What they said: FSU outlasts Gators in rivalry's highest-scoring game

TALLAHASSEE — In the highest scoring game in the history of the Florida-Florida State football rivalry, No. 16 FSU outlasted the Gators 45-38 in a Black Friday shootout that saw 11 lead changes.

Both offenses rushed for over 200 yards, but Seminoles quarterback Jordan Travis outdueled UF’s Anthony Richardson with 270 passing yards, 83 rushing yards and three total touchdowns.

Richardson also had three scores (all passing) and threw for 198 yards but finished with a career-low completion rate (33 percent) and tossed an interception for the second week in a row.

The Gators have posted a 6-6 regular season record (3-5 in SEC play) in back-to-back years, while the Seminoles (9-3) now get a chance to win 10 games for the first time since 2016.

Here’s what both teams had to say after the Gators’ 45-38 loss at Florida State.

Billy Napier on UF’s three-and-outs in the third:

“I think, first and second down in particular, bang bang on the plays, on some of those. But there’s no question I can do some things better there, across the board. We’ve got to help them; we’ve got to help the players as coaches. There’s no question about it.”

Mike Norvell on FSU QB Jordan Travis:

“Jordan Travis was remarkable. Wow. There were times that he had to extend plays. Some of the things that he did out there on that football field were just truly special. To be able to take a negative and make it into a positive. I thought he located the ball really well throughout the course of the night. You just see his leadership, you see his confidence. There’s nothing that’s moving too fast for him. He’s able to control himself and go out there and play at an elite level. He broke the rock tonight. A lot of guys that did some great things, but he was special.”

Norvell on defending the Gators offense:

“Obviously they made their run there at the end. Ultimately, we did all the things that were necessary to finish that game one score better. …. Just so proud of this football team. Defensively thought they battled. It’s a talented offense that we faced. It’s one that had a lot of explosiveness. I think the quarterback did a really nice job. We were able to slow it down a little bit there in the second half. What a great college football game. To be able to finish tonight 2-0 here in the state, that’s big.”

Norvell on the back-and-forth game:

“Our depth got tested. Games like that, that’s where your heart, your character, your identity has to show up. Our guys battled. … That game needs to have those type of swings. It’s what makes this rivalry a special one. Definitely feels good coming out that one score ahead.”

Napier on Anthony Richardson’s play:

“I saw a guy that competed, that’s what I saw. I saw a guy that made some unbelievable plays as a runner. Made some elite throws at times. When you play a game like that, there’s gonna be things that you can do better, there’s no question. That’s the thing we got to understand, right. Even if you win the game, those same things you can learn from, they happened. So, regardless, there’s opportunity. Sometimes problems are opportunities in disguise, and I’m proud of Anthony the way he competed in the game.”

Richardson on rallying in the fourth:

“For one, we shouldn’t even be digging ourselves in a hole like that. That’s bad. As good a team as we are, we shouldn’t be down 14 points like that if we’re executing the right way. It’s good to know we’re capable of scoring points in a certain amount of minutes. We just need to perform better overall. It definitely kind of hurts just knowing what we can do and we’re not doing it every minute.”

Richardson on the facemask before his Hail Mary:

“I don’t know. I didn’t even realize it was a facemask. I just saw the guy come free and tried to make him miss and make a play. I tried to give my guy a chance to get the ball, but I don’t know.”

Napier on Gators being short-handed at WR:

“There was a handful of plays where we got our hands on the ball. There was a handful of plays where the coverage was tight, whatever the case may be. But we felt like the match-up in the slot was good, and we went there, and it ended up paying off. And then we had some opportunities to make some plays and I felt like we could rush the ball, and we rushed the ball. Offensively, we had 460 yards. A lot of good, just came up a little bit short.”

Napier on Ricky Pearsall‘s performance:

“He passed the final test on (Thursday). He was moving through (concussion) protocol during the week, he felt fine. Obviously, we’re going to dot all the I’s and cross all the T’s much like we would do with any player. But he was able to play and certainly made an impact in the game, there’s no question. He’s a great competitor and certainly a guy that’s made our team better.” 

Napier on Rashad Torrence sitting out:

“I think Rashad had an elbow. He was questionable, wasn’t able to do a ton during the week, it was a short week and then just didn’t feel, it was almost a pain tolerance deal, didn’t quite make enough progress late in the week and didn’t feel good about putting him out there. Those guys that played took the majority of reps throughout the week. You’ve got some guys out there that really played their first significant time. Kamari [Wilson] is obviously out there competing his tail off, Donovan [McMillon] and those guys, they stepped up and competed in the game.” 

Ventrell Miller on missing the first half:

“Didn’t feel too good. I know the guys were ready for me to come back in. They were talking about, ‘Free me,’ at halftime. So, it felt good, and my teammates just felt a certain way about me coming back at half. It felt good to see them cheer me on and get back out there. It’s tough just to wait. I feel like my teammates, [Derek] Wingo and Scoob [Scooby Williams] did a great job coming out of the first half. They kept us up.”

Miller on the defense giving up 45 points:

“Definitely some stuff that we really just need to clean up. High-scoring game. I gotta say, I felt like we got to see two great quarterbacks going at it all game. We could have done a better job on third down just getting off the field. Tough loss but a heck of a game.”

Miller on the program’s progress this year:

“I know we didn’t win as much games this year, but this had to be one of my favorite years since I’ve been here. Just the brotherhood we just built throughout the time. That’s something Coach Napier just emphasized. You can just see how the brotherhood has grown throughout the year and it’s been a great time. This is a competitive team we got right now. Anytime we’re down, we’re always trying to win the game and trying to get that spark to get us back in the game. Our team goes out and does that every week. I guess that’s just the competitive spirit.”