Trey Benson ran for two touchdowns — including the go-ahead 38-yarder in the third quarter — as No. 4 Florida State defeated visiting Miami 27-20 in Tallahassee, Fla., on Saturday afternoon.
Jordan Travis passed for 265 yards and one touchdown for Florida State (10-0, 8-0 Atlantic Coast Conference), which won its 16th consecutive game. Travis became the first quarterback in Seminoles history to beat Miami three straight years.
Miami (6-4, 2-4) benched quarterback Tyler Van Dyke for the first time in his career. True freshman Emory Williams started instead. Williams completed 8 of 23 passes for 175 yards and two TD.
Williams left the game with 2:42 left due to an injury to his throwing arm. On fourth-and-2, he dove for the sticks and got injured.
Hurricanes wide receiver Jacolby George had a huge game with five catches for 153 yards and two touchdowns.
The Seminoles got two star wide receivers — Johnny Wilson and Keon Coleman — back from the injury list. Wilson had five catches for 82 yards. Coleman had four catches for 24 yards.
Miami, however, was without starter cornerback Daryl Porter due to injury.
Florida State opened the scoring on Benson’s 5-yard run with 7:13 left in the first quarter. That capped a 10-play, 55-yard drive.
In the second quarter, after Miami’s Andres Borregales missed a 51-yard field goal due in part to a bad hold, Florida extended its lead to 10-0 on Ryan Fitzgerald’s 33-yarder.
Miami finally got on the board on Williams’ 3-yard fade pass to George with 2:42 left in the half.
After a sack of Travis at the goal line that was nearly ruled a safety, Florida State punted, giving Miami a short field. That led to a 27-yard field by Borregales, tying the score at 10 on the last play of the first half.
Miami had hoped for more on that drive, but, on third-and-1 at Florida State’s 4-yard line, Mark Fletcher Jr. was dropped for a loss.
Florida State started the second half with an on-sides kick that failed. That led to Borregales’ 51-yard field goal.
On the Seminoles’ next possession, Ja’Khi Douglas caught a short slant and turned it into a 69-yard play. Florida State, with a first-and-goal at Miami’s 5, had to settle for a 22-yard field goal by Fitzgerald.
Florida State took a 20-13 lead on Benson’s 38-yard run with 5:48 left in the third.
With 11 minutes left in the fourth, Florida State extended its lead to 27-13 on a 6-yard TD catch by Coleman.
But with 8:22 left, Miami cut its deficit to 27-20 on Williams’ 85-yard TD pass to George.
After Williams left the game injured, Miami got to its 49. But on fourth down, Van Dyke was intercepted by Jarrian Jones, virtually ending the game with 40 seconds left.
–Field Level Media