Boston College vs Florida State Football Recap

Florida State 38, Boston College 7

The Florida State Seminoles dominated early defensively and scored just enough to ensure that this would never be a competitive game to easily beat the Boston College Eagles on a Thursday night affair in Chestnut Hill.

For as outlandish as the score looks, Florida State really did not play all that well, a reflection of just how poor Boston College is this season, a precipitous fall for a normally-solid 8-10 win-a-year program. The Eagles fell to 2-7 on the season, 1-5 in the ACC with the only win coming over Maryland five days before this clash. The Eagles are now officially out of the running for a bowl game, and with North Carolina State at home, and Notre Dame and Miami on the road, Boston College may be looking at a double-digit loss season.

The one highlight for Boston College’s senior is linebacker Luke Kuechly, the Butkus Award semifinalist and probable frontrunner. He had an outstanding game and was seemingly in on every tackle. By the middle of the second quarter, it was rumored that he had more tackles than the Boston College offense had yards. He finished the game with 20 tackles and continues to lead the nation in tackles by a wide margin. That was about the only bright spot for Boston College, which was otherwise noncompetitive in this game.

It’s not so much that the rest of the Boston College defense played poorly - they held Florida State to just over 300 yards on the game – it’s that the defense was not able to keep Florida State out of the end zone in the first half, allowing the Seminoles to pull away despite not playing all that well. After forcing a three-and-out in FSU’s first offensive series, the BC offense turned the ball over inside its own ten yard line. The Seminoles quickly scored a touchdown on an 8 yard pass from EJ Manuel to Bert Reed. After a punt on the next possession, Florida State then scored touchdowns on three straight possessions in the second quarter to put the game away before the half.

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The Eagles offense was completely ineffective until their last drive of the first half. Until that drive, BC had gained less than 10 yards of offense in over a quarter and a half. Head Coach Randy Edsall decided replace starting QB Chase Rettig with Josh Bordner, a big, mobile quarterback that Florida State’s defense was obviously not prepared to face, and he was finally able to put up some yards for BC. Bordner ran for 25 yards on his first play and ran the ball on four of the next five plays and was able to drive the Eagles down to the FSU one yard line before Rolandan Finch, who was coming off the game of his career by running for 243 yards against Maryland, fumbled the ball. The Seminoles recovered to take a 28-0 lead into the half, and Finch finished the game with only 59 yards on 28 carries. Florida State’s defense held Boston College to just over 200 total yards.

Florida State’s offense stalled in the second half, but it didn’t much matter, as the Seminoles defense continued to dominate. EJ Manuel fumbled the ball on FSU’s first drive, giving QB Chase Rettig, who started the second half for BC, a short field. Rettig took advantage, driving the Eagles 26 yards for their only score of the game. Manuel didn’t play his best game, but he finished with an efficient 12 completions on 16 attempts for 180 yards, for a healthy 11.3 yards per attempt average. The Seminoles ground game was largely absent outside of Devonta Freeman, who finished with 62 yards on 12 carries, and Manuel, who managed 37 yards on 16 carries. True freshman tight end Nick O’Leary led all receivers with 87 yards on only 3 catches.

Florida State’s win was its fourth straight blowout win by at least 25 points after it dropped three straight earlier in the season. The Seminoles improved their record to 6-3 overall, 4-2 in the ACC. They close their season against Miami and Virginia at home and on the road at Florida. With the win, the Seminoles become bowl eligible for the 30th consecutive season, the longest current streak in the NCAA.

By: John Cary
DFN Sports Staff Writer