FSU Rapid Reaction: FSU 30 Miami 26

The game between the Florida State Seminoles and the Miami Hurricanes has gone final, here’s some FSU Rapid Reaction.

The Florida State stared defeat right in the eye on Saturday night, escaping instead with a narrow 30-26 win over the rival Miami Hurricanes despite digging yet another early hole.

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before, but FSU went down big early — trailing by as many as 16 at one point — before staging a furious second half comeback and pulling out the win.

For a while though this one didn’t look like it was destined to happen.

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Tonight it almost finally caught up to FSU. The turnovers, the blown coverages — everything FSU has gotten away with until now — came back to haunt Florida State over the course of the evening. But once again the Seminoles pulled out a tough-fought win.

Still, it wasn’t pretty.

FSU squandered its own chances all night. There was the field position in the first quarter — following a fumble at midfield — that FSU couldn’t take advantage of. There was the chance at the end of the half following a UM missed field goal. There was a chance in the third quarter when FSU started inside Miami territory down by 13.

It’s not as if Florida State wasn’t given plenty of opportunities on Saturday night– the Seminoles just couldn’t take advantage of enough of them. And it almost ended in defeat.

And credit Miami for coming out and attacking FSU early, then holding on late.

There were certainly chances for Miami to implode too, but the Hurricanes managed to make enough plays and take advantage of enough opportunities to keep this one close until the end. This game wasn’t decided until the final minute, and the Hurricanes led for the first 57.

This one would’ve haunted FSU too. It’s one thing to lose a game when you get beat. Teams get beat. You wear it and move on. It’s another to leave so much out on the field — to make so many mistakes in a winnable football game — and drop a game to a team you’d probably handle on your best night.

This Miami team is definitely talented — far better than a three-loss team — but FSU should not have struggled in all the ways that it did on Saturday night. A lot of those wounds were self-inflicted.

But, it wasn’t all bad. Once again FSU fights on, stays unbeaten. It’s not the track meet it was last season, but this team knows how to win– as it has done ten times this season and 26 times in a row — and if it gets to the playoff it’s not going to be an easy out.

Jimbo Fisher also continues to beat his rivals. In five seasons Fisher is 5-0 against Miami and 3-1 against UF.

Who Shined: Jalen Ramsey was an absolute monster tonight. He broke passes up, he forced a fumble, he got home on his blitzes and he hauled in the game-sealing interception on Miami’s final drive. Ramsey — with his length and athleticism — is the epitome of what the star position in this defense should be. And tonight, Ramsey played like it. He was confident, he was decisive and without a doubt he was the best player on the field when FSU’s defense was out there.

Cam Erving also played well. FSU didn’t run the ball much — gaining 114 yards on just 19 carries, total — but when the Seminoles needed the run it was there. And the pressure that teams had been getting by blitzing right up the middle wasn’t an issue on Saturday night either. All in all it was a very good performance from Erving in his first start at center.

Roderick Johnson — the freshman who replaced Erving at left tackle — also played well in what was an extremely challenging first start. And then who could forget Dalvin Cook — running in front of his hometown crowd — going for 92 yards and the game-winning TD. Cook is fast becoming the Seminoles’ best back. He’s been a huge pat of the offense over the last few weeks. And considering Cook started the week with some uncertainty over whether he would even play– it was a very good night for the freshman.

What it Means: Don’t be surprised when FSU finds itself in 4th come Tuesday night following the release of the CFB Playoff committee’s newest rankings. Alabama will likely jump to number one, Oregon will stay at two and Mississippi State — who looked solid in its loss — may stick around at three. The committee won’t outright drop FSU if it’s unbeaten — that establishes a dangerous precedent in the playoff’s first year — but they don’t have to rank FSU no. 1 either.

Which they won’t.

Regardless, win and FSU is in. The Seminoles have just two more regular season games — both home dates, against BC and Florida — before facing the Coastal Champion in the ACC Championship game up in Charlotte the first week of December.

FSU cliched the Atlantic division today when Clemson lost.

Statistical Leaders:

Passing: Jameis Winston (25/42, 304, TD, INT)
Rushing: Dalvin Cook (7-92, 2 TD)
Receiving: Travis Rudolph (4-65)

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