After defeating Ole Miss 45-34 on Monday night, there should be no question about who the starting quarterback for Florida State is for the rest of the season.
Deondre Francois answered that question with his stellar play, which guided the Seminoles to a thrilling come-from-behind victory – the largest comeback in school history.
Make no mistake about it: this was an absolutely awesome performance by Francois. Facing a Rebel secondary that returned several starters from last season’s squad that finished 23rd nationally in interceptions, Francois played with the poise of a three-year starter. While he got off to a slow start, he eventually found his groove, leading the Seminoles to nine consecutive scoring drives before running out the clock on the final series.
For the evening, Francois completed 33 of 52 passes for 419 yards and two touchdowns. He probably should have had a third touchdown pass, but the receiver fumbled the ball right as he was about to cross the goal line.
While his passing numbers along are enough to earn the starting job, he also did an excellent job running the ball. Sure, the Ole Miss defense sacked him three times. But, Francois still managed to rush for 59 yards, highlighted by a pair of 31-yard gains in the second half. His skills as a runner bring an added dimension to the offense that Florida State hasn’t seen since Charlie Ward was taking the snaps back in the early 90’s.
Of course, what really stands out about Francois’ performance is his composure. When the Rebels went ahead 28-6, he didn’t hang his head; he simply raised his level of play. Despite taking a number of big hits in the first half, Francois stood tall and continued to make throws rather than getting happy feet like a number of inexperienced quarterbacks would do.
His combination of precision passing, effective running, and courage under fire makes it crystal clear that Francois should be the starting quarterback for the rest of the season. Although the competition may have been close before Maguire’s injury, Monday night’s stellar outing was to win the job outright. If throwing for 400+ yards against a ranked opponent while leading the team to its biggest comeback in school history isn’t enough to vault him to the top of the depth chart, I don’t know what is.
