TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- A strong second-half surge helped propel Florida State to a 34-10 victory over BYU on Saturday in Tallahassee in front of 68,795 fans at Doak Campbell Stadium.
Freshman quarterback Jake Heaps threw his first career touchdown, finishing 15-of-31 for 114 yards on the day after coming in for Riley Nelson early in the first half. Junior running back JJ Di Luigi followed up his first-career 100-yard game at Air Force last week with 93 yards on 18 carries while adding 36 yards on three catches.
The Seminoles were the only team to get on the scoreboard in the first quarter, converting a 26-yard field goal with 36 seconds left on the clock. The Cougar defense stiffened to force the three points after Florida State marched 62 yards in 10 plays on the drive.
BYU’s defense again stood strong when needed in the second quarter after a Heaps fumble at the team’s 20-yard line gave the Seminoles great field position. Three plays later FSU had lost nine yards and was forced to attempt a 47-yard field goal, which sophomore Dustin Hopkins knocked through for a 6-0 advantage.
The lead quickly grew to 13-0 when sophomore running back Chris Thompson took the first handoff of FSU’s next possession and broke free for an 83-yard sprint down the left sideline to the end zone.
BYU responded with a 49-yard drive to get on the board with a 28-yard field goal with 4:26 to go in the half. Heaps led the drive with Di Luigi contributing on several nice runs.
After the BYU defense forced a three-and-out, Heaps and Di Luigi again helped provided some offensive firepower, guiding the Cougars 71 yards over 11 plays for Heaps’ touchdown pass, a 4-yarder to freshman Cody Hoffman just 14 seconds before the half. Heaps converted the throw on a third-and-goal call, hitting Hoffman crossing over the back of the end zone. The touchdown was also the first of Hoffman’s career.
Heaps went 8-of-13 in the first half for 59 yards while Di Luigi gained 72 yards on the ground as BYU totaled 152 yards of total offense in the half compared to 215 by the Seminoles.
The Cougars started the second half without the services of Outland Trophy candidate Matt Reynolds, who was hurt on the touchdown throw at the end of the half. He returned at the end of the third quarter and played with a lower leg contusion after x-rays were negative. Also out after a blow to the head in the first half was starting free safety Steven Thomas, who, unlike Reynolds, was not able to return with a concussion.
BYU was unable to put points on the board in the second half, while FSU scored touchdowns on both of its chances in the third quarter to retake the momentum with a 27-10 lead heading into the final quarter. After a fumble by Heaps on a four-down conversion attempt, the Seminoles added a late touchdown with under two minutes remaining for the final tally.
BYU is now 1-2 while Florida State improves to 2-1 on the season. The Cougars will play in LaVell Edwards Stadium for the first time in three weeks on Sept. 25, taking on Nevada (3-0) in Provo.
Score by Quarters 1 2 3 4 Score
----------------- -- -- -- -- -----
Brigham Young....... 0 10 0 0 - 10 Record: (1-2,0-1)
