There, he addressed his alma mater Florida State when they were down 28-13 at halftime against Ole Miss. The team generally seems receptive to his message. Florida State DB Nate Andrews – who was listed as questionable coming into the game – did not play. Leading 28-6 at halftime, FSU scored 33 unanswered points to capture a come-from-behind win over the Rebels.
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Things weren’t going exactly as Florida State’s redshirt freshman quarterback had hoped. Francois watched the game on TV as Winston completed 25-of-27 passes for 356 yards and four touchdowns. His 52 attempts were more than Jameis Winston ever attempted in a game at Florida State, and his 419 yards are 63 more than Winston threw in his debut vs. Pittsburgh, three years ago on Labor Day.
For head coach Hugh Freeze, the benefit of playing one of college football’s elites during week one is that it provides him a proper perspective of where his team stands before conference play begins. “It takes a lot of maturity to do that in his first game, especially with the environment that he’s in”.
What’s even more impressive for Francois is that it wasn’t a cake walk-as the stats might suggest.
Whitfield didn’t have to reach the end zone to extend the Florida State drive, but the Seminoles were dead set on making a statement to the Rebels in the early part of the second half.
However, credit the Florida State defense for slowing the Rebels the rest of the way. “Gotta get the feel and speed of the game”.
It was a insane, crazy way to finish an unpredictable first weekend of the College Football season.
No. 2 – Dalvin Cook is going to end up on the blooper reel for his dropped ball when he was going in for a sure fire touchdown in the second quarter, but there is nothing amusing about his 91 yards on the ground and 101 yards receiving. Then comes a revenge game against Memphis. He pulled the Rebels within 39-34 early in the third quarter with his fourth TD pass of the game on a pretty 20-yard fade route to receiver Van Jefferson, but Ole Miss would never get closer. With the likes of Alabama, Georgia and LSU still on the schedule, as well as a potential SEC Championship Game appearance, the Rebels have ample opportunity to climb into the College Football Playoff race.
Francois was the missing piece. Things got worse to start the second half: after Ricky Aguayo kicked a 40-yard field goal on the Seminoles’ first drive of the half, Ole Miss held the ball for nine seconds before a pass bounced off the fingertips of Evan Engram and wound up in the hands of the Seminoles’ Marcus Lewis.
Warning: The Seminoles are going to get better as he becomes more comfortable.
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Monday night’s game was special, almost matching the thrilling battle between Texas and Notre Dame on Sunday.
