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Just a Flesh Wound: Florida State Falls to Virginia in Double Overtime Thriller
Florida State suffered a heart-breaking defeat in Charlottesville at the hands of UVA Friday night, but the Seminoles need to push forward with everything still in front of them. The Seminoles fell in double overtime after a spirited comeback. Virginia opened a 14 point first half lead.
“Did not get off to the start that we needed to have.” FSU Head Coach Mike Norvell said after the game. “We knew this would be a highly emotional game. We knew we were going to get their best shot.” He’s ready to get back to work before facing Miami, and everything FSU wants to accomplish this season is still in front of them. It’s a sports cliché that teams are supposed to “flush a loss” to not dwell on losing, but it could not be more appropriate this week. Even though FSU lost their conference opener, winning, especially against Miami, can still lead this team to a playoff berth. Focusing on what’s ahead is the best move the Seminoles can make.
Miami has been the real deal to date. I have them ranked as the number one team in the nation on the strength of wins over Notre Dame, Florida, and South Florida. All except the Gators are playoff contenders at this stage of the season. The defensive and offensive lines of Miami look like those of the glory days. FSU will have a tough time running the football the way they have in the first 4 games. For the Seminoles to win, offensive coordinator and former UCF head coach Gus Malzahn will have to conjure up some of his misdirection magic.
Something needs to be said, and something needs to be done about the storming of the field by Cavalier fans in the wake of the monumental UVA win Friday night. I am particularly sensitive to keeping some form of this tradition as a Clemson fan. Those fans come onto the field after every game, win or lose. In the wake of the rule changes, Clemson fans are now instructed to wait until opposing players are off the field before they are allowed on the field. So far, so good, and all schools need to find a way to control the stands. Nineteen people had to seek medical treatment after the UVA Florida State game for injuries suffered when the fans stormed the field. Both teams are lucky no players were hurt, especially the receiver and cornerback in the end zone on the final play. A $50,000 fine is not going to deter this behavior, and more needs to be done to take command of the situation.
A note on the rankings: with so many undefeated and one loss teams, you may not see a team others are ranking. My answer is beat someone. Penn State looks the part, but their out of conference schedule is so bad, there is no way I will rank them this week when they lost to the only competent team they’ve played. Same with Utah. The opening win at UCLA is no longer worth anything, and their schedule has not been good to date. I would expect both of those teams to be ranked soon. Illinois has a win over Southern Cal, but was left out because they were beaten on their home field so badly by Indiana. Notre Dame looked good this week but has 2 losses and that excludes them for now, with plenty of opportunity to return.
TOP 25 FOR THE WEEK OF SEPTEMBER 29th
- Miami (4-0) Chance to win the state and take control of the ACC this week
- OHIO STATE (4-0) Wins over Texas and at Washington
- OREGON (5-0) Finally played a good team and won an OT thriller over Penn St.
- OKLAHOMA (4-0) both great wins, Auburn and Michigan were at home
- OLE MISS (5-0) Doesn’t matter who plays QB, Rebels keep scoring.
- INDIANA (4-0) Gutsy road win at tough, but not overly talented Iowa
- TEXAS A&M (4-0) Now with wins at ND and over Auburn
- TEXAS TECH (4-0) 2nd in the nation in total offense
- MISSOURI (5-0) Routed most, but best wins are only Kansas and South Carolina
- IOWA STATE (5-0) Crushed unbeaten Arizona
- VANDERBILT (5-0) We’ll find out Saturday against Bama. Best wins are at VT, at South Carolina
- GEORGIA TECH (5-0) No one’s beaten them, but unsold after poor performance versus Wake Forest
- ALABAMA (3-1) Best win of any one loss team at Georgia
- TEXAS (3-1) Best loss of any one loss team, at Ohio State
- FLORIDA STATE (3-1) 2nd best win of the one loss teams, over Alabama
- GEORGIA (3-1) Win at Tennessee is better than LSU’s wins
- LSU (4-1) Beat Clemson, Florida. Close loss at Ole Miss
- TENNESSEE (4-1) SEC teams are clumped together because they’ve all beaten someone good
- MISSISSIPPI STATE (4-1) In Bulldogs case it was over Arizona State
- SOUTH FLORIDA (3-1) Wins over Boise and at Florida
- ARIZONA STATE (4-1) On strength of TCU win
- SOUTHERN CAL (4-1) Playing at Illinois at 9am Pacific proved to be too much, but they were close
- MICHIGAN (3-1) Wins are not as good as other one loss teams
- LOUISVILLE (5-0) Wins over James Madison and at Pitt are not enough to have them higher
- HOUSTON (4-0) Undefeated but were unimpressive at Oregon State in a comeback win
