There was no Orange Bowl revenge for Northern Illinois, which lost in Tallahassee against Florida State football. Here’s what we learned.
Six years ago, Northern Illinois emerged as a BCS Buster, the first and only one to reach a major bowl game despite suffering a regular-season loss. A narrow defeat against Iowa was not enough to keep the Huskies out of one of the big four bowl games, especially after they won the MAC championship. That earned Northern Illinois a trip to Miami for an Orange Bowl showdown against Florida State.
But they couldn’t pull off the upset in the major bowl game, as losses to power-conference opponents bookended an otherwise successful campaign for the Huskies. Florida State took down the Huskies with relative ease in a 31-10 win back then, and in their rematch six years later a similar fate befell the MAC challengers.
Florida State dominated all phases of the game against an overmatched Group of Five opponent trying to make a statement. The hot-seat talk should hopefully quiet for new head coach Willie Taggart, at least for a week, after the 37-19 victory on Saturday afternoon.
Francois, defense paced Florida State to the easy win
Florida State came out punching, putting together long drives ending in touchdowns the first two times they had the ball. That allowed the Seminoles to take a 20-7 lead into the locker room at halftime. It was exactly the sort of start that the Seminoles needed to restore confidence after their surprise loss at Syracuse in Week 3.
By the intermission, Seminoles quarterback Deondre Francois had already racked up 233 yards and a touchdown on 19-of-24 passing. Cam Akers added a touchdown, and the Florida State defense held Northern Illinois to just 52 total yards of offense in the first half. If anything, the score almost seemed too close given the relative dominance by the Seminoles against the Huskies.
Francois is the catalyst for this team. His return was never going to immediately turn a .500 team into an ACC contender, regardless of where they opened the 2017 season in the polls before his season-ending injury in the opener against Alabama. But Francois makes Florida State more collected on offense, his presence helping anchor the other 10 players on the field at any given time for the Seminoles.
Northern Illinois had their moments, such as D.J. Brown’s 66-yard catch and run for a touchdown in the third quarter. The Huskies went for two, failed, and were still two scores behind their hosts. It was the closest they would come the rest of the game against the Seminoles, after a touchdown was negated because receiver Jauan Wesley stepped out of bounds before the catch to render himself ineligible.
The ensuing field goal attempt went wide with less than 11 minutes remaining. Two plays later, Francois connected with Tamorrion Terry for a 78-yard touchdown pass as Florida State opened up a 30-13 lead. Marcus Childers kept the ball on a draw to score with eight minutes left, getting Northern Illinois back within two scores, but a failed two-point conversion attempt sealed the 11-point deficit.
Francois finished the game with 352 yards and two scores on 23-of-31 passing, leading Florida State to a big victory in front of a receptive crowd. The Seminoles finished with 473 total yards of offense, while the Florida State defense held the Huskies to just 221 yards when they had the ball. That included only six total rushing yards by Northern Illinois all day.
With the runaway victory at home, Willie Taggart’s squad is back to .500 heading into ACC play. After losing the matchup of 1-2 teams, Northern Illinois heads back to DeKalb with a third loss on their record. Both teams now turn their attention to conference play, with Florida State on the road at reeling Louisville and Northern Illinois traveling to face Eastern Michigan.