With three minutes to go in the first half, Akeem Judd scampered into the end zone from 11 yards out to give the Ole Miss Rebels a shocking 28-6 lead over the Florida State Seminoles.
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Though Kelly struggled at times, he displayed great arm strength and the ability to read a defense while throwing for 312 yards and four touchdowns. The senior was 21-of-39 for 313 yards, with four touchdowns, but had four costly four turnovers, including three interceptions.
After halftime the Seminoles then rattled off 26 more points to open up the second half and come all the way back against Ole Miss and keep live up to their billing as a Top 5 team in the nation. The younger brother of recently graduated Roberto Aguayo – who was drafted in the second round by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers – was a ideal 6-for-6 on field goals, a school record.
The Seminoles charged back, defeating the Rebels 45-34.
The video is from “A Season With Florida State Football”, which premieres Tuesday, Sept. 6 on Showtime. A photo was taken by a school resource officer and was widely circulated on social media as was Leah Paske’s Facebook post thanking Rudolph. In 1974, Ole Miss defeated No. 18 Missouri 10-0 to start the season. Cook ultimately scampered for 91 yards on 23 carries and hauled in seven receptions for 101 yards, becoming the first FSU running back with 100 receiving yards since Lorenzo Booker in 2006.
Despite facing a 22-point deficit, Francois calmly led a 75-yard scoring drive just before the first half ended to settle the Seminoles.
The ‘Noles surged out of halftime to take its first lead over Ole Miss, and a commanding one at that. Florida State will also look to put the ball in the air as well, though it appears they are going with freshman Deondre Francois as the starting QB over Sean Maguire.
“It was a nightmarish second half”, Rebels coach Hugh Freeze said. From the first points scored in the third, FSU just looked to reclaim the game that they had let get so far away from them.
FSU (580 yards total offense) has every reason to believe it’s a College Football Playoff contender now because Francois outplayed the best passing quarterback in the Southeastern Conference in his first game.
The Rebels were a pretty good play past year for bettors, covering in eight of their 13 line games and winning by an average margin of 18.2 points per contest.
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FSU will be hosting Charleston Southern next week at home in Tallahassee. The Buccaneers (1-1) are coming off a 57-7 win over Kentucky State.
