Florida State rallies from 21 down to beat Louisville, stay undefeated

Florida State seems to be at its best when its back is against the wall.

Trailing by as many as 21, the Seminoles put together a nearly flawless second half to escape Louisville with a 42-31 victory.

But the final score didn’t paint an accurate picture of how the game played out.

In the first half, the Seminoles were on upset alert.

Louisville jumped out a 21-0 lead and Florida State looked shell-shocked. Winston threw two interceptions in the first half — and would add a career-high third in the second half — and Louisville defense was playing about as well as it has all season.

But in the second half, that all changed.

Winston threw his third pick on his first pass of the second half but then managed to force a fumble and get the Seminoles the ball back.

That played seemed to spark something in Florida State as it proceeded to dominate Louisville in the second half. The Seminoles outgained Louisville 380-170 in the second half and was 5-of-8 on third down. Louisville never converted a third down.

Florida State wore down the Louisville defense and with the help of some strange and lucky bounces was able to take the lead and eventually pull away.

While Winston threw for 401 yards and three touchdowns, this was not his Heisman moment. He made several bad mistakes in the first half and early in the second and he also got away with a couple passes that also should have been intercepted. More importantly, he injured his ankle midway through the second half. While he played through the injury, it was clear he was hurting as he limped his way around the pocket.

Many picked this game to break the Seminoles winning streak, which is now extended to 24 games, but the ‘Noles pulled it out like they have in a few contests, including the national title game, during that streak.

There aren’t many more opponents that could give the Seminoles trouble as they come down the home stretch of the regular season. They host a decent Virginia defense next week and an improving Miami team the week after. After that, they host a Boston College team that beat USC, but hasn’t been that great since, and a Florida team that’s pretty miserable on offense.

Then, the ‘Noles might be looking at an ACC championship game rematch against Duke.

Following Thursday’s triumph against Louisville, Florida State’s path to the College Football Playoff just got a lot clearer.

For more Florida State news, visit Warchant.com.

For more Louisville news, visit CardinalSports.com.

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Graham Watson is the editor of Dr. Saturday on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email her at dr.saturday@ymail.com or follow her on Twitter! Follow @YahooDrSaturday

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