No. 4 Florida State rallies from early hole to beat No. 16 Duke
Jordan Travis spearheaded two drives that resulted in fourth-quarter touchdowns as fourth-ranked Florida State overcame No. 16 Duke 38-20 Saturday night in Tallahassee, Fla.
Travis ran 2 yards to complete a 96-yard drive early in the fourth quarter and then threw 21 yards to Lawrance Toafili less than five minutes later in the Atlantic Coast Conference showdown.
The Seminoles (7-0, 5-0 ACC) are the only ACC team without a league loss.
Duke (5-2, 2-1) lead at intermission but couldn’t get going in the second half. Quarterback Riley Leonard, who was injured in the waning seconds three weeks earlier in a loss to Notre Dame, was back in a starting role, but he didn’t have his normal impact and was replaced in the fourth quarter after he was shaken up.
Leonard, who has been one of the nation’s top dual-threat quarterbacks, ended up 7-for-16 for 69 yards with an interception. He carried once for 13 yards.
Travis was 27-for-36 passing for 268 passing yards with two scores and an interception. He also gained a team-high 62 yards on the ground on 10 carries.
Duke’s Jaquez Moore gained 110 yards on 16 carries, but had only 10 yards in the second half.
Florida State trailed 20-17 when it finally got rolling. Travis threw or ran for 80 of the 96 yards on the long go-ahead drive. He was good for 73 of the 74 yards on the next drive, capped by 21-yard touchdown pass to Toafili with 8:18 left.
Rodney Hill ran 9 yards for the final touchdown with 4:15 left.
Duke led 10-0 barely more than eight minutes into the game. Moore opened the scoring on a 42-yard run. Following Florida State’s second failed fourth-down play, Todd Pelino kicked a 45-yard field goal.
Then the Seminoles drove 85 yards on 13 plays to score on Travis’ 7-yard pass to Caziah Holmes with 13 seconds to play in the opening quarter.
The momentum shifted back and fourth in the second quarter. Duke’s Chandler Rivers intercepted Travis on a tipped pass and made a 13-yard return for a touchdown. But Florida State’s Deuce Spann answered with a 99-yard kickoff return for a touchdown.
Pelino’s 33-yard field goal made it 20-17 at halftime.
–Field Level Media
