Florida State falls to Boston College, 28-13, drops to 0-2 on season

Florida State’s 2024 football season has suddenly gone from bad to worse.

Much worse.

Nine days after losing as a 10.5-point favorite to Georgia Tech in Ireland, the Seminoles lost Monday night as an even bigger favorite on their home field.

Boston College, which was an 18.5-point underdog, came into Doak Campbell Stadium and controlled the action on both sides of the ball and rolled to a 28-13 victory. The loss dropped the Seminoles to 0-2 overall and 0-2 in the ACC, just one year after they won 13 games and claimed the conference championship.

The Seminoles’ preseason hopes of defending their ACC crown and making the 12-team College Football Playoff now appear to be just about dashed on the second day of September. And the loss also marked Boston College’s first win over the Seminoles since a 35-3 drubbing in Jimbo Fisher’s final season.

Florida State made things somewhat interesting in the third quarter when DJ Uiagalelei connected with senior receiver Kentron Poitier on a 29-yard touchdown pass. That cut the Eagles’ lead to 21-13 with just over five minutes remaining in the period.

But Boston College got great field position to start its next drive after FSU’s Byron Turner Jr. was flagged for a personal foul on the ensuing kickoff, and the Eagles needed just eight plays to march 60 yards and push their lead back to 15 points.

The Florida State defense, which was reeling for most of the season opener in Ireland, got off to a similar start Monday night.

Boston College’s first three drives went for 174 yards and two touchdowns on 29 plays. And the Seminoles’ offense was in a similar funk, going three-and-out on each of its first three possessions.

FSU seemed to gather itself in the second quarter, however, getting a pair of stops on defense and parlaying those into field goal drives to cut the Eagles’ lead to 14-6 at halftime. That deficit could have been erased completely, but Uiagalelei and the Seminoles’ receivers failed to connect on a number of passes in the red zone.

On one play, Uiagalelei had Ja’Khi Douglas wide open in the back of the end zone, but his pass got deflected by a defensive lineman. On another, receiver Darion Williamson broke free toward the left corner of the end zone, but Uiagalelei overthrew him.

While Florida State was able to cut its halftime deficit to one score, the Eagles maintained a huge first-half edge in time of possession, 21:31 to 8:09. The Eagles out-gained the Seminoles in the first half, 188-118.

Things then started poorly in the third quarter as Uiagalelei’s fourth pass of the second half, on a fourth-and-5 from FSU’s 47-yard line, was picked off by Boston College cornerback Max Tucker. The sophomore defensive back returned it 58 yards to the Seminoles’ 7-yard line, and BC scored two plays later to extend its lead to 21-6.

Boston College finished the game with 263 rushing yards, compared to just 21 for Florida State.

Uiagalelei completed 21 of 42 passes for 272 yards with one touchdown and one interception. He and the FSU offense were booed several times by the home crowd, and the student section chanted, “We want Brock,” on multiple occasions, in reference to backup QB Brock Glenn.

Former Seminoles running back Treshaun Ward ran for 77 yards on 12 carries. He also caught three passes for 61 yards and a touchdown.

Florida State now has a bye week before returning home to face Memphis.

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