Franks stars as Gators end skid vs. Seminoles
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — The quarterback who grew up just a few minutes down the road helped Florida halt a five-year losing streak to Florida State, and the Gators ensured the Seminoles will not go to a bowl.
Feleipe Franks had three touchdown passes, and No. 13 Florida used a punishing ground attack to end a five-game losing streak to Florida State, defeating the Seminoles 41-14 on Saturday.
Lamical Perine had a 74-yard touchdown run as Florida ran for 278 yards, averaging 5.3 yards per carry. Perine ran for 129 yards, averaging 9.9 yards per carry.
Florida had 536 offensive yards and reinforced its case for an at-large spot in a New Year’s Six bowl game.
“That’s hard for me to say because only 12 teams get to go do that,” first-year Florida coach Dan Mullen said. “We’ve certainly put ourselves in the conversation as one of those teams.”
The Gators (9-3) halted Florida State’s bowl streak, which began in 1982. They ensured the Seminoles their first losing season since 1976, Bobby Bowden’s first season as head coach.
Franks, a redshirt sophomore who grew up just 20 miles south of Doak Campbell Stadium in Crawfordville, completed 16 of 26 passes for 254 yards.
“It’s always been a dream of mine to come here and play against Florida State,” Franks said. “I’ve always wanted to get a win here specifically. I had all my family up here, friends in the stands. It’s gratifying.”
Franks threw touchdown passes to Van Jefferson, Trevon Grimes and Josh Hammond. Grimes led the Gators with five receptions for 118 yards.
Florida State’s Deondre Francois completed 14 of 29 passes for 154 yards, including a 15-yard touchdown pass to Cam Akers, and had a 4-yard touchdown run. Francois also threw two interceptions and fumbled.
The Seminoles (5-7) had been undone this season by penalties and committed 10 on Saturday. They finish the season as one of the nation’s most penalized teams with 110.
“We just took turns making mistakes,” Francois said. “We played an undisciplined game as a team. We gave up big plays on defense and didn’t move the ball on offense.”
Florida State had six defeats by double digits and lost to Miami, Clemson and Florida in the same season for the first time since 2009.
› No. 2 Clemson 56, South Carolina 35 CLEMSON, S.C. — Clemson freshman Trevor Lawrence passed for 393 yards, Adam Choice rushed for three touchdowns and the Tigers capped a perfect regular season with a victory over nonconference rival South Carolina, their fifth straight in the Palmetto State series.
The Tigers reached 12-0 for the second time in four seasons and for the third time in program history, starting with their 1981 national title season.
Clemson kept pace for another title run with its latest success over the Gamecocks (6-5). The Tigers’ streak against South Carolina is their longest since winning seven in a row from 1934 to ‘40.
Gamecocks junior quarterback Jake Bentley had career highs with 510 passing yards — the second-most ever allowed by Clemson — and five touchdowns. The Tigers had not given up that many points in 28 games since a 42-35 win over Virginia Tech in the 2016 Atlantic Coast Conference title game.
The Tigers will try for their fourth straight ACC title when they take on No. 24 Pittsburgh in the championship game this Saturday in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Not that South Carolina (6-5) didn’t throw a scare into the Tigers — or give defensive coordinator Brent Venables something to yell about leading into the ACC title game.
South Carolina, which had lost the previous two rivalry games by a combined 90-17 score, was supposed to have little chance to hang with Clemson. But it was the Gamecocks who struck first and kept on going.
Bentley threw for 302 yards and three touchdowns in the opening half, including scoring tosses of 67 yards to Kiel Pollard and 75 yards to Deebo Samuel to stick within 28-21 at the break.
› No. 17 Kentucky 56, Louisville 10 LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Terry Wilson accounted for 340 yards and four touchdowns, and Benny Snell Jr. rushed for two scores and the Wildcats blew out their nonconference archrivals to win the Governor’s Cup.
The Wildcats (9-3) scored touchdowns on all five of their first-half drives and never trailed while posting their first nine-win regular season since 1977. Wilson’s 3-yard scoring run set up a 14-0 lead before he had touchdown passes of 28 and 13 yards to Lynn Bowden for a 35-10 cushion late in the second quarter. The sophomore transfer then threw a 32-yard touchdown to Josh Ali in the third to make it 42-10.
Wilson completed 17 of 23 passes for 261 yards and rushed for 79 in his most productive game for Kentucky. Snell rushed for scores of 7 and 24 yards, A.J. Rose ran for a 75-yard touchdown and Kavosiey Smoke had a 37-yard touchdown run as Kentucky posted its most lopsided series win over the Cardinals (2-10) since winning 68-34 in 1998.
Malik Cunningham’s 75-yard touchdown run and the extra-point kick brought Louisville within 14-7, but the Cardinals lost their ninth in a row and allowed 50 points for the seventh time this season.