What a distinction a number of weeks makes for Florida State.

On Oct. 3, the Seminoles have been coming off an embarrassing 52-10 loss to rival Miami and fell behind Jacksonville State, an FCS staff, 14-0. That’s when Jordan Travis was inserted into the sport at quarterback, sparking a turnaround on that afternoon and past.

FSU would come again to beat Jacksonville State that day and provides Notre Dame a little bit of a scare in South Bend per week later. On Saturday evening towards No. 5 North Carolina, Travis and the Seminoles did extra than simply trigger a scare. They pulled off an enormous upset.

Travis threw for 191 yards, rushed for 107 yards and mixed for 3 touchdowns in a 31-28 victory in Tallahassee.

Whereas Travis led the way in which for the FSU offense, the much-maligned FSU protection saved an explosive North Carolina offense in examine for nearly the whole first half, placing fixed stress on Sam Howell, UNC’s star sophomore quarterback.

Two speeding touchdowns from Travis helped FSU leap out to a 17-Zero lead earlier than a pick-six from Joshua Kaindoh prolonged the result in 24-0. FSU would go into the break main 31-7 however would want to face up to a ferocious comeback effort from the Tar Heels within the second half.

FSU withstood huge North Carolina comeback

UNC scored two touchdowns within the closing 4:07 of the third quarter to chop the deficit from 31-7 to 31-21.

The groups would commerce missed subject objectives early within the fourth quarter, earlier than Howell and the UNC offense lastly struck. Howell discovered Dyami Brown behind the protection for a 25-yard landing, shrinking FSU’s result in simply three factors.

And after the UNC protection compelled a cease, Howell and the offense obtained yet another probability with 2:30 left in regulation. Howell led the offense inside FSU territory, however the Tar Heels have been doomed by three drops with the sport on the road. The most expensive of these drops got here from Javonte Williams on fourth-and-9. Howell evaded stress and delivered a catchable ball to a wide-open Williams nicely past the first-down marker, however he dropped the move to clinch the upset for the Seminoles.

And what an upset it’s for Mike Norvell to show the tides in his first season main this system. The FSU offense seemed so overwhelmed and outclassed early within the 12 months, however the run-pass menace of Travis has allowed the Seminoles to seek out some success — 432 yards in all on Saturday evening.

The protection surrendered 558 yards to UNC, however made issues tough for Howell all evening. And when it counted, the protection obtained the cease it wanted to seal the win. Whether or not it’s the win that begins a turnaround for a struggling FSU program stays to be seen.

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