Six minutes into the third quarter and the ‘Noles scored another TD to take the lead. Top 25 scores on Sep. 5. Despite taking a number of big hits in the first half, Francois stood tall and continued to make throws rather than getting happy feet like a number of inexperienced quarterbacks would do.
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Florida State out-gained Ole Miss 348 to 165 in the second half. The Rebels won 33-0 in Oxford, Mississippi in 1961.
It was a disappointing loss for Ole Miss.
The Rebels started the game with the ball, and they passed their way to the endzone. The Rebels defeated Georgia Tech 25-17 in the Music City Bowl on December 30, 2013, after losing to Maryland in 1953 and Wake Forest in 2006 and 2008.
With Ole Miss daring Francois to pass by stacking the run to stop Heisman Trophy hopeful Dalvin Cook, the freshman showed poise by making critical throws with his arm and also picking up big yards with his legs. A virtual home game for Florida State – whose fans were forced to sit on their hands into the opening half at Camping World Stadium due to an air raid by quarterback Chad Kelly and the Ole Miss offense – quickly felt like one as the more than 47,000 rejoiced in the swing of momentum in this seesaw Labor Day opener.
Jameis Winston can’t pull off any more second-half comebacks for Florida State, but that doesn’t mean he can’t inspire them. FSU has an 8-0-2 record in Orlando.
And he tossed his third scoring strike of the half to tight end Evan Engram, who caught a 21-yard touchdown pass. Francois passed for 420 yards and two touchdowns without an interception or a fumble (one fumble by Francois was overruled upon video review).
And thanks to Showtime Sports’ exclusive access to the Seminoles for the entire college football season as a part of their “A Season With Florida State Football” series, there’s also footage of an impassioned Winston bearing his heart and soul in an inspiring locker room speech to the down, but clearly not out, Seminoles at halftime. Owning a four-game winning streak against the conference, the Seminoles have a 51-68-7 record against SEC opponents.
“Things weren’t going right, but I couldn’t panic because my team needed me behind the wheel”, said Francois, just the fourth freshman to start the season as the Seminoles’ quarterback.
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63 Consecutive games have been played by Florida State without the Seminoles losing two in a row.
