Short-handed Florida State Seminoles pull out stunning 35-31 win at Louisville
Louisville’s Cardinal Stadium has been a house of horrors at times for the Florida State football team, and there was plenty of pain again for the Seminoles on Friday night.
FSU went into its ACC opener already missing standout defensive tackle Fabien Lovett, and the Seminoles then lost star quarterback Jordan Travis and top defensive end Jared Verse in the first half. Travis went down with an apparent ankle or foot injury, while Verse appeared to hurt his knee; neither played in the second half.
Without arguably their three best players, the Seminoles somehow, some way pulled out a 35-31 victory and improved to 3-0 on the season and 1-0 in ACC play. Louisville falls to 1-2 and 0-2.
After the Cardinals took a 28-21 lead early in the fourth quarter, Florida State appeared to be in real trouble. But backup quarterback Tate Rodemaker responded with a 69-yard bomb to receiver Johnny Wilson and then a 10-yard touchdown pass to Wilson on back-to-back plays.
Louisville regained the lead at 31-28 with a 36-yard field goal. But the Seminoles responded again — with Trey Benson breaking off a 37-yard run and Wilson catching a fade for a touchdown from Rodemaker.
That gave the Seminoles a 35-31 advantage, and the FSU defense got stops on Louisville’s final two possessions to seal the victory. The final stop came on a sideline interception by nickelback Kevin Knowles.
For the game, Wilson finished with seven catches for 149 yards with two touchdowns. Rodemaker came off the bench to complete 6 of 10 passes for 109 yards, the two touchdowns to Wilson and one interception.
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With Travis standing on the sideline on crutches, Rodemaker and FSU actually started the second half with a bang, putting together a 10-play, 75-yard drive to tie the game at 21-21. The drive was punctuated by a 15-yard touchdown run by sophomore running back Lawrance Toafili.
After a sluggish start to the half, Louisville finally answered with an 18-yard touchdown run by Malik Cunningham early in the fourth quarter. That pushed the Cardinals’ lead back to 28-21
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All things considered, FSU likely felt fortunate to only trail by seven points at halftime, 21-14.
The Seminoles opened the game with two early touchdown drives — one capped off by a 2-yard TD pass from Travis to tight end Preston Daniel and the other with a 21-yard pass to receiver Malik McClain — but things went sideways after that.
The Seminoles’ final four drives of the first half ended with two interceptions and two punts.
Before getting injured, Travis completed 13 of 17 passes for 157 yards with two touchdowns. The Seminoles also got an impressive — and much-needed — performance from their three running backs. Treshaun Ward rumbled for 126 yards on 10 carries, Benson ran 10 times for 70 yards, and Toafili scored the lone rushing touchdown.
FSU’s defense, meanwhile, allowed Louisville to rack up 290 yards and three touchdowns — two rushing and one passing — in the first two quarters. But Adam Fuller’s unit limited the Cardinals to 10 points in the second half.
Florida State returns to action next Saturday night at home against Boston College.
Stay connected with Warchant.com for complete postgame coverage.
Talk about this story with other die-hard FSU football fans on the Tribal Council.
