FSU football: Breaking down Duke’s defense in every metric
By Kelvin Hunt
No. 4 FSU football will welcome the No. 17 Duke Blue Devils to Tallahassee for a primetime matchup Saturday night.
The game has huge implications for both teams looking to stay undefeated in ACC play. The other question is Duke starting QB Riley Leonard’s ankle injury. Leonard got hurt at the end of the Notre Dame game a couple of weeks ago.
It was diagnosed as a high ankle sprain, and he’s had the Duke bye-week and the past week against NC State to rehab. I doubt he’d be 100 percent if he chose to play against FSU, and the gamble would be risking further injury as Duke has ACC games remaining against Louisville and North Carolina.
It could be smarter to allow him to get healthier to play those teams instead of on the road as a -13.5 betting underdog against FSU. The perceived strength of the Duke team is their defense. Duke head coach Mike Elko was a well-respected defensive coordinator before becoming a head coach.
They have not allowed more than 21 points in any game this year but haven’t played any top-tier offenses. The best two offenses they have faced were Notre Dame and Clemson. This post will look at every metric to see how the FSU offense stacks up.