FSU blows out LSU in 2nd half

FSU QB Jordan Travis scores against LSU. PHOTO BY KEN FIELDS

By Curt Weiler TheOsceola

ORLANDO – It’s truly hard to put into perspective what Florida State did Sunday night.
After we spent an offseason building up what this FSU team could be, the Seminoles spent much of their first half looking fairly pedestrian.
LSU hit a 55-yard screen pass on the first play from scrimmage.
Quarterback Jordan Travis made a few uncharacteristic mistakes, throwing a dreadful interception just outside the red zone and nearly throwing an even worse one shortly thereafter.
Standout wide receiver Johnny Wilson had an unfortunate string of dropped would-be first downs.
The vaunted run game was having very minimal success.
The Seminoles had 58 penalty yards – whatever you may think of the calls – while LSU had no penalty yards.
Little was going right and everyone was left wondering if the offseason had been spent setting unrealistic expectations for Mike Norvell’s fourth season.
How foolish we were to doubt this team.
After trailing 17-14 at the break, the Seminoles came out looking like a brand new team out of halftime. Not even the team it was believed they could be, but a team that transcended its ceiling, scoring the first 31 points of the second half to turn a close game into an absolute thrashing of the fifth-ranked team in the country, a 45-24 statement.
“I wasn’t real pleased with some of the things that showed up in the first half. I thought we made some foolish mistakes at times,” FSU head coach Mike Norvell said after the win. “That happens. You’ve got to play this game with emotion and I want an emotional team. But I want it to be controlled. I want to make sure we’re disciplined, we’re continuing on the little things. I told the guys at halftime and both sides did a remarkable job in how they responded to that. That second half, that was a glimpse of what I think this team can do, where I think it can go.”
It’s hard to find much more you could have wanted to see from the Seminoles over the final 30 minutes.
FSU’s offense scored on its first five possessions. FSU’s defense allowed seven points the entire half and it came on the final LSU series, when the Seminoles had true freshmen on the field with the game all but over.
A game that seemed up for grabs and that just about everyone thought would come down to one moment was decided long before the clock struck zero with only a sea of garnet and gold left inside Camping World Stadium as all the LSU fans that had been talking a big game headed back to Baton Rouge with their tails between their legs.
“I’m not really worried about the statements they make. I just want to see them go play to their capability. I told the offense at halftime, ‘You will score every drive in the second half if you go out there and just focus on the little things, focus on the details.’ I’m glad that they went out and executed that. They did a wonderful job,” Norvell said. “Defensively, what a great second half that they had. Created a takeaway, getting able to get stops, get pressure on the quarterback.”
One thing is clear: That was one of the most impressive performances by an FSU team in recent memory.