MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (AP) — Darian Mensah threw for 326 yards and three touchdowns, the last of them a 3-yarder to Malachi Toney in the second overtime, and No. 3 Miami held on to beat archrival Florida State 43-35 in a back-and-forth classic on Saturday night.
Toney had 11 catches for 154 yards and two scores, plus threw a 2-point conversion pass to Cooper Barkate after his OT score for Miami (6-0, 4-0 Atlantic Coast Conference). Bryce Fitzgerald sealed
the win with an interception for the Hurricanes on the final play.
Mensah completed 23 of 34 passes for Miami, which has now won seven of its last 10 games against the Seminoles. Javian Mallory rushed for 108 yards and two touchdowns, including one in the first OT and Mark Fletcher Jr. added a rushing score for the Hurricanes.
“That was something else,” Mensah said in the televised on-field interview. “Credit to my defense to closing that out. What a finish.”
Ashton Daniels threw for 298 yards and four touchdowns for Florida State (3-4, 1-3). Duce Robinson had a pair of TD catches late, including a 75-yarder that tied the game with 2:49 left in regulation and a 20-yard score to open the first overtime.
The Seminoles lost top rusher Ousmane Kromah late in the first half with a left leg injury. Florida State appeared to give itself a chance when Daniels connected on a fourth-and-21, 36-yard heave that would have made it 43-41 — only to have the play called back by holding.
The next play was a heave into a maze of bodies in the end zone, called an interception before going to review. Fitzgerald was ruled to have come down with the ball, and the Hurricanes stormed the field in celebration.
Back and forth they went, the whole night seeing one team going up by seven points and the other coming back to tie it. The drama went all the way to the end, with Miami — after a turnover — taking a 28-21 lead late in the fourth quarter on a 3-yard pass from Mensah to Lofton.
That lead lasted 10 seconds.
Daniels found Duce Robinson for what became a 75-yard Florida State score one play later, knotting the game once again. Miami couldn’t score on the ensuing drive, and OT awaited.
Miami had leads of 7-0 and 14-7; FSU tied the game both times. FSU went up 21-14; Miami answered to tie that time. The Hurricanes went back on top; FSU answered. FSU scored first in overtime; Miami answered.
In the end, Florida State ran out of answers.
“Florida State does an awesome job of coming out fast,” Mensah said. “We did an awesome job of just rallying.”
Florida State: Starting with the 2023 Orange Bowl debacle against Georgia, the Seminoles have now lost 14 consecutive games away from Tallahassee and are 0-13 since 2016 in true road games against ranked teams. The most recent road win over a ranked opponent — a 20-19 thriller at Miami on Oct. 8, 2016.
Miami: Mensah had gone 153 passes to start his Miami career without throwing an interception, a streak that ended when he tried to force one to Barkate in the end zone during the third quarter. Ashlynd Barker made the interception for Florida State, preserving what was then a 14-14 tie.
The Seminoles’ loss last week at Louisville was sparked by a fourth-and-2 stop near the goal line, and Florida State had two such fourth-down misfires from inside the Miami 5 on Saturday. But the Seminoles also had two big stops on fourth downs in the second half, including on a fourth-and-2 from inside the red zone early in the fourth quarter as Miami came up empty — as FSU held onto a 21-14 lead.
Florida State: Host Clemson on Oct. 31.
Miami: Host Pitt on Oct. 24.
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