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FSU Football: Noles get much needed win against Northern Illinois

By Kelvin Hunt

SYRACUSE, NY - SEPTEMBER 15: Deondre Francois #12 of the Florida State Seminoles passes the ball during the second half against the Syracuse Orange at the Carrier Dome on September 15, 2018 in Syracuse, New York. Syracuse defeats Florida State 30-7. (Photo by Brett Carlsen/Getty Images)
SYRACUSE, NY - SEPTEMBER 15: Deondre Francois #12 of the Florida State Seminoles passes the ball during the second half against the Syracuse Orange at the Carrier Dome on September 15, 2018 in Syracuse, New York. Syracuse defeats Florida State 30-7. (Photo by Brett Carlsen/Getty Images) /
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FSU football got a much-needed win against a good defensive team in Northern Illinois Saturday.

First Half

Where has the FSU football team that took the opening drive 75 yards on 13 play for a touchdown been all season? Not to mention they went 70 yards on 8 plays for a second touchdown on their next possession.

It was the best this FSU team has looked all year and the defense only allowed NIU to average .875 per play in the first quarter.

The Noles ran 29 offensive plays in the first quarter against NIU. They ran 29 plays in the first HALF against Syracuse. However, after the first two drives the Noles got a bit sloppy with two fumbles, one that put NIU on FSU’s own 23 yard line to start their drive.

FSU was marching in for a killshot right before the half but Alec Eberle snapped the ball 30 yards over Deondre Francois’s head. Ricky Aguayo continued to build his confidence with a huge 50 yard FG.

The Noles converted 4 of 8 third downs and only had one penalty in the first half.

FSU football ran 54 plays in for 278 yards (5.14 ypp) to take a 20-7 lead at halftime. The FSU defense held NIU to 2.26 ypp giving up just 52 yards on 23 plays.

Second Half

It was like the Monstars from the movie Space Jam came and took FSU’s magic powers from the first quarter. The Noles couldn’t do much on their first offensive possession and punted but their second drive was fruitful with a 42 yard field goal to make it 23-7.

Just when it looked like the Noles were going to put NIU away the defense gave up a 66 yard touchdown pass on a 3rd and 13 busted coverage on the NIU’s next possession to make it 23-13(two-point conversion failed).

FSU punted and fumbled (again) on its next two possessions, luckily the NIU missed a field goal after they thought they had scored a touchdown although the receiver ran out-of-bounds first to negate.

Deondre Franois was able to connect with Tamorrion Terry on a 78 yard touchdown bomb to make it 30-13 with 10 minutes remaining in the game.

The FSU defense forced a turnover on downs but Deondre Francois threw an inexcusable interception that NIU converted into a touchdown four plays later to make it 30-19(two point conversion failed again). with eight minutes left.

The game was essentially over at that point as both teams failed to score on their next possessions.

Will FSU Offense Show Signs of Life Against NIU?. dark. Next

NIU had a turnover on downs deep in their own territory and FSU’s Amir Rasul scored his first touchdown of the year with 12 seconds remaining. The extra point made the final score 37-19.

There was some progress made on offense, but there were still too many self-inflicted wounds for the Noles overall. They’ll travel to Louisville next week in at ACC Atlantic conference matchup.

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