After a slow start, Francois got Florida State’s offense on a roll.
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Freshman quarterback Deondre Francois led a furious Florida State comeback.
“It was just an impressive win and I was just so happy for the players”. The Seminoles were behind 28-6 on a weekend three other Top 10 teams lost. They’ll return home to face Charleston Southern on Saturday at 12:30 p.m.
Ole Miss pounced on the Seminoles in the first half, at one point, grabbing a 28-6 lead with less than two minutes to go in the first half.
The fly on the wall in the Florida State locker room at half-time must have gotten a tongue lashing from head coach Jimbo Fisher, along with everyone in Garnet and Gold. People are going to hit you.
So many of those shots were self-inflicted in a nightmarish opening half before a partisan crowd in Orlando.
The Seminoles and Francois finally put together a good looking drive, but with their superstar Dalvin Cook on his way to a stroll-in touchdown, he inexplicably fumbled the ball out of bounds with no defenders in sight. The Seminoles were flagged for 11 of their 15 penalties in the first two quarters and a leaky offensive line didn’t give Francois enough time to ravage Mississippi’s soft secondary. Francois looked more like a slight exhale by the Ole Miss defense, rather than a turning of momentum. Star defensive end DeMarcus Walker racked up 4.5 sacks by himself, consistently abusing converted guard Rod Taylor in his first start on the blind side.
Francois began to get throws out quicker, he stood in the pocket with poise after making the correct reads, and the offense stopped dropping passes (and wide open touchdown rambles).
Florida State came up with another stop on defense and they took the ball down the field. “At the end of the day, it’s one game. Now we’ve got to get better and move on”. Hunter Jr. took a big hit during Sunday night’s loss to Texas. You can’t teach competitive spirit and both Winston and his protg love to be in the arena, throwing those punches Fisher talks about.
For Ole Miss, it’s back to the drawing board to try and figure out what went wrong for thirty minutes, but for the Seminoles, it’s the first step in a marathon to try and find a way to elbow their way to Tampa. Francois did this despite taking a beating all night.
Freshman Ricky Aguayo converted an FSU-record six field goals on six attempts, breaking a mark shared by his brother Roberto.
It was that kind of evening, long and eventful.
Watch out for the Seminoles, they have the ability to come back in an instant.
The Rebels just couldn’t do anything in the third quarter against the ‘Noles.
When Winston made his college debut, FSU rolled over Pitt 41-13. Kelly committed three turnovers in the second half and completed only seven of his final 22 passes, a complete reversal from his 14-of-17 start.
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Monday’s matchup was no walkover. So in the second FSU switched to a zone that kept everything underneath and forced Ole Miss to depend on a running game that in five years under coach Hugh Freeze remains the construction project that shows no signs of ending. Deondre Francois seemed to gain confidence as the game progressed, but FSU’s o-line still needs tweaking if they have an eye on a national title this season.
