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Duke and Florida State play one of the biggest games on the Week 8 college football schedule Saturday. Ahead of that huge ACC matchup, let's make some bold Duke predictions.
There are four games this weekend featuring two ranked teams. Of course, the headliner is the seventh-ranked Penn State Nittany Lions traveling to Columbus to take on the third-ranked Ohio State Buckeyes. That game is taking place in the early window. On the afternoon slate, Alabama takes on Tennessee in Tuscaloosa. Those teams are ranked 11th and 17th, respectively. The primetime games feature another couple of these matchups too. One of those is the showdown between the Utah Utes and the USC Trojans, and the other is the undefeated Florida State Seminoles and the pesky Duke Blue Devils.
The Seminoles are currently ranked as the fourth-best team in all of college football. Duke ranks 16th in the country, but could still be without their star quarterback Riley Leonard. Their defense was able to step up and Blue Devils were able to get enough from their backup, Henry Belin IV, to take down the NC State Wolfpack without Leonard by a final score of 24-3. It will be a much tougher task to pull off a win this week, especially without Leonard if he can't go. That's not much of a bold prediction, but that doesn't mean there can't be some bold Duke Week 8 predictions to go with this matchup.
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Florida State scores fewer than 25 points
Florida State boasts one of the best offenses in the country. They rank 24th in the country in yards per game at 449.3.
The Noles are even better at putting points on the board, however. Only the Oregon Ducks, USC Trojans, LSU Tigers, Oklahoma Sooners, Penn State Nittany Lions, and Washington Huskies have put up more points on a per-game basis than the Seminoles. That makes sense. Every defense is going to struggle against an offense with a solid offensive lineup, a quarterback like Jordan Travis, and elite weapons like Keon Coleman, Jonny Wilson, and Trey Benson.
If there is a team that could stand a fight against them, though, it could be these Duke Blue Devils.
Head coach Mike Elko made his bones as a defensive coordinator at places like Texas A&M and Notre Dame before becoming the head coach of the Duke football program.
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He's had his defense humming in 2023. The Blue Devils rank 16th in the country in yards allowed per game at 298.5. They, like Florida State's offense, have been better in the points allowed department. Duke's defense has allowed only 9.8 points per game; only the Michigan Wolverines, Penn State Nittany Lions, and Ohio State Buckeyes have allowed fewer points per game this season. Duke's defense faces their toughest test yet this season, but they can stifle this Florida State offense.
Duke scores fewer than 10 points
God bless Henry Belin IV, but he isn't Riley Leonard.
Belin was able to complete only four of his 12 passes for 107 yards. against NC State He did hit two touchdowns but he also threw an interception. Duke scored 24 points in that game, but were pretty fortunate to do so.
All three of the Duke football team's touchdowns came on drives of two plays or fewer. Two of those scores came on touchdowns of 69 and 83 yards, respectively. The other came on an eight-yard touchdown pass after Duke was able to generate an interception deep in NC State territory.
Mike Elko has said that there is a ‘good chance‘ Riley Leonard returns this week, but that could also be gamesmanship to make Florida State prepare for multiple quarterbacks. If Leonard returns, Duke should have no problem scoring double-digit points. But if he can't, it will be an absolute grind to get there.
