Virginia 46, FSU 38: Seminoles slip-up in double-overtime

In college football, no game is a given.

Even with Florida State rolling, having taken down one of the standards of excellence in college football to start the season, even with all the storylines pointing towards an undefeated, potential top-five showdown in Tallahassee next week,

Florida State looked all the parts of a dominant team on offense for most of the night but its defense, which allowed just 27 points all season, was ran through time and time again, Virginia being able to lean on its rushing attack with little resistance from the Seminoles.

A nightmare start to the game ended up looming large, as two early turnovers spotted the Cavaliers two touchdowns, forcing Florida State to play from behind even as the Seminoles outgained their opponent throughout the entire game.

FSU crawled its way back off two turnovers of its own, both interceptions, and took a short-lived 21-14 lead before Virginia evened things up right before halftime. The Seminoles failed to take the lead back on its first drive of the third quarter, with Jake Weinberg missing a 45-yard field goal, and the Cavaliers took advantage, shedding over six minutes off the clock on a 75-yard touchdown drive, 67 of which came on the ground.

Florida State responded immediately, leveling things up off a Duce Robinson touchdown reception thrown by Randy Pittman Jr. (who had a rushing touchdown earlier in the game), but the Cavaliers scored a touchdown on its third straight drive, securing a 35-28 lead that held steady after FSU’s next drive stalled after a failed fourth-down attempt on the Virginia 22-yard line.

FSU held on defense the next drive, spending all three of its timeouts to get the ball back on its own 33-yard line with 2:18 left in the game.

The Seminoles proceeded to drive down the field, getting all the way down to the Virginia 7-yard line, but a sack on first down and an incomplete pass made it 3rd and 11 with 49 seconds left. Castellanos pulled off a miracle on the next play, hitting Pittman Jr. for an 11-yard touchdown (making him the first FSU tight end with a receiving, rushing and passing touchdown in one game and just the third-ever FSU player ever to do so).

Virginia attempted to drive the field for a game-winning field goal, but an interception by the Seminoles cut the attempt short and sent things to overtime.

FSU started off with the ball on offense after Virginia won the toss, failing to pick up a first down after two Ousmane Kromah runs and an incomplete pass on a screen, hitting a field goal to take a 38-35 lead.

The Cavaliers started off their first possession of overtime with two rushes of its own, picking up just three yards before an incomplete pass on third down made it 4th and 7, leading to a field goal to even things back up at 38-38. Picking right back up to start the second overtime period, Virginia scored in short order and then got a bit of relief from the officials after initially sending its special teams out despite two-point conversions being mandatory, converting to take a 46-38 lead.

FSU looked to intially have responded with a touchdown throw to Duce Robinson, but replay led the officials to overturn the call, making it 4th and 7 — which quickly became 4th and 12 after a false start.