South Florida Sun-Sentinel (Sunday)
Richardson laments missed opportunities
TALLAHASSEE — Florida quarterback Anthony Richardson laid on his back and pointed skyward.
Florida State linebacker Tatum Bethune had knocked Richarson to the turf, but not before he let loose an high-arching pass to wide-open Ricky Pearsall for a 52-yard touchdown to tie the score 7-7.
Richardson soon hopped to his feet, jogged toward the south end zone and performed the Seminoles’ chop for the crowd of 79,560 at Doak Campbell Stadium.
Many highlights and celebrations remained during FSU’s 45-38 win, the highest-scoring contest during a rivalry dating to 1958.
Richardson bemoaned the close-calls and missed opportunities. Surveying the final boxscore as he prepared to address reporters, Richardson shook his head.
The stat line read: 9 of 27, 198 yards, 3 touchdowns, 1 interception. “That’s just crazy to me,” he said. Completing a season-low 33.3% of his throws also proved costly.
Richardson connected on 5 of his first 6 passes, 3 of them for touchdowns, including a 43-yard strike to Pearsall for a 21-14 lead early in the second quarter. The redshirt sophomore followed with 11 straight incompletions spanning three quarters.
“That’s just us not connecting, winning matchups,” Richardson said. “We tried to attack them outside. They played pretty good defense defending most of the passes. It was just us not winning our one-onones.”
FSU (9-3) surged during the fallow stretch to turn a 21-14 deficit into a 38-24 advantage.
Behind the run game, the Gators (6-6) staged a fourth-quarter comeback. Richardson pitched in a couple of hard-nose efforts himself, including a 15-yard run into the teeth of the Seminoles defense on 3rd-and-8 to keep alive a scoring drive.
“It’s a dogfight out there,” he said. “Rival game. You got to play hard. You got to put
your nose down. Put your head down. Fight through people, run through people.
“They were doing it to us why not do it back to them?”
The Seminoles swarmed the 6-foot-4,
232-pound Richardson earlier in the game to re-aggravate an ankle injury and send him to the sideline for medical attention.
He returned and later lost his helmet on another run.
For his efforts, Richardson managed just
41 rushing yards on 10 carries but earned his head coach’s praise.
“I saw a guy who competed,” Billy Napier said.
Richardson and Seminoles quarterback Jordan Travis went toe-to-toe during a battle of determined dual-threat quarterbacks.
“Two great quarterbacks were going at it all game,” sixth-year Florida linebacker Ventrell Miller said.
Travis prevailed on the scoreboard and the stat sheet. The dynamic redshirt junior finishing with 270 yards and a touchdown passing along with 83 rushing yards and
2 scores showcasing some special scrambling ability.
“His legs were the difference in the game,” Napier said.
Travis’ 6-yard touchdown pass to Kentron Poitier pushed the Seminoles’ lead to 38-24 and set the stage for yet another comeback for Florida.
“We shouldn’t even be digging ourselves in a hole like that,” Richardson said. “As good as a team we are we shouldn’t be down 14 points like that if we’re executing the right way. It’s good to know we’re capable of scoring points ... We just need to perform better overall.
“It definitely kind of hurts just knowing what we can do and we’re not doing it every minute.”
Richardson shouldered much of the blame on another inconsistent night during his first season as a starter.
The 20-year-old has much to learn and improve but also a decision to make on his playing future, immediate and long term.
The Gators has qualified for a bowl game, but some players, including Miller, could sit out and turn their attention to NFL draft preparations.
Asked if he had a timetable to decide his next step, Richardson had other concerns front of mind.
“We’ve just got to get to the drawing board and figure out why I’m 9-for-27,” he said.