The Florida State Seminoles and Florida Gators battle Saturday at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium for the Florida Cup.
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The No. 21 Texas A&M Aggies had their season come to an end Friday with a 5-0 loss to No. 2 Florida State in NCAA Championship quarterfinal action at the Seminole Soccer Complex. But the fourth quarter was a different story. A few keys would be to establish the run game, and control the time of posession.
Asked what he would tell Heisman voters about Cook, Fisher was succinct. Cook should be in NY along with Alabama RB Derrick Henry, Clemson QB Deshaun Watson, Stanford RB Christian McCaffrey and Oklahoma QB Baker Mayfield.
Last week, I credited Florida for making the most of its opportunities – Jim McElwain coaching up former coach Will Muschamp’s talented recruits and succeeding in a weak SEC East. The latter should be taken very seriously. “They played really hard, threw their bodies around”.
But bowl talk could wait on Saturday night. “I am proud of this team”. This is one usual strength where Florida State will most likely struggle.
Although the No. 10 Gators have won three in a row and are a surprising 10-1 this season, they’ve regressed in recent weeks, and their résumé could be officially tomahawked Saturday.
Should sack leader Demarcus Walker and cornerback Marquez White return as expected for the Seminoles next season, FSU will have a seasoned mix of veterans and talented youth to once again possess one of college football’s elite defenses. Harris was 19-of-38 for just 134 yards. “I guarantee you we’ll show up there next year”, McElwain said. Casey Weldon rolled out to his right, I’m on the chase, he throws a pass, INCOMPLETE, GATORS WIN 14-9. Johnny Townsend was a weapon, Chris Thompson got called for fair-catch interference and Austin Hardin missed a field goal. The Gators have not played well recently, but need momentum if they plan on heading into the SEC Championship with something good going while Florida State is looking to prove they are still contenders. The Florida State Seminoles ground game is averaging 184.2 yards per contest, and Dalvin Cook leads the way with 1,475 yards and 16 touchdowns.
In addition to one more year of Dalvin Cook, the offensive and defensive lines are loaded with freshman and sophomores that will only improve with another year of conditioning. 150 of those yards came in the fourth quarter alone as he tacked on two touchdowns late, to put it away for the Seminoles.
Cook said he saw a difference in the Florida defense in the final 15 minutes.
Last week the Gators escaped with a 20-14 overtime victory against the Florida Atlantic Owls. Since Harris’ start against LSU, Florida has scored on just seven of 17 red zone trips. Although Robinson played in each of Florida’s first 11 games, he was demoted to a back-up in three of them for unspecified reasons.
The only scoring in the third quarter was Aguayo’s 51-yard field goal, a thing of beauty that he drilled through the wind, with the ball hitting the back of the net. It’s safe to say he’ll be a focal point of this game.
“I’m sure they probably feel like they’ll jump in the Swamp and have a pretty good chance of beating us based on how we’ve been playing”, McElwain said of FSU.
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Both of these teams went through a quarterback change this year, though FSU’s move from Everett Golson to Sean Maguire was by choice while Florida turned to Treon Harris out of necessity.
