Loss to FSU could lead to lingering questions for Rebs
Analyzing No. 4 Florida State’s 45-34 victory against No. 12 Ole Miss on Monday night:
It was anything but routine for Florida State, but the Seminoles lived up to their No. 4 preseason ranking and showed explosive ability in coming back to beat Ole Miss. After falling behind by 22 points, getting dominated on both lines of scrimmage and making crazy mistakes like Dalvin Cook fumbling away an easy touchdown, it would have been easy for the Seminoles to say it wasn’t their day.
Instead, they stayed mentally engaged, made adjustments, played with ferocity in the second half and showed they are extremely talented. Though it’s only one game, a significant test has been passed.
For Ole Miss, this wasn’t just any loss. The Rebels were rolling early, quarterback Chad Kelly looked unstoppable and the defensive line was abusing Florida State. Then it imploded very quickly, and the Rebels will spend a long time questioning how it went wrong.
It’s almost inconceivable Florida State could score 33 consecutive points on Ole Miss. Even more shocking is that the Seminoles did it after getting crushed the first 27 minutes.
But thanks to a third quarter in which Florida State outgained the Rebels 214 yards to minus-7 and forced two turnovers deep in Ole Miss territory, the Seminoles took a 29-28