DURHAM – You don’t need a fast offensive start if your defense is going to play like this.

And when your defense does things like forcing four turnovers, recording six sacks and racking up 11 tackles for loss, you can celebrate beating a team for the first time in 23 tries.

Duke slugged its way to a 23-16 win over visiting Florida State on Friday night at Wallace Wade Stadium.

“I feel like that’s a lot of kids’ dreams growing up. Like, you see Florida State, that’s a big-name team,” said cornerback Chandler Rivers, who returned an interception for a touchdown. “If I don’t go to Florida State, I want to beat Florida State.

“Us being the first team to do that at Duke, it’s amazing. And of course, we want to keep making history this year, keep doing new stuff.”

Duke (6-1, 2-1 ACC) is bowl eligible in the middle of October and bounced back from its lone loss, which came two weeks ago at Georgia Tech. Since 1961, Duke has started a season 6-1 or better four times now; this year, in 2014 and ’15 with 6-1 starts, and in 1994 with a 7-0 start.

The Blue Devils got here with the swarming defense that has come to characterize most of their games. Duke had two sacks on FSU’s last drive of the game; the prior drive ended with Duke’s fourth takeaway, matching a season-high (also four against Middle Tennessee).

“Defensively, we’re just outstanding. So many great contributions,” coach Manny Diaz said. “I just thought our front and the way that we played and the way that we were relentless in getting to the quarterback was the telling difference in the game.”

It helped compensate for a less-than-stellar performance by Duke’s offense. The Blue Devils had 180 yards on 59 plays; 88 of those came on Star Thomas’ 21 carries.

FSU (1-6, 1-5) turned the ball over on three straight snaps, spanning the end of the first quarter and start of the second. Duke used that as a springboard to a 17-3 lead — the first turnover was Rivers’ pick-6, the second led to a 2-yard touchdown run by Thomas, and the third led to a chip shot field goal by Todd Pelino.

The only touchdown Duke allowed was a kickoff return to start the second half. Samuel Singleton Jr. returned that one 95 yards to make it a 17-13 game, which set up the rest of the second half to be a one-score game.

It was important for the Blue Devils to answer that score, and they did with a 10-play, 48-yard drive that ended with a 44-yard field goal by Pelino.

These teams traded field goals early in the fourth quarter again, FSU getting a 38-yarder and Duke coming back with a 39-yarder by Pelino. Those wound up being the final points and were set up by a 44-yard run by Thomas.

“I try not to get frustrated in any game, I try to just … keep my composure,” Thomas said. “Because I know, like, as a running back, it ain’t always going to be there. It takes time, second half, fourth-quarter runs might start to pop, so I just try to stay in the game, stay level-headed.”

So much for the fast start we might see from Duke’s offense.

The Blue Devils went three-and-out on their first possession; their only first down on the second possession was via penalty; and went three-and-out on the third and fourth possessions.

To the rescue came Duke’s defense — with a helping hand by FSU quarterback Brock Glenn.

Rivers’ pick-6 was a 36-yard return; to that point, Duke’s offense had a combined 24 yards. After the kickoff, Glenn had the ball punched out by linebacker Ozzie Nicholas, which led to Thomas’ touchdown.

FSU’s next snap involved Glenn and Nicholas, too, only this time it was through the air, the Princeton transfer this time stepping in front of a pass for his first interception of the year and returning it to FSU’s 11-yard line.

“It’s pretty cool,” Nicholas said of the feeling for a defense to force turnovers on three straight plays. “You know, it’s something we’ve really worked on as a defense, something that we’ve really moved toward … is widening that turnover margin, making those big plays.”

Duke entered this game plus-2 in turnover margin and exits it plus-6.

EXTRA POINTS: Duke was still without running back Jaquez Moore, who’s played one snap since early in the second game of the season, and linebacker Nick Morris Jr., who hasn’t played since the season opener. … Diaz announced after the game that Duke will be without starting tight end Nicky Dalmolin for the rest of the season. He suffered an injury in the middle of the week; Tony Boggs started at tight end against FSU. … Wide receiver Jordan Moore had a 10-yard catch and didn’t take a snap until the last play of Duke’s fourth possession. Diaz said he was “very limited.” … The teams were a combined 5-for-31 on third downs; FSU was 2-for-14 and Duke was 3-for-17. … FSU replaced Glenn after the three straight turnovers with freshman Luke Kromenhoek, who had not played this season. Kromenhoek was 3-for-7 for 19 yards, and Glenn came back in late in the third quarter to finish the game.