Football Caps Undefeated Regular Season With 24-15 Win At Florida

Gainesville, Fla. -- Running back Trey Benson scored three touchdowns and the Seminoles fought through an early deficit to win at Florida 24-15 and complete a perfect 11-0 regular season.

The win sets the stage for Saturday's ACC Championship game between FSU and Louisville.

Florida built a 12-0 lead over FSU midway through the second quarter before the Seminoles outscored UF 24-3 over the remainder of the game.

FSU fought poor field possession and few offensive opportunities over most of the first half where the Noles managed just three offensive plays the entire first quarter.

Once Florida State's defense, which would finish with six quarterback sacks and 11 tackles for loss, settled in and the offense had a chance to put a drive together the Noles took control of the game.

Tate Rodemaker completed 12-of-25 passes for 134 yards in his first start of the season in place of Jordan Travis. Johnny Wilson led all FSU receivers with six catches for 64 yards and Jaheim Bell had three for 38. But it was the patient and explosive running of Benson that broke the game open. He finished with 95 yards on 19 carries and had TD runs of 1, 36 and 26 yards.

Defensive back Shyheim Brown led all FSU tacklers with eight stops and he also had a pass broken up and a quarterback hurry, but it was Jared Verse who dominated UF's offensive front recording six tackles, 2.5 quarterback sacks and three tackles for loss.

Max Brown, who was also starting his first game of the season in place of UF's injured quarterback Graham Mertz, completed nine of 16 passes for 86 yards and an interception. Montrell Johnson led Florida in rushing with 107 yards on 18 carries.

Florida took the opening kickoff and drove to the FSU 30 leaning heavily on its running game with Brown at quarterback, who did complete all three of his passes on their first possession. But a 48-yard field goal attempt slid to the right and the first quarter came to an end with no score and the Seminoles having only had one offensive possession.

UF got on the scoreboard first following a call that turned a quarterback sack into a first and goal for the Gators who scored on a Johnson five-yard run for a 7-0 lead with 14:31 left in the second quarter. The score capped a 13-play, 70-yard drive that burned 7:04 off the game clock.

The Gators got the ball with great field position on their next possession and went up 10-0 on a 35-yard field goal with 10:21 to go in the second quarter.

Florida stretched its lead to 12-0 with a safety on a quarterback sack with 5:08 left when the rush caught up with Rodemaker in the end zone on a third and seven from the nine-yard line.

Florida State overcame poor field position again on its final possession of the first half with a momentum-turning 10-play, 90-yard drive that cut UF's lead to 12-7 with :26 left before halftime when Trey Benson powered in from the one.

After gaining just 10 yards over the first half, the Seminoles carved up the Gators' defense on the scoring drive with an effective running game for the first time all game and Rodemaker completed 3-of-4 passes on the drive for 43 yards with the big play a 29-yard completion to tight end Jaheim Bell.

Florida outgained FSU 184 yards to 84 over the first half and dominated the time of possession holding the ball for over 20 minutes to FSU's 9:18. UF converted five of their nine third-down opportunities which helped burn clock time and kept the Seminole offense off the field.

Rodemaker was 7-of-13 through the air for 72 yards over the first half with Wilson leading Seminole receivers with four catches for 41 yards.

UF's Brown completed 7-of-10 pass attempts for 74 yards and Johnson gained 73 yards on 10 attempts over the first half.

FSU took the opening possession of the second half and drove 75 yards on six plays grabbing their first lead of the game on a 36-yard Benson touchdown run putting the Noles up 14-12 with 12:31 left in the third quarter.

Florida regained the lead 15-14 on its next possession with a 37-yard field that capped an 11-play, 56-yard drive with 5:58 left in the third.

Midway through the fourth quarter, Keon Coleman set Florida State up for their go-ahead scoring drive when he caught a booming punt inside the five-yard line and returned it 39 yards to the 43. Rodemaker kept the drive alive when FSU faced a fourth and three on UF's 34 finding Ja'Khi Douglas on a slant route for a 10-yard gain. After the drive stalled at the two, Ryan Fitzgerald drilled a 19-yard field goal to give FSU a 17-15 lead with 7:17 remaining.

The Seminoles' defense came up huge on UF's ensuing possession sacking Brown twice and nearly picking off the only pass he got off. The punt following the three-and-out gave FSU the ball at their own 34 with 5:37 left. During the drive, Florida State faced third and 14 on UF's 34 when Rodemaker scrambled and slid near the down marker before Florida was flagged for targeting on the play.

The targeting hit sent Rodemaker to the injury tent for two plays, but he was able to come back on third and four to hand off to Benson who took it 26-yards for what would be the final scoring in the game with 2:48 left and FSU leading 24-15.

##seminoles.com##

Football Caps Undefeated Regular Season With 24-15 Win At Florida

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Team Stats

Tate Rodemaker

Brock Glenn

Players Mentioned

Jaheim Bell

Trey Benson

Shyheim Brown

Keon Coleman

Ja’Khi Douglas

Ryan Fitzgerald

Tate Rodemaker

Jordan Travis

Jared Verse

Johnny Wilson

Florida State University Athletics