The 8th-ranked Florida State Seminoles came into the season as one of the sleeper picks for the College Football Playoff.
A dominant 45-24 victory over the 5th-ranked LSU Tigers where they racked up six touchdowns and 31 unanswered points in the second half may attest to that.
They extended their winning streak to seven games with star quarterback Jordan Travis accounting for five touchdowns—four through the air and one on the ground—including three touchdown throws to Michigan State transfer Keon Coleman for their 6th straight win over LSU. Travis finished with 342 yards passing.
They won this game on fourth down, as the 'Noles stopped the Tigers twice on that situation in the first half, including one time at the goal line and then scoring the go-ahead touchdown one play after Travis linked up with Lawrance Toafili on a 41-yard catch-and-run on 4th & 2. Travis ran the rock in on the play after to put the Seminoles up 24-17, where they never trailed the rest of the way.
FSU won their final six games of last season and, surprisingly, returned nearly everyone for the fourth year of head coach Mike Norvell, including Travis, top receiver Johnny Wilson, and pass rusher Jared Verse, one of the best in the ACC.
But it was Coleman who was the star of the show, with nine catches for 122 yards, with his touchdown catches coming from 40, 21, and 7 yards.
Wilson added seven catches for 104 yards, numbers that he wanted to improve on if it weren't for two drops.
It was the second half where the Seminoles blew the doors off the Tigers, where Travis connected on 11 of 13 passes, and had many LSU fans headed for the exits of Camping World Stadium when he connected with tight end Jaheim Bell at the left sideline for a 44-yard strike with seven minutes left in the game.
In a showdown of quarterbacks, Jayden Daniels also threw for over 300 yards, finishing with 347, though he wasn't nearly as effective, completing 22 of 37 passes with an interception and a 75-yard garbage time touchdown. He added 64 yards on the ground on 15 attempts, though he got blasted when Florida State's Tatum Bethune slammed him to the ground after trying to hurdle a defender.
Though Daniels connected with Tre Bradford for 55 yards on the first play of the game, the Tigers had six chances to score from inside the 5, including four from the 1, and missed on all of them, with Daniels misfiring the ball twice and getting sacked on fourth down by DJ Lundy.
They even were in the red zone again on 4th & 1, and Daniels was sacked again on 4th & 1 at the FSU 13 by Shyheim Brown and Kalen DeLoach.
It was the second half where the Seminoles blew the doors off the Tigers, where Travis connected on 11 of 13 passes, and had many LSU fans headed for the exits of Camping World Stadium when he connected with tight end Jaheim Bell at the left sideline for a 44-yard strike with seven minutes left in the game.
In a showdown of quarterbacks, Jayden Daniels also threw for over 300 yards, finishing with 347, though he wasn't nearly as effective, completing 22 of 37 passes with an interception and a 75-yard garbage time touchdown. He added 64 yards on the ground on 15 attempts, though he got blasted when Florida State's Tatum Bethune slammed him to the ground after trying to hurdle a defender.
Though Daniels connected with Tre Bradford for 55 yards on the first play of the game, the Tigers had six chances to score from inside the 5, including four from the 1, and missed on all of them, with Daniels misfiring the ball twice and getting sacked on fourth down by DJ Lundy.
They even were in the red zone again on 4th & 1, and Daniels was sacked again on 4th & 1 at the FSU 13 by Shyheim Brown and Kalen DeLoach.
While it wasn't pretty, considering the 'Noles had trouble running the ball, and were flagged for three personal fouls, they impressed the selection committee with a win in the early stages of September. A win against a ranked SEC opponent gives them an edge over another playoff contender with a similar record, and teams like Oklahoma, Michigan, and Penn State don't have an inter-conference opponent as strong as LSU, assuming that LSU goes on to have a respectable season as they did last year.
Norvell made the necessary halftime adjustments on the way to outscoring the Tigers 31-7 in the second half, and their fearsome defense, one of the best in the nation and perhaps the best in the ACC, relentlessly pressured Daniels.
