Florida State Comes Back to Beat Louisville 42-31

Player of the Game: Dalvin Cook-9 Carries for 110 Yards and 2 Touchdowns; 4 Receptions for 40 Yards

The Florida State Seminoles were on the verge of finally collapsing. Down 21-0 in the first half to Louisville, all the distractions, all the controversy, and all the questions about the team on the field seemed to be culminating at once against.

Even when they were down 24-7 in the third quarter, Jameis Winston had thrown 3 interceptions, and the Seminoles got two huge breaks to avoid further embarrassment at that point: one of Winston’s interceptions was a fumble that went back to Florida State, and the Seminoles’ only touchdown was a Florida State fumble that they recovered in the end zone. Even Mr. Automatic, Roberto Aguayo, missed a field goal to tie the game at one point.

But once again, Jimbo Fisher showed his ability to keep this team together, Winston’s intangibles shined brightly, and true to a champion, Florida State found a way to get it done.

Down 24-7, Florida State scored 3 straight touchdowns with a 68-yard pass from Jameis Winston to Travis Rudolph, a 40-yard run by Dalvin Cook, and a 47-yard pass to Ermon Lane. When Louisville went back up with a 1-yard Michael Dyer run, Florida State responded with a 38-yard run by cook. The game was finally iced when Winston threw a 35-yard touchdown pass to Freddie Stevenson to give the Seminoles a 42-31 lead, and they were able to take a knee after Will Gardner threw an interception on the next drive.

Winston went from going 10 of 23 with 0 touchdowns, 3 interceptions, and barely more than 100 yards to going 25 of 48 for 3 touchdowns and 401 yards along with the 3 interceptions. After his third interception, he went 15 of 25 for nearly 300 yards and 3 touchdowns. That shows big game heroics, incredible intangibles, and the clutch gene needed at the next level, even if his accuracy still comes and goes.

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With the First Pick

This is what the Seminoles have been doing all year, and you can’t call it luck. They have everything working against them and still manage to pull out wins despite facing so much adversity.

This time, in addition to Winston stepping up, it was a new freshman running back in Cook stepping up. Cook had 2 long touchdown runs and 110 yards rushing on 9 carries, and make no mistake, he’s what kept the offense alive. With Louisville focusing all of its attention on the FSU receivers, Winston was able to hit Cook in the flats multiple times for gains one drive, giving him 4 receptions for 40 yards overall. That’s what makes him the player of the game. He forced Louisville to account for him, allowing Winston to have more options late in the game. It’s another FSU weapon stepping up.

Nick O’Leary also stepped up in this game with 6 receptions for 76 yards, which happens when all of the attention is on the stud receivers like Rashad Greene. Winston was able to spread the wealth en route to a 400-yard game, which is what you need from your quarterback.

In this game, on top of everything going wrong, Gardner managed to put up 330 yards passing for Bobby Petrino’s Cardinals, and Michael Dyer and DeVante Parker had very gutsy performances. Dyer put up 134 yards and 3 touchdowns on 28 carries, and he scored the first 2 touchdowns of the game in the second quarter to give Louisville a 14-0 lead, one of which came off an interception. He also scored to give the lead back to the Cardinals in the fourth quarter.

Parker had 214 yards receiving. Gerald Christian also stepped up, catching an 11-yard touchdown pass from Gardner after Winston’s second interception to give Louisville a 21-0 lead.

Then, Florida State’s first touchdown came after Nick O’Leary recovered a Karlos Williams fumble in the end zone at the end of the first half to cut the lead to 21-7.

But the Seminoles proved their resiliency once again. They can’t relax because there are still some decent teams down the road. This is a very solid win, though.