The Florida State Seminoles suffered another heartbreaking loss on Saturday afternoon. The 13th-ranked Miami Hurricanes traveled up to Doak Campbell Stadium and beat the Seminoles 24-20 on a last second touchdown pass.
Neither offense started well. There were four straight drives where punts were exchanged, and each one included ugly quarterback play. Jacques Patrick was the one who helped break the defensive battle. He had two runs of 30-plus yards and helped move the Seminoles into Miami territory. FSU struck first with a short field goal to make it 3-0.
The Hurricane offense struggled mightily in the first quarter. They totaled just 24 yards for a putrid two yards per play. A large part of that was the domination by the FSU defensive interior, who got to Malik Rosier on multiple passing attempts. FSU also shut down any semblance of a run game, holding Miami running back Mark Walton to four attempts for nine yards. Florida State’s offense had 124 yards and 5.9 yards per play comparatively.
The narrative didn’t change in the second quarter.
Florida State’s defense carried over the momentum. Defensive ends Josh Sweat and Brian Burns started joining in on the party, combining for seven tackles, 1.5 tackles for loss, one hurry, and half a sack. Not much of anything was working for the Hurricanes’ offense. Rosier started missing easy passes by a few yards, and their offensive line couldn’t hold long enough to give Walton a chance.
The Florida State offense was unable to extend the lead however. A combination of drops by the receivers and quarterback James Blackman being inaccurate meant the offense was one-dimensional. While Patrick and freshman Cam Akers would get the occasional chunks of yards, the lack of a passing game stymied any extended drives. FSU had just 39 yards in the quarter.
Six punts, one interception, and 72 combined yards later, the Seminoles held a 3-0 lead at halftime.
Miami flipped the script and dominated the third quarter. The Hurricanes came out on the first drive and marched down the field to tie it up with a field goal. Florida State helped out with a coverage bust on 3rd-and-20 that allowed a 32-yard pass completion. With the ball now in FSU possession, Blackman rolled out and threw a floater that got intercepted near midfield by Dee Delaney. Miami got all the way past the FSU 30-yard-line before Rosier was intercepted in the end zone by Stanford Samuels. It looked like this was the play that could return the momentum to FSU’s side.
But the Seminoles were unable to do anything with the ball. Logan Tyler then proceeded to outkick the coverage and allow Braxton Berrios to return it 41 yards back near the FSU red zone. The very next play, A.J. Westbrook got beat on a pass to the corner of the end zone where Rosier found Berrios to make it 10-3.
The two teams traded punts on the next two possessions. At the end of the third quarter, the numbers were telling. Miami outgained FSU 125-42 and almost doubled its time of possession.
Florida State struck back to start the fourth quarter. Cam Akers busted a 42-yard run that put the Seminoles in Miami territory. Five plays later, Blackman tossed a touchdown pass to Ryan Izzo on a third down to even the game, 10-10.
After forcing a Miami punt deep from their own territory, Florida State was able to finally get a drive going in the second half. Blackman got into a rhythm and Akers chipped away at the Miami front seven. While the Seminoles were unable to convert yet another red zone trip to a touchdown, they were able to rely on a second Ricky Aguayo field goal to take a 13-10 lead.
It didn’t last long however. In just three plays, Miami was already inside the FSU 15-yard line. It didn’t take them long to score on a beautiful pass from Rosier to Berrios. A little over five minute remained in the game with Miami up, 17-13.
The rivalry magic lived on however. Blackman entered a zone and completed three long passes to go up 20-17 after spotting a wide open Auden Tate. It came down to a Miami drive with 1:24 left in the game.
After giving up multiple 10-plus yard passes, Rosier spotted a 1-on-1 on the right side with FSU Tarvarus McFadden in man coverage. With just six seconds remaining, the Hurricanes scored on a 23-yard touchdown pass to Darrell Langham to take the 24-20 lead. Florida State tried to return the squib kick, but they were unsuccessful.
For final stats, Florida State had 406 yards to Miami’s 337. It averaged a yard more per play (5.7 vs. 4.6) and had two more first downs than the Hurricanes. The Seminoles also dominated the time of possession by almost 10 minutes.
Blackman went 17-for-28 passing for 203 yards, two passing touchdowns and two interceptions. Akers was the game’s leading rusher with 20 attempts for 121 yards. Izzo was the leading receiver for FSU with four receptions for 54 yards and one receiving touchdown.
Miami’s Berrios finished with eight receptions for 90 receiving yards and two touchdowns. Rosier went 19-for-44 for 254 yards, three touchdowns, and one interception.
Florida State is now 1-3 overall and 0-2 in the ACC. Miami is 4-0 overall and 2-0 in the ACC.
The Hurricanes will return home to face Georgia Tech. FSU will be on the road to face Duke.
Edwin Collins
October 7, 2017 at 10:32 pm
There are serious issues with this team and it will get worse before it gets better.