The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
QB Travis helps FSU hold off No. 5 North Carolina
A Florida State team looking to get back to respectability in the ACC made a striking statement. The Seminoles now have a confidence-building victory, momentum that could carry them in Mike Norvell’s first year.
Quarterback Jordan Travis ran for two touchdowns and threw a scoring pass to help Florida State build a big firsthalf lead, and the host Seminoles held off North Carolina 31-28 on Saturday night.
Travis guided an offense that generated 432 yards for Florida State (2-3, 1-3 Atlantic Coast Conference), but was shut out in the second half.
The Seminoles gave Norvell a signature victory following a shaky start, which included a season-opening defeat to Georgia Tech and a blowout loss at Miami. But Norvell began to see Florida State turn the corner in last week’s 42-26 loss at Notre Dame.
“There’s been plenty of adversity throughout the course of this year, through the early part of this season,” Norvell said. “These guys believe in what we do. Coming off of last week, we saw moments, we saw flashes, we saw a team that was playing harder, really trying to work to play together. This week we challenged throughout the course of the week that we needed that consistency to show up.”
The consistency showed up for the Seminoles — at least for a half.
North Carolina quarterback Sam Howell led three second-half touchdown drives to pull to 31-28. The Tar Heels (3-1, 3-1) drove into Florida State territory but had drops on third and fourth down in the final seconds to end the comeback bid.
The Tar Heels racked up 558 offensive yards, including 317 in the second half. Howell completed 20 of 36 passes for 374 yards, with 283 yards coming after halftime. He had three touchdowns but also a costly interception that defensive end Joshua Kaindoh returned 25 yards for a touchdown.
“With their play and our response we dug ourselves in a huge hole at halftime,” UNC coach Mack Brown said. “I thought we would come back and settle down and win the game the second half. We had our opportunities. We turned the momentum.”
(At) Virginia Tech 40, Boston College 14: Hendon Hooker ran for a career-high 164 yards and three touchdowns and threw for a score as the Hokies (3-1, 3-1 ACC) routed the Eagles (3-2, 2-2).
Khalil Herbert added 143 yards rushing for the Hokies. They ran for 350 yards in bouncing back from a road loss to North Carolina.
Tech played without more than 20 players in wins over N.C. State and Duke and without 15 in the loss to the Tar Heels — and missed coaches in all of those games. But only
starters were out against the Eagles (one because of an injury), all the coaches were available, and Hooker looked comfortable in his first start of the season.