The Daily Nole

FSU-Charleston Southern: Game Balls

wlpearce.com/FSU athletics

There was no sign of fatigue from a short turnaround on Saturday as third-ranked Florida State handled Charleston Southern in its home opener, 52-8. The victory runs the nation’s longest home winning streak to 22 games.

FSU scored on its first three possessions on Saturday and never looked back. Defensively, the Seminoles had three takeaways, giving them seven for the year in just two games.

The Seminoles will now turn their attention to Louisville to open ACC play. The Cardinals are averaging 66 points per game through two contests and will host both FSU and College Gameday next week. Looking back on Saturday’s drubbing of the Buccaneers, here are the FSU players the staff consisting of editor Mike Ferguson, lead writer Clint Eiland, recruiting analyst Jay Brading and contributors T.J. Pittinger and Robert Blackburn thought stood out most:

Offense

Unanimous Game Ball: Travis Rudolph, WR
Junior wide receiver Travis Rudolph had his third career 100-yard receiving day in Saturday’s victory, which included first quarter touchdowns grabs of 36 and 21 yards. Rudolph finished the day with a game-high seven catches for 105 yards and a pair of touchdowns. For the season, Rudolph leads the Seminoles with 13 catches for 179 yards receiving and three touchdowns.

Defense

Mike, Jay, T.J., Robert: Brian Burns, DE
Freshman Brian Burns was absolutely relentless from his defensive end position for Florida State on Saturday. In his first real action, Burns tallied a team-high five total tackles, three for loss, two sacks and a forced fumble. On several other occasions, Burns got significant pressure on the Charleston Southern quarterbacks.

Clint: Derrick Nnadi, DT
For Florida State to slow down the Charleston Southern option attack, it had to win at the line of scrimmage and it did that, thanks largely to junior defensive tackle Derrick Nnadi. Nnadi had three tackles — all solo stops — and a sack in the 52-8 victory.

Special Teams

Mike, Clint, Jay, T.J.: Jesus Wilson, PR
Senior wide receiver Jesus Wilson returned just one punt on Saturday, but made the most of it, bobbing and weaving his way for an 89-yard touchdown. Wilson became the first FSU player to take a punt to the house since Tyler Hunter did so against Duke in October 2012.

Robert: Logan Tyler, P
Freshman punter Logan Tyler helped Florida State win the field position battle on Saturday by averaging 51 yards per punt on two boots with a long of 52 yards. One of those two punts was downed inside the Charleston Southern 20-yard-line.

Mike Ferguson is the editor of The Daily Nole. Follow Mike on Twitter @MikeWFerguson

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