It took three first half touchdowns of over 50 yards, plus a late missed field goal as time expired in the game but the Florida State Seminoles held on late, beating the Syracuse Orange 27-24 in Tallahassee on Saturday afternoon. With the win, the Noles snapped a two game losing streak & improved to 3-5 this year.
On their first drive, the Orange converted on their first third down attempt. But on their second third down attempt, Quarterback Eric Dungey threw a pass that was picked off by Noles Safety Derwin James. That interception led the Noles to grabbing a 7-0 lead when Blackman hit Wide Receiver Nyqwaun Murray for a 51 yard touchdown pass.
After that Murray passing touchdown, the Orange brought in Quarterback Zack Mahoney, their backup. Mahoney came into the game replacing Dungey, who suffered an injury to his ankle on a designed running play. Mahoney's first possession under certain resulted in two first downs, but ended when Mahoney booted a pooch punt inside the Noles five yard line.The Noles second possession was less dramatic then the first one because on a third & two play the Orange brought the blitz & sacked Blackman, giving the ball back to Syracuse after the punt. But even with good field position, the Orange couldn't get any more than eight yards on this drive, which ended in a missed field goal by Kicker Cole Murphy.
Both teams forced the other to punt in the first possessions of the second quarter. But after an Orange three & out, the Noles went big play again, when Tailback Cam Akers took a handoff, sprinted all the way down the left sideline for a 54 yard touchdown run making it 14-0 FSU.Three straight possessions by the Orange without a first down may have been the reason why, but Dungey returned to the game after his injury on the game's first possession. And that led to the Orange trying to convert a fourth & two. And on that play, the Noles defense blew the coverage leading to an easy 47 yard pitch & catch touchdown, Dungey to Wide Receiver Jamal Custis, cutting the Noles lead to seven.
That seven point lead changed on the scoreboard quckly back to 14 because the next time the Noles got the ball back after the Custis touchdown, it took the Noles one official play to put up a touchdown. After a roughing the passer penalty on the Orange, Akers weaved his way through the Orange secondary for a 63 yard touchdown run, his second of the game.
That 21-7 lead lasted all of four plays because Dungey led another Orange scoring drive with his legs & arm. The ankle injury may have hampered Dungey but you wouldn't have known it from his 30 yard run. And after his run, Dungey threw a 34 yard touchdown pass to Wide Receiver Steve Ishmael. Both teams forced punts but the Noles set the Orange up on their own 11 yard line when Noles Wide Receiver D.J. Matthews fumbled a punt. But the Orange ran the ball on the first two downs then threw two incomplete passes including one on fourth down, ending the opportunity to cut into the seven point Noles lead.
The Noles ended the half failing on five third down attempts, totaling 210 yards, with 168 of those yards on three plays, which resulted in touchdowns. And on their first possession in the second half, the Noles were facing a third down & it ended just like the previous third down attempts, with the Noles punting. Down seven, the Orange took the ball for the first time in the second half, drove it into Noles territory but after Dungey was stopped for no gain on a third & four on the FSU 24, the Orange cut the lead to four 21-17 after Kicker Cole Murphy was good on a field goal attempt from 42 yards.
The Murphy field goal meant at the time the Noles were out-scored 62-9 in the third quarter this ear. But after the field goal the Noles were able to do something on the next drive that they hadn't done all game & that's convert on third down. The Noles not only converted on third down, but Blackman hit Tight End Ryan Izzo for five yards to convert on fourth down. Those two conversions led to Noles Kicker Ricky Aguayo hitting a 49 yard field goal & pushing the lead back to seven.
In between the end of third quarter & start of the fourth, Syracuse took the ball, moved it 38 yards. But on a fourth & two, less than two minutes into the fourth quarter, the Noles were able to stop Dungey from getting the first down. The Noles were eventually able to make it a two score game in the fourth quarter, taking advantage of a Blackman pass to Wide Receiver Ermon Lane for 28 yards, after Akers busted off a 12 yard run. After making their way into the Orange red zone, the Noles were pushed back to the 21 yard line, where Agauyo kicked his second field goal of the game, this one 38 yards, upping the Noles lead to 10. But the Orange scored the only touchdown in the second half when Dungey led a 14 play 75 yard touchdown drive with him ending the drive with a 3 yard boot leg touchdown run. And trailing 27-24, with less than three minutes left, the Orange attempted an onside kick, which was unsucessful. But the Orange nearly got the ball back during the ensuing Noles possession when Blackman appeared to fumble a snap on third down, but replay reversed the call on the field, ruling Blackman's knee down when he had possession of the ball.
The Noles did eventually punt the ball away putting the Orange inside their 20. And starting at the 19, Dungey, with a mixture of a run & passes, was able to drive the Orange into field goal range, where Murphy missed from 43 yards out as time expired, giving the Noles the three point win.
Florida State, who got 217 all-purpose yards from Akers, will look to get one game closer to .500 when they travel to Clemson, for a match-up against the Tigers next Saturday.