Before the Marching Chiefs took the field as zombies at halftime, the Seminoles did their own walking dead impression early. Rudolph tied the score with a 75-yard touchdown on which he broke four tackles en route to the end zone after catching the ball at the Syracuse 31.
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Syracuse (3-4, 1-2 Atlantic Coast Conference) had been facing the prospect of facing the nation’s top two rushers before Cook’s injury.
The Orange got the scoring started on its second drive of the game. But with Dalvin Cook and Everett Golson out for the Florida State Seminoles, there were a whole lot of “maybes” and “what ifs” tossed around as kickoff neared.
Backup running back Jacques Patrick contributed to a few school history, by running for three touchdowns while wide receiver Travis Rudolph caught three touchdowns, marking the first time that had happened for FSU.
The Orange, who have dropped four straight, get a little bit of a break not facing Cook, who is the nation’s second-leading rusher at 148.1 yards per game.
Maguire, who finished 23 of 35 for 348 yards and three touchdowns, certainly gave Fisher something to think about. His longest run was a 28-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter that extended the Seminoles’ lead to 45-21.
Following the Orange turning it over on downs, Florida State marched 55-yards into field goal range, where Aguayo drilled a 35-yard field goal to open up a 45-14 lead with just over six minutes remaining in the game.
Travis Rudolph caught all three of Maguire’s touchdown passes and had five catches for 191 yards. The ‘Noles drove down the field for a score to end the half, and firmly captured momentum for a 28-14 lead.
“I feel like that set the tone right there”, Rudolph said.
Rudolph had not had so much as 75 yards in a game before Saturday, but he got all of that in one remarkable play, and that wasn’t all.
Rudolph caught the ball at the 30-yard line in between two Syracuse defenders.
Turning point: Syracuse answered FSU’s 21-0 run with a late touchdown that cut its deficit to just seven points late in the second quarter.
Dungey’s screen pass to Dontae Strickland gained 62 yards to help Syracuse get into the red zone.
Maguire lost out on the starting QB gig in the offseason to Everett Golson.
The Seminoles (7-1, 5-1 ACC) bounced back from last week’s loss at Georgia Tech despite missing seven injured starters – Cook, Golson, linemen Ryan Hoefeld and Brock Eberle, linebacker Terrance Smith and defensive backs Trey Marshall and Tyler Hunter.
Johnathan Vickers and Jacques Patrick will step in. ESPN3.com will also stream the game online.
Florida State was undefeated until losing last weekend to Georgia Tech by a 22-16 final score on a last second turnover touchdown as time ran out.
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Golson has completed 139 of 207 passes this season (67.1 percent) for 1,659 yards and 11 touchdowns.