Florida State....... 3 10 14 7 - 34 Record: (2-1)
Scoring Summary:
1st 00:36 FS - Dustin Hopkins 26 yd field goal, 10-62 4:44, BY 0 - FS 3
2nd 09:56 FS - Dustin Hopkins 47 yd field goal, 4--9 1:24, BY 0 - FS 6
07:40 FS - Chris Thompson 83 yd run (Dustin Hopkins kick), 1-83 0:14, BY 0 - FS 13
04:26 BY - PAYNE, Mitch 28 yd field goal, 7-49 3:14, BY 3 - FS 13
00:14 BY - HOFFMAN, Cody 4 yd pass from HEAPS, Jake (PAYNE, Mitch kick), 11-71 1:56, BY 10 - FS 13
3rd 07:16 FS - Ty Jones 2 yd pass from Christian Ponder (Dustin Hopkins kick), 14-63 6:53, BY 10 - FS 20
00:55 FS - Christian Ponder 1 yd run (Dustin Hopkins kick), 4-86 1:37, BY 10 - FS 27
4th 01:35 FS - Ty Jones 9 yd run (Dustin Hopkins kick), 4-7 2:23, BY 10 - FS 34
BY FS
FIRST DOWNS................... 17 19
RUSHES-YARDS (NET)............ 35-76 44-278
PASSING YDS (NET)............. 115 149
Passes Att-Comp-Int........... 35-16-1 21-14-0
TOTAL OFFENSE PLAYS-YARDS..... 70-191 65-427
Fumble Returns-Yards.......... 0-0 0-0
Punt Returns-Yards............ 2-19 4-18
Kickoff Returns-Yards......... 1-24 2-18
Interception Returns-Yards.... 0-0 1-2
Punts (Number-Avg)............ 6-47.0 3-47.0
Fumbles-Lost.................. 4-1 2-1
Penalties-Yards............... 5-45 8-65
Possession Time............... 25:54 34:06
Third-Down Conversions........ 4 of 15 6 of 13
Fourth-Down Conversions....... 1 of 3 1 of 1
Red-Zone Scores-Chances....... 2-2 5-6
Sacks By: Number-Yards........ 3-16 8-52
RUSHING: Brigham Young-DI LUIGI, JJ 18-93; KARIYA, Bryan 7-27; QUEZADA,
Joshua 1-9; NELSON, Riley 3-8; HEAPS, Jake 6-minus 61. Florida State-Chris
Thompson 9-123; Ty Jones 15-95; Christian Ponder 13-50; Jermaine Thomas 4-9;
Lonnie Pryor 1-5; TEAM 2-minus 4.
PASSING: Brigham Young-HEAPS, Jake 15-31-0-114; NELSON, Riley 1-4-1-1.
Florida State-Christian Ponder 14-21-0-149.
RECEIVING: Brigham Young-HOFFMAN, Cody 5-17; DI LUIGI, JJ 3-36; CHAMBERS,
O'Nei 2-27; KARIYA, Bryan 2-10; ASHWORTH, Luke 2-6; HAGUE, Mike 1-13; JACOBSON,
McKay 1-6. Florida State-Bert Reed 9-89; Rodney Smith 2-18; Willie Haulstead
1-34; Taiwan Easterling 1-6; Ty Jones 1-2.
INTERCEPTIONS: Brigham Young-None. Florida State-Xavier Rhodes 1-2.
FUMBLES: Brigham Young-HEAPS, Jake 3-0; NELSON, Riley 1-1. Florida
State-Bert Reed 1-1; Christian Ponder 1-0.
SACKS (UA-A): Brigham Young-MANUMALEUNA, Ea 1-1; PENDLETON, Jord 1-1.
Florida State-Brandon Jenkins 2-0; Dan Hicks 1-0; Everett Dawkins 1-0; Markus
White 1-0; Anthony McCloud 1-0; Xavier Rhodes 1-0; Bjoern Werner 1-0.
TACKLES (UA-A): Brigham Young-PENDLETON, Jord 9-3; RICH, Andrew 6-4;
JORGENSEN, Aust 7-0; HUNTER, Shane 4-0; FUGA, Romney 2-2; LEUNG-WAI, Aven 2-2;
LOGAN, Brian 2-2; FRAZIER, Jameso 3-0; THOMAS, Steven 2-1; FOOTE, David 2-0;
BRADLEY, Brando 2-0; EASON, Corby 2-0; MANUMALEUNA, Ea 1-1; MENDENHALL, Zek 1-0;
UALE, Travis 1-0; DI LUIGI, JJ 1-0; SO'OTO, Vic 0-1. Florida State-Kendall Smith
5-2; Greg Reid 4-2; Nigel Bradham 4-2; Markus White 4-0; Brandon Jenkins 3-1;
Nick Moody 3-1; Terrance Parks 2-2; Xavier Rhodes 2-0; Bjoern Werner 2-0; Mike
Harris 2-0; Everett Dawkins 2-0; Lamarcus Joyner 2-0; Mister Alexander 2-0;
Jacobbi McDaniel 2-0; Anthony McCloud 2-0; Dan Hicks 1-0; Chris Revell 1-0;
Jajuan Harley 1-0; Telvin Smith 1-0.