Duke at Florida State

The Duke Blue Devils put on a surprising show in taking down North Carolina at home last week 33-30. It made them Bowl eligible at 6-2. The Blue Devils ran for well over 200 yards on their way to a 500-yard offensive day. They now head to Tallahassee to take on the Seminoles who went to 7-1 with a win over Miami on the road 33-20. While Florida State was winning, they lost the services of Chris Thompson to a torn ACL. His 7.5 yards per carry will be missed, but not as much as many think. FSU has a stable of quality running backs. While Thompson’s explosiveness will be missed, the tank is far from empty with James Wilder and Devonta Freeman are more than capable of taking on the load, as they have combined for 100 carries at 6.5 yards a pop. Duke may be 6-2, but are not the usual standards of a 6-2 team as they rate out pretty average from the line of scrimmage. FSU will simply have a huge advantage on both sides of the ball. The Noles are a much better team at home where they have averaged 55.2 points per game, having scored 49 or more in every game! They are certainly capable of duplicating those numbers vs. a pedestrian Duke defense. The Blue Devils put up some pretty good numbers last week at home vs. a good North Carolina defense, but the difference between good and great at the college level is very significant. Florida State is right there with Alabama when it comes to defense, allowing just 227 yards and 12.6 points per game (192 yards and 9.4 points per game at home). The Blue Devils are just 1-5 ATS in their last six on the road and run into a buzzsaw here.