For the Tigers, they'll certainly have to beat Alabama and win the SEC West again because following this loss, the margin for error is now zero.
No team in NCAA history has ever made the College Football Playoff after losing their season-opener. Though in 2014, the Ohio State Buckeyes lost to the Virginia Tech Hokies at home in the second week of the season, then went on to win 13 straight, including the national championship, with third-string quarterback Cardale Jones.
But there are holes to fix as the Tigers allowed 483 total yards and allowed FSU to convert 8 of 13 third downs.
the 21-point margin marked the largest defeat in LSU history as a ranked team in a season opener in the AP poll era (since 1936).
The two missed fourth downs were described by LSU head coach Brian Kelly as "standard fourth down calls and decisions."
He did make headlines when he said on his opening radio show of the 2023 season that "we're gonna go beat the heck out of Florida State." But now he has to get his team to play a complete game.
The offense clearly needs work. While Daniels showed he can run the ball effectively, he has yet to prove he can consistently get the ball downfield in the passing game.
The more troubling part is in the secondary, as Coleman and Wilson feasted on them.
Getting Maason Smith back at the defensive line and pairing him with Mekhi Wingo should help them when it comes to getting more pressures. Their next match is against Grambling next Saturday, but a trip to Mississippi State is not one to be slept on, especially since they're facing a Will Rogers-quarterbacked team.
Speaking of Coleman, while he has been on FSU after a mid-May transfer from Michigan State, no one would have known from how he fit in with an already strong offense.
The Seminoles already brought back a vast majority of the offense. Adding Coleman to a core that already included Travis, Wilson, and Trey Benson shows how further they can go with another playmaker.
He made the necessary plays w the ball was thrown his direction, which included two contested catches, one where he caught it over LSU safety Major Burns for a touchdown. Ever since the start of last season, he has an FBS-best nine contested touchdown catches, and that can elevate a team's passing game.
At halftime, Norvell told his offense, "You will score every drive in the second half if you just go out there and focus on the little things, focus on the details."
And they did.
The end result was the largest victory against a top-10 team since their national championship run in 2013, where Travis became the first FSU player with four passing touchdowns and a rushing touchdown in a game since Jameis Winston in said year in the Seminoles' win over the Pitt Panthers.
Plus, on the defensive side, after nearly giving up 300 yards in the first half, they got comfortable and shut down both Daniels and the ground game. They sacked Daniels four times and held the Tigers to less than 200 second half yards.
And a job well done for Norvell, as he completely revamped a roster in which he took over the head coaching job when the program was in the midst of turmoil in 2020, and in reaching out through the transfer portal, his work has paid dividends, with the outing against the Tigers showing.
Coleman joins the long list of names on transfer portal success at Florida State, where they have transfers who are starters all around. They had to be patient to get to this point, and the waiting has paid off.
The 'Noles head back home to Tallahassee to face Southern Miss next Saturday for their home opener, and draws the Boston College Eagles before their next big opportunity when they take on the Clemson Tigers.
