FSU football: Noles defeat Georgia Tech after sloppy start

The first quarter of the FSU football game against Georgia Tech looked like the Noles hadn’t played in a couple of weeks. FSU turned the ball over on downs, had a turnover in the red zone, and a fumble in Georgia Tech territory before opening up a 24-3 halftime lead.

The field goal Georgia Tech scored came off the fumble Georgia Tech returned from the Georgia Tech five-yard line to the FSU 24-yard line. FSU looked unorganized on offense, having to use timeouts early in the half, and multiple receivers dropping wide-open passes.

The ACC referees were awful with 2-3 terrible calls, one negating a huge offensive play to Camren McDonald.

Georgia Tech opened the third quarter with an onside kick that an FSU player just watched a Georgia Tech player recover the ball. Georgia Tech used the same play that got called offensive pass interference on FSU earlier in the game to score on that possession to cut the lead to 24-10.

However, FSU’s offense 91 yards on 12 plays to push the score to 31-10 with 8:20 remaining in the third quarter. Jordan Travis had 330 passing yards at this point and three passing touchdowns. Georgia Tech had 117 total yards on offense after punting with 4:34 remaining in the third quarter.

They were averaging 3.16 yards per play at this point. FSU’s offense averaged 7.77 yards per play at that point and 6 of 11 on third down after beginning the game 0 for 4.

The FSU offense capped a 12 play 74 yard drive with a field goal to increase its lead to 34-14 with 13:31 remaining in the game. FSU ultimately won the game 41-16.

FSU is lucky they didn’t play a better team Saturday, but I think part of the struggle was not playing for two weeks with the noon kickoff for the first time all year and knowing Georgia Tech wasn’t a good team.

The Noles are one win away from bowl eligibility and will play rival Miami next week.