Diaz said.
Florida State (1-5, 1-4), which has lost its past two games, has the same amount of time between games as the Blue Devils. This will be the Seminoles’ second true road game since Sept. 28, when they lost 42-16 to SMU.
“It’s definitely always good to just reset,” Seminoles safety KJ Kirkland said. “It also gave us a better opportunity to scout our opponents.”
Kirkland and his teammates closely watched Duke quarterback Malik Murphy, who threw for 1,431 yards and 14 touchdowns with only five interceptions this season.
“That quarterback is pretty good,” Kirkland said. “He’s got big arms. They can run the ball. They do a lot of good things.”
Florida State’s offense needs a boost. The Seminoles have not scored more than 16 points in a game since losing to Georgia Tech 24-21 in Dublin in the season opener.
The Seminoles stopped playing music during practice earlier this week in preparation for the game against Duke, as Florida State coach Mike Norvell looks to change the atmosphere.
“We can’t control the atmosphere, but we can control ourselves,” Nobel said. “We’re controlling what we do. We wanted a little bit of a changeup in that regard. Making sure we bring the energy we need to every play.”
The Seminoles have young players on the offensive line, including redshirt freshman quarterback Brock Glenn. There could be four other freshmen or redshirt freshmen in the starting lineup on that side of the ball.
Diaz said Florida State appears to be inspired by Glenn, who was the starter against Clemson on Oct. 5 and threw for 228 yards, two touchdowns and one interception.
“More than anything, I feel like the team has fire and energy behind him,” Diaz said.
Florida State defeated Duke 38-20 in Tallahassee, Fla., last October, then outscored the Blue Devils 21-0 in the fourth quarter.
–Field level media
