Florida State University Athletics
Game Awards: Florida State 28, Louisville 24
9/30/2018 8:59:26 AM | Football
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Florida State rallied in dramatic fashion for a 28-24 victory at Louisville that gave the Seminoles both their first win in ACC play under coach Willie Taggart and their first winning record of the season. Here’s a look at the game’s key players and decisive moments.
Game ball: In all fairness to the quarterback who set a new career high for passing touchdowns (and who has also occupied this space in each of FSU’s last two wins), Saturday proved an outstanding showcase for everything Nyqwan Murray brings to the offense.
The senior receiver posed season highs in catches (six, matched earlier this season against Samford) and receiving yards (114) while recording the second multiple-touchdown game of his career.
Murray’s touchdowns both opened and closed FSU’s scoring, with the latter accounting for the Seminoles’ most important play of the season so far:
DID THAT REALLY JUST HAPPEN!!@FSUFootball wins it in the final minutes!
(@yung_Talented8, @_Dirtie12) pic.twitter.com/aSQ9kxu5c2
— ACC Digital Network (@theACCDN) September 29, 2018
(Side note: Check out the way Murray scans downfield while running, notices Tamorrion Terry to his right, and cuts back to advantage of Terry’s block.)
“He’s just a magician with the ball in his hands,” Francois said.
Play of the game: Late in the third quarter, Florida State, and, really, the game overall, seemed stuck in a malaise. Neither team had scored in the second half, and that was just fine with Louisville, which held a 21-7 lead.
In desperate need of a spark, the Seminoles got one from a pair of usual suspects: Francois and Tamorrion Terry:
It was one of three second-half TDs for Francois, who, while playing behind an offensive line having its best outing of the season, stepped up and delivered a perfect, deep ball to his favorite deep target. Terry this season has caught 11 passes, four of which have gone for touchdowns. And another one Saturday picked up 11 yards on a crucial fourth-and-3.
With Terry’s touchdown on the board FSU went on to outscore the Cardinals 21-3 over the final 17:39 of game time.
“It woke (us) up a lot,” Francois said. The line protected really well … Terry ran a great route and, when I had time back there, I just felt so comfortable. Everything was so clear and I could make a good throw.”
Turning point: Even after all that, the Seminoles found themselves in dire straits and in danger of running out of time. After picking up a third-and-2 with about two minutes to go in the game, the Cardinals had the ball at FSU’s 19-yard line and, according to ESPN, a 98 percent chance to win the game.
That’s when Louisville coach Bobby Petrino decided to channel his inner Pete Carroll, ignore conventional football logic and call for a pass.
Hardly anyone on the FSU sideline could believe. But senior safety A.J. Westbrook wasn’t so surprised that he couldn’t make a play.
That gave the Seminoles the ball and made possible all the theatrics that would follow.
“That was a big momentum change for our team,” Taggart said. “We needed that. We needed a takeaway in the worst way. We were talking about stripping, because we thought they were going to be running the ball. It was great that A.J. was right there to intercept that ball when we needed it most.”
It was over when: Stanford Samuels III intercepted Jawon Pass’ fourth-down throw on the ensuing drive. In truth, Samuels probably didn’t need to pick it off. Pass had been out of sorts on his previous three throws, and his last didn’t seem especially dangerous. But, given a chance to secure the bag, why not go for it? It was FSU’s second interception of the day and the third of Samuels’ career.