FSU Squanders Lead, Falls at Miami, 28-27

With the help of two turnovers inside the Florida State red zone, Miami scored three unanswered touchdowns in the second half to stun rival FSU at Hard Rock Stadium on Saturday, 28-27.

Redshirt freshman quarterback N’Kosi Perry finished with four touchdown passes, including the game-winner to Brevin Jordan on a 41-yard pass play with 11:52 remaining. Lawrence Cager caught a pair of touchdowns for Miami (5-1, 2-0 ACC) in the victory.

The Seminoles (3-3, 1-3 ACC) raced to a 20-7 lead on touchdown passes from Deondre Francois to Keith Gavin — the first of Gavin’s career — and Tamorrion Terry, along with two Ricky Aguayo field goals. FSU extended that lead to 27-7 on a 74-yard punt return for a touchdown early in the third quarter, but did little else offensively for the remainder of the contest.

FSU looked as though it extended its lead to two scores early in the fourth quarter as Matthews hit Keith Gavin for an apparent long touchdown on a trick play. The play was called back for an illegal forward pass, although the initial throw from Francois to Matthews appeared to be a lateral. Despite it being reviewable, the play went unchallenged. Aguayo wound up hooking a 43-yard field goal on the drive.

For the night, FSU mustered just 200 yards of total offense and turned the ball over three times. Miami totaled 306 yards and turned the ball over once to set up a Florida State field goal following a strip sack from Brian Burns.

FSU will be idle next week while Miami travels to face Virginia. The Hurricanes have now won consecutive games against FSU for the first time since winning six straight from 2000-04.

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