No. 17 Miami forces two second-half turnovers in comeback win over Florida State
Florida State couldn’t hang on to a 20-point third-quarter lead as No. 17 Miami won 28-27 over the Seminoles on Saturday.
Miami forced two turnovers in the second half and scored touchdowns less than a minute apart to pull within a touchdown of the Seminoles in the third quarter. After Florida State missed a field goal in the fourth, the Hurricanes scored the go-ahead touchdown with 11:52 left when Brevin Jordan caught a 41-yard touchdown from N’Kosi Perry.
The touchdowns in such a short timeframe came courtesy of a turnover. After Miami cut Florida State’s lead to 27-14, Deondre Francois was intercepted by defensive lineman Michael Pinckney. One play later Perry found Jeff Thomas for a 17-yard score.
The Hurricanes had a chance to make things a bit harder for Florida State with less than six minutes to go in the fourth but Bubba Baxa missed a short field goal. The Miami defense came through once again, however, and forced Florida State to punt. The Hurricanes were able to simply run out the clock to get the win.
Florida State looked great for a half
The Seminoles played their best half of football in the first half against the Hurricanes. Francois threw two touchdown passes and Ricky Aguayo hit a 53-yard field goal as time expired in the second quarter after Miami tried and failed to convert a fourth down late in the half.
Things got off to a great start in the third quarter when D.J. Matthews scored on a 74-yard punt return. That was the climax of the game for the Seminoles.
Florida State had a chance to put the lead back to two possessions while leading 27-21 early in the fourth but a supposed-lateral from Francois to Matthews to set up a Matthews pass downfield was ruled to be a forward pass by inches. It would have been a touchdown had it counted.
Here's the moments the ball was thrown and caught in an FSU lateral that was ruled a forward pass that called back a TD and likely cost FSU the game. pic.twitter.com/e6hly8Qply
— RedditCFB (@RedditCFB) October 7, 2018
The Seminoles converted the ensuing third down but had to settle for a 42-yard field goal try that Aguayo missed.
The loss drops the Seminoles to 3-3 and 1-3 in the ACC. Miami is now 5-1 and 2-0 in the conference.
Hurricanes troll FSU on Twitter
Miami, as you probably know, is the home of the turnover chain, the original turnover prize. Florida State has had a bag for players to “secure” after turnovers in 2018 and, naturally, Miami made fun of it after the game.
Bag secured. pic.twitter.com/BrVpY4xjhE
— Canes Football (@CanesFootball) October 6, 2018
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Nick Bromberg is a writer for Yahoo Sports.
