College Football Flashback: Seminoles End BYU’s BCS Championship Hopes
BYU’s BCS hopes went down hard on Saturday, as the Cougars were no match for the superior team speed of Florida State. Looking nothing like the team that had struggled against FCS Jacksonville State the week before, the Seminoles used 23 second quarter points to blow open the game and went on to defeat BYU 54-28. The opportunistic Florida State defense forced BYU into committing 5 turnovers, and Seminoles QB Christian Ponder threw for two touchdowns and ran for another in the blowout victory on the Cougars home field. There had been some speculation that Florida State would struggle at the 4,500 foot altitude of Orem, Utah but the Seminoles were faster and displayed more energy throughout the contest.
College football betting devotees who backed the Seminoles as a +8 road underdog were counting their winnings by halftime, as BYU never led in the game. The Cougars dropped to 11-16 ATS over the past three years, while Florida State improved to 3-4 as an underdog in that same timeframe. The 82 combined points went well OVER the posted total of 54. Florida State has now gone OVER in 7 of their last 8 games as underdogs, while BYU evened their O/U mark at 11-11 when installed as a wagering favorite in the last three years.
After a season opening loss to Miami-FL and a sloppy victory over Jacksonville State, the Seminoles were firing on all cylinders in Orem, Utah on Saturday. FSU QB Ponder was elated that his team had finally played up to its considerable abilities:
“It shows us what we can do. It’s the first time in a while we played as a whole team. The defense played great. The offense played incredible.”
Seminoles offensive coordinator Jimbo Fisher, meanwhile, gave much of the credit to his quarterback:
“He can beat you with his arm, his legs and his mind. And then he can also beat you with how competitive and tough he is.”