The 2nd Florida State Seminoles traveled to Papa John’s Stadium to take on the 10th ranked Louisville Cardinals. Game changing defensive plays were key, as Da’Ron Payne recovered a loose ball for a touchdown with Ole Miss backed up, then star defensive lineman Jonathan Allen making an unlikely 75-yard interception returned for a touchdown, that’s one for the highlight reels come draft time for him. The defense hit hard, and often. Lamar “Action” Jackson is officially the leading candidate for the Heisman trophy and after this, everyone should have the Cardinals in the College Football Playoffs projections. Florida State responded with field goal and touchdown on its next two possessions to cut the Cards’ lead to 14-10. Not even the presence of a healthy Derwin James could have stopped such an offensive onslaught. Deshaun Watson played sparingly, but finally looked like the one we have seen in the past, alas it was against a not great team.
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Appalachian State’s top running back Marcus Cox left the game in the first half with a lower body injury and did not return. And past year, UofL once again led FSU at halftime (7-6) before the Seminoles rallied for a 42-21 victory in Tallahassee, Fla. That’s because Louisville made a big splash that surely sent a tsunami across the college football scene.
The Boyton Beach, Fla., native ended his day with a 47-yard scamper to put Louisville up 56-10 late in the third quarter.
“I was proud of how he prepared for the game, how calm he was”, Louisville coach Bobby Petrino said.
In the end, though, Alabama showed that it is indeed the team to beat in the SEC West.
Jackson, the early-season darling of the NCAA with an wonderful 18 TDs through three tilts so far this season, is a clear fave to win the Heisman as college football’s most outstanding player.
The Cardinals out-gained Florida State 375-144 in the first half and the Seminoles had their largest halftime deficit since the Bee Gees were topping the charts on a regular basis. Kelly fumbled deep in Ole Miss territory and Da’Ron Payne recovered before ‘Bama tied it at 24 with a 3-yard touchdown.
The times of Louisville’s five touchdown drives were 2:06, 2:34, 3:16, 2:32 and 1:05. The Boat-Rowing Broncos dominated IL and also have a victory against Northwestern.
Two weeks from now, Louisville challenges Clemson in what will be billed as another huge ACC heavyweight fight. They held Dalvin Cook to 62 yards of offense.
Fortunately the Tigers get a few extra days to prepare as they’ll be playing at Georgia Tech on Thursday.
It was the 17th straight road loss for Virginia, and leaves first-year coach Bronco Mendenhall still looking for his 100th career win.
The FCS express: If you’re an FBS athletic director, it’s not smart to schedule North Dakota State. Writing off a team after just one week in September is never wise, of course, although a loss to Louisville poses as a tricky hurdle for Florida State. North Dakota State has won five consecutive FCS national championships and is 5-0 against Power 5 Conference schools since 2010.
Clemson: 555-102 total yards edge.
His team had just secured perhaps the most impressive win in program history, and Petrino said this about how he’d follow it up.
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“Tomorrow we’ll come back and watch the video”, he said. The climb of six positions moved Louisville ahead of five other top-10 teams that didn’t lose, headed by No. 5 Michigan, No. 6 Stanford and No. 7 Houston.
