It is said that lightning never strikes twice. For the second straight season, FSU faced Brian Kelly in a high-profile early-season matchup. And in this game, lightning struck twice more than once.
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Florida State faced the Louisiana State Tigers in a battle for revival on Sunday night. Both of these teams entered the game unranked despite having won national championships in the last decade, but have really slipped in the last few seasons. LSU got a new coach named Brian Kelly and pulled him away from Notre Dame. Everyone wanted to know how he performed at Daniels last season with a 6-7 team and Jaden, who moved from Arizona.
It was almost a defensive battle. The few attacks LSU could muster were due to the FSU defense leaving Daniels with no spies. At halftime, he accounted for 71 of LSU’s 72 rushing yards, but had only 56 passing yards.
LSU got on the board on their first drive thanks to a long 25-yard scramble from Daniels, followed by Renald Green’s late-hit penalty. This put him in field goal position and just three minutes into the game he made it 3–0. FSU had a great drive of its own, going 46 yards in 9 plays with Ryan Fitzgerald only missing a 46-yard field goal.
A three-and-out by the Florida State defense quickly returned the ball, and the offense responded with a methodical 14-play, 85-yard drive that ended with a double reverse flea flicker for a 39-yard touchdown to Ontalia Wilson. Fight through underthrows, pass interference and go down with grabs.
LSU had their best drive of the game, gaining 52 yards on 13 plays, but a misunderstanding between Daniels and star receiver Kayshorn Butte resulted in another field goal attempt. Enter, stage left, Jared Barth.
The last time FSU blocked a kick was against Georgia Tech in September 2020, blocking two in the same game (wink).
Florida State didn’t do much on their next drive, but LSU muffed a punt to continue FSU’s recovery at LSU’s 16-yard line. A few short plays saw him go 4-2 and he took less than a minute and a half to play, so FSU chose it. The decision was correct. They were kicked in the second half and going up 10-3 wouldn’t have made much of a difference and would have given LSU a chance to come back. If it doesn’t understand, the LSU will be backed up with no time to do anything. The only complaint is that at 5’11” his Mycah Pittman corners who his route required. He had a chance to catch, but he didn’t.
After a few pointless LSU plays after a down turnover, FSU entered the locker room trailing 7-3.
FSU received the ball in the second half and moved just down the field for another 14-play drive, but this time it ended with Ryan Fitzgerald’s short chip-shot field goal to give FSU a 10-3 lead. . He was in rough shape this evening, with two kickoffs going out of bounds and a missed field goal in the first quarter.
Knowles then forced the defense to make a three-and-out for the second time of the game as they were swarming on the ball to start the half. Florida State got back on the board with another ridiculous throw and catch from Jordan Travis to Ontalia Wilson. This time, it was a one-handed catch for 27 yards as Jordan had been battered with a targeting call to Boot.
Somehow, Wilson scored one of his previous touchdowns with that unreal obstacle: Ali Gaye was disqualified for being targeted, and as you can see, it was terrible. This gave FSU his 17-to-3 lead and the fireworks of this game were just beginning.
With a defensive pass interference to troll the passer call and assist, LSU marched down the field and Noah Kane sneaked onto the goal line after the referee’s roar to make it 17-10. The LSU crowd then returned to the game. For FSU to dominate, it needs a great response.
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The response we received was Jordan Travis at its best. Take advantage of the threat he runs to inhale a second level of defense, fire lasers between defenders to place them where you need them, and calmly use his arms over his legs. his career. He shows such composure and maturity in this game that really speaks to his evolution so far in his career. , yes linebacker DJ Randy punched in from 1 yard.
LSU immediately began driving the ball down and after reaching the 39-yard line, FSU stopped the ball at 3rd and short, resulting in a crucial 4th down with less than 6 minutes remaining. Kayshon Boutte gets the first catch of the game with a quick pass to right hash to continue the drive. After taking nearly five minutes off the clock on a 15-play, 75-yard drive, Daniels finds Jaray Jenkins in the middle, and he runs it into Daniels’ first touchdown of the game. That left just over four minutes in the game for LSU to stop FSU’s attack and get the ball back.
LSU forced the first real three-and-out of the game when FSU took off in less than two minutes when it needed it most. But… lightning struck him twice and LSU muffed another punt on his FSU and he recovered with just over two minutes left.
This should have been the game. No question about it. However, a bad pitch put the Bulls on the ground at the goal line and LSU recovered at the 1-yard line and moved 99 yards in 1:20 if they wanted to keep the game going.
They scored 97. Daniels connected with a wide-open crossing route across the middle, but receiver Mason Taylor, a true freshman tight end, dropped his knee with just bounds at the 2-yard line. Officials gave him one extra play with two seconds remaining after he got a first down. LSU scored their second of the game with a touchdown to Jaray Jenkins in the back of the end zone.
Somehow, the havoc wasn’t over. With no time left, lightning struck twice again as Shyheim Brown found a huge blocked point after trying with no time left and FSU won 24-23.
Jordan Travis finished with the best game of his career with 20/32 passing, 260 yards and 2 TDs, adding 31 yards on the ground.
Jaden Daniels bounced back in the second half, going 26/35 for 209 yards and 2 TDs, landing 114 yards.
Ontalia Wilson returned to the game, having 7 receptions for 102 yards and 2 TDs. Johnny Wilson also added 60 yards on three catches.
On defense, Jared Barth was a big hit with two sacks and block kicks, and Renaldo Green led the team with eight tackles.
Mike Norvell kicked off the season with a great win and will be off next week before facing Louisville on September 16th.
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