The Sunshine Showdown: Gators vs Seminoles recap

The Gators Start Fast

Florida State won the toss and deferred until the second half, so the Gators got the ball first. The series didn’t get off to a great start as the offense was penalized for delay of game. The vaunted Florida air attack took center stage right away. Kyle Trask hit Van Jefferson for 19 yards on third and ten to get a first down. They got Lamical Perine in the mix with a ten-yard run and then an eight-yard pass. This got the Gators to the 38-yard line of FSU. After gaining ten yards on third and eleven, the Gators went for it on fourth down. After Trask runs for two yards, it’s first down from the FSU 19 yard line. Next play, Trask hits Freddie Swain for 19 yards and a Gators touchdown.

The Seminoles came right back on their first possession and answered the Gators. On a first and ten play from the FSU 41 yard line, James Blackmon hit Tamorrion Terry for 45 yards all the way to the Gators 14 yard line. The Gators defense forced FSU into a fourth-down play, but could not stop them from getting the first down. After gaining only one yard on two run plays, the Seminole finally got the ball in the endzone on a Jordan Travis one-yard run. And this was as close as the Seminoles would be for the rest of the game.

The Gators Blitz FSU in the 2nd Quarter

This is where the game got out of hand for the Seminoles pretty quick. The Gators answered back with a 13 play drive that covered 75 yards for the touchdown. Kyle Trask carved up the Seminole defense as the touchdown was scored by Dameon Pierce on a one-yard run. The Gators then turned up the screws on defense and forced FSU into four straight possessions with punts.

The Gators than struck quickly. Three plays for 85 yards and another touchdown. Kadarius Toney caught a 43 yards pass from Trask that got the Gators to the FSU 38 yard line. Two plays later, Trask hits Freddie Swain again for a 23-yard touchdown. After trading punts, the Gators had a five-play drive for 40 yards that finished with another touchdown. Trask finished off this drive by hitting Jefferson for a 13-yard strike, 27-7 with 5:06 left in the quarter.

The Gators were able to force another punt on defense and set up the Gators to run a two-minute offense. Trask hit Josh Hammond for a big play of 31 yards to the Gators 48 yard line. Trask was able to get a first down on a third and three play with 1:42 left. After two incomplete passes, Trask hit Swain for seven yards and out came Evan McPherson to attempt a 50-yard field goal. He hit the field goal with ten seconds left and the Gators went into Halftime with a 30-7 lead.

The Seminoles Show a Little Fight

FSU came out of halftime and put together a nice little drive to start the third quarter. After gaining 44 yards on ten plays, the Gators were able to force FSU into a 48-yard field goal attempt by Ricky Aguayo. He hit the kick and FSU got a good start to the second half. The bad part for FSU was that they had no answer for the Gators offense. The Gators answered with a touchdown drive on 11 plays for 75 yards. Emory Jones got into the scoring mix with a six-yard touchdown pass to Jefferson. This made it 37-10 Gators.

FSU answered back with a five-play 75-yard drive for a touchdown. Cam Akers took it to the house on a 50-yard scamper to the endzone. This drive only took 1:36 off the clock. The Gators ended the third quarter with a drive that ended with a 21-yard field goal kick by McPherson. This was the first play of the fourth quarter and the score was 40-17 Florida.

Fourth Quarter

Nothing too exciting really happened in the fourth quarter except for the unusual special teams play that Dan Mullen called on the Gators end of the field. The defense was shutting down the Seminoles at this point. Mullen calls a fake punt on fourth and one on the Gators 19 yard line. Why Mullen decided this was the time to run this play, no one will know. Florida State was not able to capitalize on this mistake as they lost seven yards and attempted a 44-yard field goal. Aguayo missed it. The Gators were able to force another punt by FSU and ran the clock down to double zeros to end the game, 40-17.

Bowl Season Awaits

The Florida State Seminoles are projected to play Western Kentucky in the Walk-On’s Independence Bowl on December 26th. This game will be played at 4 pm on ESPN. Florida is looking at hopefully a much bigger bowl game than last season. They should finish inside the Top 10 of the next BCS poll that takes place on Tuesday night. With finishing in second place, in the East Division, it will all depend on who wins the SEC Championship game. The current projection has the Gators playing Virginia on December 30th in the Capital One Orange Bowl in Miami at 8 pm on ESPN. This is a great improvement for the program and puts Florida back in the national spotlight as an up and coming program again.

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