Florida State’s road woes continued on Friday, with a 44-20 loss marking the 11th-straight away from Tallahassee for the Seminoles. Mike Norvell falls to 41-37 (23-28 in ACC play) in his Florida State tenure.
In the inverse of last week’s Virginia beatdown, Florida State started off hot in the first quarter and then faltered the rest of the way, allowing the Cardinals to score 35 straight as the Seminoles sputtered on each side of the ball.
FSU’s defense was especially atrocious, giving up three touchdown
runs of 40-plus yards (97, 44, 68), allowing the Cardinals to rack up 537 total yards.
The pivotal moment came on a failed fourth-down attempt from Louisville’s one-yard line, on which a successful conversion would have put Florida State up 21-0. Instead, a failed wide receiver screen to Jasen Lopez lost two yards and the next play, Louisville ripped off a 97-yard run to recapture some momentum. A quick FSU three-and-out followed, resulting in the first of five straight punts, and the Cardinals took advantage of blood in the water.
After tying things up before halftime, Louisville began the third quarter with a 71-yard kickoff return and took the lead for the first time, never looking back as it turned what looked like an embarrassing home loss into a dominant showing.
Florida State managed to add one more touchdown in the fourth to snap its scoreless run, but failed to convert a two-point attempt. Any hopes of a miracle comeback were quickly snuffed out on the subsequent Louisville series as Isaac Brown reeled off a 68-yard touchdown run.
Next up for Florida State is another road game, this time heading down south to take on the Miami Hurricanes.
Louisville 44, FSU 20: Final stats
- Total Yards: FSU 362, Louisville 537
- Pass Yards: FSU 209, Louisville 140
- Rush Yards: FSU 153, Louisville 397
- Penalties: FSU 4-24, Louisville 4-35
- 1st Downs: FSU 22, Louisville 21
- 3rd Downs: FSU 7-17, Louisville 4-9
- 4th Downs: FSU 3-5, Louisville 0-1
- Total Plays: FSU 77, Louisville 58
- Avg Yds/Play: FSU 4.7, Louisville 9.3
- Avg Yds/Completion: FSU 10.0, Louisville 12.7
- Avg Yds/Rush: FSU 3.9, Louisville 9.2
- Sack-Adj Rush Yds (Avg): FSU 171 (4.9), Louisville 402 (9.6)
- Red Zone: FSU 2-3, Louisville 3-4
- Time of Possession: FSU 31:18, Louisville 28:42
- Turnovers (Def. Points Off): FSU 1 (0), Louisville 0 (0)
- Fumbles-Lost: FSU 0-0, Louisville 0-0
- Sacks (Def. Yds): FSU 1 (5), Louisville 4 (18)
- TFL (Def. Yds): FSU 4 (10), Louisville 8 (29)