Scoring
Florida State, 7:53 1st: Keon Coleman 40-yard TD pass from Jordan Travis (Ryan Fitzgerald kick); 7-0 Florida State
LSU, 3:48 1st: Tre Bradford 1-yard TD run (Damian Ramos kick); 7-7 Tie
LSU, 6:02 2nd: Noah Cain 1-yard TD run (Damian Ramos kick); 14-7 LSU
Florida State, 1:01 2nd: Keon Coleman 21-yard TD pass from Jordan Travis (Ryan Fitzgerald kick); 14-14 Tie
LSU, 0:00 2nd: Damian Ramos 36-yard field goal; 17-14 LSU
Florida State, 9:19 3rd: Ryan Fitzgerald 33-yard field goal; 17-17 Tie
Florida State, 2:42 3rd: Jordan Travis 1-yard TD run (Ryan Fitzgerald kick); 24-17 Florida State
Florida State, 10:18 4th: Keon Coleman 7-yard TD pass from Jordan Travis (Ryan Fitzgerald kick); 31-17 Florida State
Florida State, 7:00 4th: Jaheim Bell 44-yard TD pass from Jordan Travis (Ryan Fitzgerald kick); 38-17 Florida State
Florida State, 1:26 4th: Jaheim Bell 4-yard TD run (Ryan Fitzgerald kick); 45-17 Florida State
LSU, 1:15 4th: Brian Thomas Jr. 75-yard TD pass from Jayden Daniels (Damian Ramos kick); 45-24 Florida State
Passing
LSU TIGERS
Jayden Daniels: 22/37, 347 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT
FLORIDA STATE SEMINOLES
Jordan Travis: 23/31, 342 yards, 4 TD, 1 INT
Deuce Spann: 1/1, 17 yards, 0 TD, 0 INT
Rushing
LSU TIGERS
Jayden Daniels: 15 attempts, 64 yards, 0 TD
Josh Williams: 4 attempts, 44 yards, 0 TD
Noah Cain: 4 attempts, 4 yards, 1 TD
Tre Bradford: 4 attempts, 1 yard, 1 TD
FLORIDA STATE SEMINOLES
Trey Benson: 12 attempts, 47 yards, 0 TD
Jordan Travis: 7 attempts, 38 yards, 1 TD
Jaheim Bell: 1 attempt, 4 yards, 1 TD
Receiving
LSU TIGERS
Brian Thomas Jr.: 7 receptions, 142 yards, 1 TD
Malik Nabers: 6 receptions, 67 yards, 0 TD
Tre Bradford: 1 reception, 55 yards
FLORIDA STATE SEMINOLES
Keon Coleman: 9 receptions, 122 yards, 1 TD
Johnny Wilson: 7 receptions, 104 yards, 0 TD
Jaheim Bell: 2 receptions, 49 yards, 1 TD
Defensive
LSU TIGERS
Omar Speights: 8 tackles (3 solo)
Major Burns: 8 tackles (1 solo)
Zy Alexander: 7 tackles (4 solo)
Bradyn Swinson: 5 tackles (3 solo), 1 TFL
Duce Chestnut: 4 tackles (4 solo), 1 TFL, 1 interception
Greg Brooks Jr.: 4 tackles (0 solo), 0.5 TFL, 2 passes defensed
FLORIDA STATE SEMINOLES
Tatum Bethune: 9 tackles (3 solo)
Jarrian Jones: 5 tackles (4 solo)
Renardo Green: 4 tackles (4 solo), 1 pass defensed, 1 interception
Azareye'h Thomas: 4 tackles (2 solo), 2 passes defensed, 1 fumble recovery
DJ Lundy: 3 tackles (2 solo), 1.5 TFL, 1 sack
Josh Farmer: 3 tackles (1 solo), 1 TFL, 1 sack
Team Stats
First Downs: LSU 23, Florida State 22
3rd Downs: LSU 3/10, Florida State 9/14
4th Downs: LSU 0/3, Florida State 1/1
Total Yards: LSU 460, Florida State 494
Passing Yards: LSU 347, Florida State 359
Team Passing: LSU 22/37, Florida State 24/32
Yards Per Pass: LSU 9.4, Florida State 11.2
Rushing Yards: LSU 113, Florida State 135
Rushing Attempts: LSU 27, Florida State 34
Yards Per Rush: LSU 4.2, Florida State 4.0
Penalties: LSU 2—30 yards, Florida State 7—64 yards
Turnovers: LSU 2, Florida State 1
Fumbles Lost: LSU 1, Florida State 0
Interceptions Thrown: LSU 1, Florida State 1
Possession: LSU 24:37, Florida State 35:23
Miscellaneous
Venue: Camping World Stadium
Location: Orlando, FL
Attendance: 68,723 (Capacity: 65,000)
Weather: Mostly Clear, 88°F
Winds: Calm
Broadcast: ABC/ESPN+
Commentators: Chris Fowler (PxP), Kirk Herbstreit (color), Holly Rowe (reporter)
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