Florida State Football – Florida State routs Louisville after Kevin Knowles II’s pick in definite moment.

Florida State routs Louisville after Kevin Knowles II’s pick in definite moment.

Kevin Knowles of the Cardinals and Kyle Van Noy, Matt Campbell, Isaiah Spiller, Brandon Coleman, Mike Anderson and Malik Brown each have one sack as Seminoles defense dominates Cardinals offense with explosive performances to overcome an early deficit.

The Seminoles (6-3, 5-1 Southeastern Conference) are off to their best start since 2000 as they take advantage of a shaky Cardinals defense that is allowing more than 30 points on five straight games.

The Cardinals’ three turnovers have been costly as Florida State scored four touchdowns while also picking up 18 first downs and 14 total yards. This time around, Louisville also had 22 turnovers but none were big enough on its account. There were several huge plays for both teams in this game, including three quarterback runs with two rushing TDs as well as two QB hurries.

It was a tough opening day for both teams with neither team putting much pressure on the other, but it didn’t start out well for either program. FSU took full advantage of that by scoring on their next two possessions before taking over at Kentucky where they led 28-0. The Cardinals’ fourth series score came through Joey Gatewood’s catch in the red zone and he ran it back as Cardinals quarterback Stephen Lundin hit him over the middle.

The Seminoles then forced three late turnovers to give them second place in conference play behind No. 8 Cincinnati, which won 42-30. That left Louisville trailing 38-12, but Louisville has since picked up some ground to improve to 7-3 overall and 3-1 in Southeastern Conference play. While Louisville still looks like the team to beat, the Cardinals have played better so far this season.

It was all a bit frustrating for Louisville fans who watched in hopes of having the ball to make those plays and they weren’t able to do anything with it. They got nothing. It’ll be a strange year in 2021 for many college football fans this weekend as several cancellations and postponements resulted in game times being cut short before kickoff of Saturday. With that comes the chance to get into some sort of playoff race and that will be exciting for those looking forward to the ACC/Big Ten Challenge. Both teams looked sharp in the way they played in the opener.

As for FSU and Louisville fans, the performance wasn’t what was expected from any of the players as the Cardinals looked slightly rattled without several key pieces such as Kyrod Taylor, Michael Wilson and others. As a whole there were some questionable plays throughout the night, however the effort was nowhere near as high as Louisville’s last two outings, especially on third down. In fact, FSU was just 2 of 5 in conversions coming from 3-point range.

Going into Saturdays matchup against South Carolina, Florida State will be hoping to return to conference play on Christmas Day. If not, the Cardinals look primed for another win after having played worse in every other game so far this season. It’s going to be a real test of whether the Seminoles can keep pace with Louisville and show no signs of letting up at home this Saturday in a battle between the top two seeds in the nation.

With how poorly FSU has performed this season, can the Cardinals break the long streak of losing to head coach Mike Leach? He knows his defenses, and he knows that FSU isn’t really giving themselves an opportunity for success. For anyone who’s looking for a shot at winning the Atlantic Coast Conference championship, this might be your only option.

For now, FSU is looking to bounce back on Sunday against Louisville and that should provide us with the perfect opportunity to see if we can continue our current form as a legitimate power, or slip back to looking like a team dominated by Clemson. Either way the Seminoles face a challenge which will determine if we can stay undefeated as much as possible for the remainder of the season.