After having the kickoff of their seasons moved from a neutral location to a home stadium and the kickoff time switched from prime time to a noon kick, the Florida State Seminoles hosted the Boise State Broncos in Tallahassee where a massive comeback from the road team was the story in the second year of Willie Taggart’s term with the Seminoles.After building up an 18 point lead in the second quarter, the Broncos scored 23 unanswered points to beat Florida State 36-31 with over 50,000 in attendance at Doak Campbell.
It was a first half to remember for Noles quarterback James Blackman as he and running back Cam Akers led Florida State to scoring drives on their first four possessions including three touchdowns.Akers got things rolling for FSU as he scored the first touchdown of the game on a 38-yard scamper into the end zone giving Florida State an early 7-0 lead.Blackman stepped in with a pair of touchdown passes on the following two drives connecting Tamorrion Terry for 75 yards, and Gabe Nabers on a five yard touchdown strike.
FSU wasn’t done in the first half as Blackman found Keyshawn Helton for a 58-yard touchdown pass and catch giving Florida State a 31-13 lead late in the second quarter.The two teams went into the half with the Noles leading 31-19 as Eric Sachse connected on a pair of field goals for the Broncos to close out the half.
Boise State turned up the heat in the blazing 90 degree plus weather in Tallahassee in the second half as the Broncos scored on three straight drives to take the lead over Florida State.Boise quarterback Hank Bachmeier found Khalil Shakir for an 11-yard touchdown strike to pull within five points at 31-26.On the very next Boise State drive running back Robert Mahone scored from one yard out to give Boise State the lead for good at 33-31.
The Broncos recorded more than 600 yards of offense — the most FSU has allowed since the Rose Bowl blowout by Oregon at the end of the 2014 season.The Broncos true freshman quarterback finished the game 30-51 for 407 yards and a touchdown. Boise State outgained FSU 621-426 and held onto the ball for over 40 minutes of the game, while FSU didn’t have the ball for more the 20 minutes of the game.
FSU will host Louisiana-Monroe next Saturday in Tallahassee.