Florida State used an explosive 31 point 3rd quarter to roll Nevada 62-7 on Saturday afternoon. It didn’t start out all that great for the Noles as Nevada used a surprisingly deliberate ball control offense to dominate the time of possession, a break form their traditional hurry up no huddle. Florida State managed only one possession in the 1st quarter that was successful but ultimately derailed by penalties. The Seminoles would settle for a field goal on the drive. Penalties would also prove to aid Nevada’s possessions. After a turnover by Jameis Winston and three and out on Florida State’s next possession, Nevada held a 15:55 to 8:22 advantage.
With 5:54 left in the 1st half Florida State found itself down 7-3. They had run only 17 plays for 73 yards, an underwhelming 4.29 yards per play. That’s when the FSU offense would take over for the rest of the game scoring on all 9 of their remaining possessions in the game. Using an explosive run game and a precision passing game Florida State would role up 580 yards over the remaining 35:54 on a video-game like 12.88 yards per play. Actually, that’s even beyond video game numbers. Everybody got into the act, too, as 8 different Seminoles would score the 8 touchdowns. Five different running backs scored touchdowns including the first TD runs in the careers of Karlos Williams and Ryan Green.
Williams, in particular, impressed in his first action at running back. He took the very first touch he saw around the right side and raced 65 yards for a touchdown showing off his sprinter’s speed. Williams finished with 110 yards rushing on 13.8 yards per carry. The Noles actually featured 3 running backs that had 12.1+ yards per carry average. Devonta Freeman also went for triple digit yards finishing with a 109 and showing some good speed on a 60 yard carry. Ryan Green showed flashes of his talent and speed with some impressive runs and finished with 78 yards.
Jameis Winston, the star of the opening game against Pittsburgh, took a bit of a backseat on the day to the running game. He did show he was human early on in the 2nd quarter throwing an interception. Outside of that, though, he looked every bit as impressive as he did on Labor day completing 15 of 18 passes on the day. He made a couple beautiful touchdown throws the Kenny Shaw, who led all receivers with 6 catches and 94 yards, and Rashad Greene.
On the other side of the ball the defense looked a little shaky early on giving up some long runs through the middle. It’s hard to complain too much about a unit that gave up one drive of 67 yards but not another drive over 37 yards the entire day. Much like the offense once they got settled in, they dominated the game. Using that magic time of 5:54 left in the first half as a dividing line again, the Nevada offense had gained 143 yards on respectable 5.1 yards per play. After that, however, they managed just 76 yards on 2.2 yards per play. It’s important to note, though, that Nevada was without starting quarterback Cody Fejardo, starting running back Kendall Brock, and backup quarterback Devin Combs left the game with an injury around halftime.