Seminoles Stomp On Syracuse's Bowl Chances

Story by Mike Drew
Photos by Jacqueline Mundry

SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- The Florida State Seminoles (8-3, 5-3) came into the Carrier Dome on Saturday ranked number 17 in the nation. It didn't take long for them to overwhelm the Syracuse Orange (4-7, 2-5), as they dominated a wire-to-wire blowout 45-14 and likely vanquished any hopes SU had of playing in a bowl game.

Florida State's attack was led by Heisman hopeful running back Dalvin Cook. The 5'-11" junior finished with 227 yards on 28 carries, including four touchdowns. In the process, Cook also surpassed Warrick Dunn (3,959 yards) as the program's all-time leading rusher.

"Extremely talented," Syracuse head coach Dino Babers said. "Very gifted. He's an OMG guy."



Right from the jump

After coming up with a stop on Syracuse's first possession the game, the Florida State special teams group made its presence known early. Freshman defensive lineman Brian Burns partially blocked Sterling Hofrichter's first punt of the game. The high-powered FSU offense started with great field position and made it count.

Quarterback Deondre Francois (18-28, 315 yards, 2 TD, 1 INT) connected with wide receiver Nyqwan Murray for a 16-yard touchdown that gave the 'noles a 7-0 lead less than four minutes into the game.

Florida State's defense then forced another punt and Cook got them right back into the red zone as he gashed the Syracuse defense on a 41-yard sprint down the far sideline. Two plays later, Francois connected with junior receiver Travis Rudolph on a 15-yard touchdown pass. Midway through the first quarter, the Seminoles were up 14-0, setting a tone that Syracuse would never catch up to.

Fits and starts

The Syracuse offense was disorganized for much of the game. Quarterback Zack Mahoney (16-36, 196 yards, 2 TD, 2 INT) filled in for the injured Eric Dungey for the second straight week and struggled to escape the Florida State pass rush, which got eight sacks on the afternoon.

"It's a different game when the quarterback is getting hit a lot," Babers said. "They're not supposed to get hit a lot. We've got to do more to help him."

The one real chance Syracuse's offense had in the first 30 minutes came early in the second quarter, after cornerback Christopher Frederick intercepted an errant pass from Francois, handing the Orange good field position.

After getting a first-and-goal at the FSU 8, the SU offense suffered two false start penalties and Mahoney was ultimately intercepted in the end zone by Tarvarus McFadden.

"I'm definitely going to be looking at the screen tomorrow and criticizing myself a lot because I missed a lot of things," Mahoney said.

One bright spot

After Cook's first touchdown run (a 25-yarder) made it 21-0 FSU, the Syracuse offense made something happen before halftime. Following a missed 54-yard field goal attempt, SU took over at its own 37-yard line with 1:04 left in the half.

With four seconds on the clock, Mahoney rolled right and lofted a high-arching prayer into the end zone. Standout receiver Amba Etta-Tawo ,one of 21 seniors honored before the game, came down with the 46-yard Hail Mary to put the Orange on the board. For as rough as the first half was for Syracuse, it was fortunate to head to the locker room down only two touchdowns.

Letting the air out of the balloon

Florida State got the ball to start the second half and quickly eliminated any momentum Syracuse may have gained from its end of the half stunner. It took seven plays for the Francois-Cook tandem to move the ball to the Syracuse eleven-yard line, where Cook struck again for his second touchdown run of the game.

After another Hofrichter punt, the Seminoles took over backed up on their own seven-yard line. This time, it took the offense eight plays to travel 93 yards and score another backbreaking touchdown, as Cook galloped his way in from 17 yards out. Midway through the third quarter, FSU had upped its lead to 35-7.

Garbage time

As the game wound down, each teams scored another touchdown. First, Mahoney threw his second touchdown pass of the game, a 17-yard scoring strike to receiver Ervin Philips to make it 35-14 FSU. This came after linebacker Shyheim Cullen recovered a muffed punt by FSU's Murray.

On the ensuing drive, Florida State responded once again. five plays after recovering an onside kick, Cook put the exclamation point on his performance, scoring his fourth touchdown, this time an eight-yard run. The Seminoles regained a four-touchdown lead at 42-14.

In the fourth quarter, Ricky Aguayo added a 42-yard field goal to make it 45-14.

What's next

Florida State will host in-state rival Florida next Saturday, hoping to get to nine wins and improve its position for a quality bowl game.

Syracuse will wrap its regular season up at Pittsburgh next Saturday at 12:30. The Panthers ripped Duke at Heinz Field on Saturday, 56-14 to go to 7-4, 4-3 ACC.

The game will be aired on the ACC Network. Babers said Mahoney will likely start at quarterback once again. Even though a bowl game is likely out of the cards now, Babers still wants to send his seniors out the right way.

"That's the key to all of this," he said. "We need to play a competitive football game, all the way down to the fourth quarter, where we have a chance to win."