FSU football: Noles responded to adversity versus Duke

FSU football were in a dogfight with the Duke Blue Devils for the majority of Saturday night’s contest.

This is not something that this football team is not prepared for. The coaching staff always refers to the word “response”. The phrase might sound cliche, but it is a demonstration of what Florida State is all about.

It would have been easy for this defensive unit to throw in the towel with Duke on the FSU 7-yard line with a 1st & goal when the Blue Devils were up by a score of 20-17 with 6:48 left to go in the third quarter.

However, the Seminoles’ defense held their ground and held the Duke offense to zero points as they forced a turnover on down to give the football back to their offense.

Florida State struggled at times to put together consistent offensive drives. Duke’s defense made it extremely difficult to move the football. Unfortunately, the Seminoles’ offense was at their own 4-yard line after the turnover on downs.

Earlier in the game, Florida State’s offense was backed up into their own 6-yard line and Duke’s defense was able to come away with an interception that was returned for a touchdown to give the Blue Devils a 17-7 lead early in the second quarter.

However, the Seminoles wanted to ensure that a similar situation did not happen again as FSU went out on a 14 play, 96 yard drive to give head football coach Mike Norvell and company their first lead of the night.

Some fans were unhappy with quarterback Jordan Travis not utilizing his legs. However, on that drive alone, the West Palm Beach (FL) native had 40 rushing yards, which included 2-yard touchdown run. He also completed seven of his eight passes for 45 yards.

It almost seemed as though Norvell told the veteran quarterback to do whatever it takes to wheel his team to victory and Travis did his best Jameis Winston “We ain’t leaving without a victory!” impression.