Florida State quarterback Deondre Francois (12) runs past the MS defense for yardage during the closing moments of the second half of an NCAA college football game, Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2016, in Orlando, Fla.
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“Jameis is a great player and leader”, said Francois, who also threw for a pair of touchdowns.
Francois did a couple of things in his debut that not even Winston did in his first start. Florida State outscored Ole Miss 23-0 in the third quarter, and went on to convincingly defeat the Rebels, 45-34.
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.
For as good as the second half was, the first half was nearly just as bad for FSU football against Ole Miss. “I took some of his attributes and how he rallied up guys when they were trailing like in the national championship game (against Auburn)”.
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He wasn’t kidding. The Seminoles rolled up 214 yards in the third quarter alone, while the Rebels were limited to minus-7 yards. Texas escaped with the win, but it was a lesson that could be learned in Austin. Ole Miss was in command of the game shortly before halftime, when Florida State scored a late touchdown to gain some momentum at the break. On a night where senior defensive end DeMarcus Walker was a half-sack shy of tying an FSU single-game record, running back Dalvin Cook tallied almost 200 yards from scrimmage and the defense forced the SEC’s best quarterback into four turnovers, the biggest takeaway for the Seminoles wasn’t to be found in the box score. Perhaps this can be an assessment of the coaching. The Florida State freshman quarterback appears to be able to shoulder the weight that comes with the expectations and then some. All was forgiven later, as Cook ended his night with 192 all-purpose yards, including 101 receiving yards. The home match against Florida was cancelled because of bad weather. The 4.5 sacks set a career high and were the most for any defender in college football’s opening week. As good as they may be in the FCS ranks (and they are really good), Florida State should manage to avoid any real threat of a massive upset in Tallahassee.
