PLAYERS TO WATCH
–WR Nyqwan Murray was the hero in last Saturday’s win against Louisville when he caught a short pass from quarterback Deondre Francois and galloped 58 yards for what proved to be the game-winning score. Murray also hauled in the Seminoles’ first touchdown of the day and finished with six catches for 114 yards. He’s now leading the team with 25 catches for 345 yards this season and has been Francois’ go-to receiver for much of the year.
–DB AJ Westbrook broke out last week with a team-high 10 tackles and a key interception. He’s now third on the team in tackles and has two interceptions this season. Westbrook’s production was slow to start the season — just like the Seminoles overall — but he’s come up with big plays in back-to-back games for the Seminoles, both of them wins.
–QB Deondre Francois beat Miami as a freshman but was out injured during last year’s game that the Seminoles lost. Francois has played better lately, due in part to the fact he’s shown more mobility in the pocket. But Miami’s defense will easily be the best and fastest opponent he’s faced thus far. The good news? Francois’ much-maligned offensive line seems to finally be improving — last week was the first time they hadn’t given up a single sack in a game since 2014.
SERIES HISTORY: Miami leads the all-time series against Florida State, 32-30. Miami won the two teams’ last meeting 24-20 in Tallahassee in 2017.
QUOTE TO NOTE: “It does a lot for us. Every win is an important win but just the way we won, we grew a lot as a team. We also grew up last weekend, so we just grew up two weeks in a row and we just want to continue to grow up as a team. Continue to grow together and not be selfish.” — Florida State quarterback Deondre Francois on coming back to beat Louisville 24-21 last week after being 21-7 in the second half.
