Florida State dominated early and held off a couple of Virginia second-half challenges to post a 34-14 win in Charlottesville on Saturday.
It was 10-0 FSU before UVa. recorded its first first down, and at 17-0 ‘Noles in the second quarter the Cavs had just 17 yards of total offense. Florida State led 27-0 at the half while gaining 294 yards of offense to Virginia’s 42 yards.
“We’re obviously disappointed for our players, we’re disappointed for our fans, people that support us. That wasn’t the type of effort that is indicative of the team that I think we have here,” first-year UVa. coach Mike London told reporters.
____________________________________________
More UVa.-FSU
____________________________________________
The Seminoles (4-1, 2-1 ACC) struck first on an 11-play, 59-yard drive that Dustin Hopkins translated into points with a 37-yard field goal that made it 3-0 FSU at the 8:40 mark of the first quarter.
After a Virginia three-and-out on the next series, Jermaine Thomas broke a tackle at the line of scrimmage and went to the house 70 yards to make it 10-0 FSU 1:16 later.
A Christian Ponder-to-Willie Haulstead 16-yard touchdown pass four seconds into the second quarter extended the lead to 17-0. A 10-yard Thomas TD run and another Hopkins field goal, this one from 21 yards, made it 27-0 at the half.
A 76-yard TD pass from Marc Verica to a wide-open Kris Burd made it 27-7 at the 11:13 mark of the third quarter, and then Verica drove the Cavs to the Florida State 30 on their next series and put the team seemingly on the verge of making things interesting again.
But Greg Reid intercepted a Verica pass thrown in the direction of Dontrelle Inman in the end zone, ending that threat, and the ‘Noles put the game out of reach on the next series when Chris Thompson scored from 14 yards out to make it 34-7 Seminoles with 40 seconds left in the third quarter.
Virginia backup QB Ross Metheny connected with tight end Colter Phillips on an 11-yard scoring pass with 1:39 left in the game to close out the scoring.
“We’re 2-0 in the league,” first-year Florida State coach Jimbo Fisher said afterward. “If you’re going to win conference titles, you’re going to have to win in somebody else’s house.”
Florida State had 428 yards of total offense to Virginia’s 304 yards. The Seminoles controlled the line of scrimmage throughout, gaining 256 yards on the ground while limiting Virginia to 25 yards and also recording six sacks of UVa. quarterbacks.
“I think that is a Top 20 team right there,” London said.
Story by Chris Graham. Chris can be reached at [email protected].
Share
Contributors
