Jameis Winston (5) led the Seminoles to another win. (Melina Vastola-USA TODAY Sports)
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Ten days ago, FSU needed the biggest comeback in school history to stay unbeaten.
Saturday night’s 34-20 ho-hum win against Virginia was far less dramatic.
Despite scoring just six points after halftime, No. 2 Florida State stretched the nation’s longest win streak to 25 games with a victory against the struggling Cavaliers during homecoming, avenging a one-point defeat the last time the two teams met in 2011.
Reigning Heisman Trophy winner Jameis Winston shook off two first-half picks and paced the Seminoles with 261 yards passing and two touchdowns — one through the air and another rushing.
FSU coach Jimbo Fisher was asked after the game if he considered this an ugly win.
“We appreciate every win. Winning is hard, people don’t understand that. There is no such thing as a bad win,” Fisher said. “I don’t think we played up to our capability at times, but give Virginia credit. They’re a tough defensive team. We’re happy to come out with the victory.”
With the win, FSU (9-0 overall, 6-0 in the ACC) strengthened its hold on the top spot in the Coastal Division. The Seminoles now have a two-game lead over second-place Clemson, but FSU has beaten the Tigers already and own the head-to-head tiebreaker.
Florida State also continued its streak of dominance during homecoming contests, winning its last three by a combined 151-30. The Seminoles have now won 11 straight ACC home games since that 2011 loss to Virginia (4-5, 2-4), and Saturday’s victory was the Seminoles’ 21st consecutive conference win.
With news late this week that Winston’s university code-of-conduct hearing — stemming from a sexual assault allegation by a female student in 2012 — would be postponed until possibly after the season, the sophomore now appears poised to for the stretch run.
“We’re just going to take this one game at a time,” Winston said. “(Most immediately), I’ve got to stop turning the ball over and being careless. We’ve got to start making more noise in the first half. Luckily, our defense is playing lights out right now. But I’ve got to stop turning the ball over — that’s five picks in the last two games.”
Not even three touchdown passes from Virginia quarterack Greyson Lambert or 13 stops from the ACC’s leading tackler Quin Blanding were enough to end the Cavaliers’ losing streak, which reached four games with the defeat. Virginia committed three red-zone turnovers, and coach Mike London was less than pleased.
“Obviously, we are disappointed in the loss, particularly one that led to some errors we had early on with three turnovers in the red zone area,” said London, who is 22-36 since taking over Virginia. “For the most part, though, the players played hard. We bent, sometimes we broke, but at the same time the effort that was given out there was a pretty good effort against this football team.”
Virginia is now 1-9 all-time against FSU in Tallahassee, while the Seminoles took a commanding 15-3 lead in the series.
Virginia leading running back Kevin Parks, who scored the go-winning touchdown against FSU in that 2011 upset win, paced the Cavs with 15 carries for 43 yards — although, that was the lowest output of the season for the ACC’s fifth-leading rusher.
Seminoles senior wideout Rashad Greene, the school’s all-time receptions leader who is creeping toward breaking the total yards and touchdown record this year, finished with a career-high 13 catches for 136 yards and a TD grab. Winston didn’t realize Greene had set a career mark until after the game.
“I didn’t know that — but nothing Rashad doesn’t surprises me,” Winston said with a smile.
Fisher added about Greene: “He’s just so unique. He’s a competitor, and you can put him anywhere on the field. The guy just understands football, and he has the capacity to carry a lot of information when he’s on the field.”
Karlos Williams had 20 carries for 66 yards and two short touchdown for the Seminoles. Williams had to carry the bulk of the load after freshman phenom Dalvin Cook left early in the second half with a leg injury and didn’t return.
With Florida State ahead, 28-13, Cook fumbled for the second time in the game on the first possession of the second half and Virginia recovered.
With FSU ahead 28-13, Cook fumbled for the second time in the game on FSU’s first possession of the second half, and Virginia defensive end Mike Moore recovered.
One play later, Lambert tossed his third touchdown of the game when he found wideout Canaan Severin for a 23-yard touchdown throw to pull Virginia to 28-20 early in the third quarter.
Florida State answered with a 43-yard field goal from Roberto Aguayo after a nine-play scoring drive that covered 60 yards, extending the Seminoles’ lead to 31-20. Aguayo would add a second field goal, this time from 38 yards away, just before the end of the third quarter to push the margin to 34-20. Virginia wouldn’t score again.
“It was pretty frustrating. We have to score, we’ve got to score points,” Severin said. “From kickoff to when the clock hits zero, that’s something we’ve got to do.”
Parks fumbled on the first play from scrimmage to open the game, and Seminoles defensive end Mario Edwards Jr., who led FSU with nine tackles including four for loss, forced the cough-up, which was recovered by nose guard Derrick Mitchell.
The Seminoles responded by scoring in two plays as Williams took a toss sweep and cruised into the end zone for his team-leading eighth touchdown of the season, giving Florida State an early 7-0 lead.
But Virginia’s defense got the ball back when cornerback Maurice Canady intercepted Winston at midfield on FSU’s next march. Winston now has 11 picks on the season after throwing just 10 all of last year.
The Cavs tied it up at 7-7 when Lambert threw a perfect 9-yard fade route to wide receiver Andre Levrone with 4:20 left in the first quarter.
Winston then threw his second pick of the game, this one intercepted by Virginia defensive lineman Eli Arnold. Lambert tossed his second TD pass of the game to wide receiver Darius Jennings from 15 yards out, but the Cavs only went ahead 13-7 after Ian Frye missed the PAT when his kick hit the right upright.
The Cavs forces a stop and had momentum, but UVA’s next drive ended quickly when FSU linebacker Terrance Smith picked of Lambert. One play later, Williams found the end zone for the second time to put FSU back ahead, 14-13.
Virginia’s ensuing possession ended with a fumble by Lambert as FSU defensive tackle Eddie Goldman recovered. One play later, Winston threw a 22-yard laser to Greene, who hauled in the pass at the 3-yard line and walked in untouched to give FSU a 21-13 lead. The TD pass was Winston’s 57th of his career, tying him for third all-time in FSU history with former quarterback Danny Kannell.
Winston improved to 22-0 in his FSU career as a starter and the Seminoles’ offense still hasn’t scored less than 30 points in any game he has started.
NOTES: Virginia hadn’t played a night road game since that 2011 win at FSU until Saturday’s rematch … Florida State is now the 25th team in NCAA history to win 25 straight games … FSU and Virginia played for the third time in five seasons, but after Saturday the teams will only meet once in the next 10 years … The Seminoles and Cavaliers play for the Jefferson-Eppes each time they meet. The trophy is symbolic because former U.S. President Thomas Jefferson founded UVA, while Jefferson’s grandson Francis W. Eppes VII helped start FSU. Eppes was a former mayor of Tallahassee and also served on the Board of Trustees of the West Florida Seminary, the former name of Florida State … Saturday’s homecoming game coincided with former FSU legendary head coach Bobby Bowden’s 85th birthday. Bowden, who retired in 2009, is the NCAA’s all-time winningest head coach … Both teams wore a special decal Saturday in support of the fight against fanconi anemia, an affliction that affects the son of FSU coach Jimbo Fisher and the daughter of Virginia coach Mike London … FSU travels to face bitter rival Miami next week.
