FSU Comes Back to Beat Louisville: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

That’s 24-0. The winning streak continues in Tallahassee.

Behind the 401 yards passing by Jameis Winston and the running of Dalvin Cook, FSU scored 35 points in the second half to win 42-31. The win kept FSU unbeaten and on the road to a date in the national title playoff.

The team had its struggles as the Cardinals defense came to play and shut FSU down in the first half. Davante Parker and Michael Dyer proved they were two weapons that could control the Seminoles defense.

Here is the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly from this contest.

THE GOOD – THE RECOVERY OF JAMEIS WINSTON

He looked out of sync and looked hurt during the second half of the game. Jameis Winston did what he normally does in pressure situations – he delivered the goods.

FSU was a tale of two halves, scoring 35 points in the second stanza when the offense needed to turn the switch on.

Winston had 401 yards passing, three touchdowns and ran for 20 yards on a key third down play. Also, the Seminoles have found their running back in Dalvin Cook. The freshman ran for 110 yards on nine carries and scored twice.

With AP No. 2 Florida State taking on unranked Louisville tonight on ESPN (NOTE: Louisville is No. 25 in the CFP Rankings).

Teams ranked higher than their opponent in the AP Poll have a .692 win percentage (81-36) on Thursdays since 2005 including a .563 win pct on road (36-28). Over the same span, higher-ranked teams have an .813 win percentage on all other days during the regular season including a .733 win percentage on the road. * An unranked team has defeated an AP-ranked team on a Thursday during the regular season every year since 2002 including Arizona at No. 2 Oregon earlier this season * An unranked Louisville team upset No. 4 Florida State in overtime on a Thursday night the last time these teams played in 2002 (also at Louisville)

THE BAD – LOUISVILLE HAS MAD SKILL PLAYERS, TOO

Five Words – Davante Parker and Michael Dyer. Both Cardinals offensive stars will leave FSU’s defense with nightmares. You cannot teach talent like that. Dyer ran for 134 yards and two scores and exposed the Seminoles front seven. Parker proved he is one of the best receivers in the country by catching right passes for 214 yards. Will Gardner threw for 330 yards in the game. The Louisville defense was impressive, but slowed down at the end of the game. The better team won on Thursday.

THE UGLY – BITS AND PIECES

The most memorable part of the game might be Roberto Aguayo missed a field goal. This was the 24^th straight game the ‘Noles have won. The Noles looked lost when they were down 21-7 at the half. Jameis Winston had a 400-yard passing game and three touchdowns, but he also had three picks. You cannot win a national title with those stats.

Gerod Holliman had two interceptions for the Cardinals secondary.

This is the 3rd time that Florida State has been held scoreless in the 1st quarter since the start of last season. In the previous 2 instances (Duke in 2013 ACC Title and Wake Forest this season), the Seminoles went on to finish with 45 and 43 points for the game.

Dyer is the 1st player to run for 3 TDs against Florida State since NC State's Russell Wilson ran for 3 scores against the Seminoles on October 28th, 2010.