No. 2 Florida State has been highly praised early in the 2016 season. A big comeback win against Ole Miss showed the potential the Seminoles have, Lamar Jackson and No. 10 Louisville did not get the message. The Cardinals (3-0, 2-0 Conf) routed the Seminoles 63-20.
Florida State (2-1, 0-1 Conf) was overwhelmed in every aspect of the game on Saturday. Louisville jumped out to the early 14-point lead. FSU was able to get it back to 14-10, a costly Deondre Francois fumble which resulted in a Cardinal touchdown made it 21-10 and Louisville never gave the ‘Noles a chance to come back.
Lamar Jackson led Louisville to 49 unanswered points as they dominated the ‘Noles. Jackson threw for 216 yards on 20 attempts with one touchdown, while he added another 146 yards with his legs, carrying the ball 17 times four of which resulted in touchdowns. Running back Brandon Radcliff was not going to let Jackson have all the fun, he also ran for over 100 yards and he too found his way into the endzone.
Freshmen quarterback Deondre Francois was only able to complete seven passes for 101 yards. Francois had just one touchdown. Not to put the blame on the young gun slinger though, Francois’s front seven looked like they were picked up on the way to the stadium and told they were now playing on the offensive line.
Dalvin Cook’s disappointing season also continued, Cook rushed for just 54 yards on 16 attempts. While running back Jacques Patrick is doing everything he can to make head coach Jimbo Fisher give him the ball. Patrick was able to run for 79 yards on seven carries despite the lack of blocking from his line.
“There is no reason to panic.” Jimbo Fisher told press following the game. “We’ve got to go out there and do a better job and get the right guys on the field and put them in position to be good.”
Florida State has a tough stretch of games that will make or break the year. Traveling to USF (3-0) this week, the Bulls are a big sleeper team coming off of an ACC victory over Syracuse who lost to Louisville 45-20.
