The Florida State Seminoles rallied in the second half to defeat the Miami Hurricanes 20-19 to keep their hopes of an ACC title alive.
Make no mistake about it: this was an impressive win for Jimbo Fisher’s team. After all, Miami had a 13-0 lead with just 1:16 remaining in the first half. That margin seemed much bigger than two scores at the time because Florida State only had two drives that netted more than 20 yards. Considering all of the hits that Deondre Francois took in the first half, the odds of a Seminole comeback didn’t look very promising.
However, much like it did in the season opener against Ole Miss, Florida State rallied to win this game. Despite taking a number of big hits from the Miami D in the first half, Francois engineered a 9-play, 62-yard drive in just 1:10 to get the Seminoles on the scoreboard before intermission. He was even more impressive in the third quarter, completing eight straight passes to give the ‘Noles a 17-13 lead at the end of the period. His precision passing opened up things for the running game, which allowed FSU to tack on three more points with just over nine minutes remaining.
That’s all of the cushion that the Seminoles would need to win this contest. While Miami would score again on an 11-yard TD toss from Brad Kaaya late in the contest, DeMarcus Walker blocked the potential game-tying PAT to preserve the victory.
With the win over the Hurricanes, Florida State kept its hopes of winning the ACC championship alive. Sure, the ‘Noles will still need some help to win the Atlantic even if they were to win out. But, as Saturday night’s contest proves, this FSU team simply doesn’t know how to quit. If the Seminoles should fall behind, it’s hard to believe that the team won’t rally back to win the contest since they’ve now done it twice against top 15 opponents.
Even if it doesn’t win the division, Saturday night’s victory over Miami is huge because it leaves the door open for a potential NY6 bowl. Although there’s a lot that could change between now and the end of the season, Florida State’s victory gives it two wins over teams currently ranked in the top 15. Should the Seminoles defeat Clemson, it would be virtually impossible for the Selection Committee to leave them out of one of the more prestigious bowl games at the end of the year. While that’s not the same as making the College Football Playoff, it’s the next best thing.
If that doesn’t qualify as a potential season-defining victory, I don’t know what does.
