Florida State-Florida rivalry returns to national relevance

The Seminoles danced on the sideline.

The No. 13 Florida State football team earned its 50th “Sod Game” victory with a 27-2 win over in-state rival No. 12 Florida on Saturday at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium.

Florida’s chances to make the College Football Playoff looked slim after the selection committee ranked the Gators outside of the Top 10 heading into the final regular season week for the SEC.

The Florida Gators are 10-1 and have already locked up their spot in the SEC Championship game next Saturday, December 5th, against either the Alabama Crimson Tide or the Rebels from Ole Miss.

In the end, Florida State is in a great position to end the season and should more than likely wind up in a New Years Six bowl.

The Gators flirted with losses in their last three games – against Vanderbilt, South Carolina and Florida Atlantic – so struggling against the Seminoles was no surprise. Pressure will be on Treon Harris who needs a convincing win after a few shaky games.

He was inaccurate and indecisive for the fourth consecutive week. He missed one game due to injury and was hampered in at least two others. Antonio Morrison leads the Gators with 84 tackles, Vernon Hargreaves, III has four interceptions and Alex McCalister has 6.5 sacks.

McElwain was asked what’s happened to Harris since his promising performance at LSU, where he threw for 271 yards and two touchdowns and the offense sustained drives to keep the Gators in the game.

“They stepped it up as the season went along and made plays”, senior safety Lamarcus Brutus said following the game.

The Eagles lead by four late in the first half and 33-32 at halftime before the Gators used runs of 10-0 and 22-5 opening the second half to build a 16-point lead with 10 minutes remaining.

Kelvin Taylor is coming off a pair of back-to-back 105 yard, one touchdown games but this Gator rushing attack is anything but consistent. The junior from Fort Valley, Georgia, has talent, but has been benched and/or demoted twice this season and suspended twice as a freshman and for the 2014 season opener against Idaho, a game that was canceled because of thunderstorms.

It has been an up-and-down year for Robinson, as he’s been held to three catches or less in five games.

“The ball was falling for us tonight”, Egbunu said. That goes to this cop, who saw an errant pass from Maguire come flying toward the stands and knew this was his moment to shine. Moneyline bettors could find FSU at -135 and the Gators at +125 as of this report. Austin Hardin was wide left from 51 yards out and had a low trajectory on the one that was blocked.

Despite a slow start, Cook finished with 183 yards on 26 carries, marking the eighth time this season that he’s reached the 100-yard mark. The thing I remember most about all FSU weeks is playing the Warchant music doing practices and guys just excited. If not for a safety in the fourth quarter, the Gators would have suffered their first shutout since 1988. Maguire’s sole touchdown pass was a doozy however. The Seminoles have three receivers with 45 or more receptions and each has over 515 yards receiving.

The biggest came when Maguire rolled right on fourth down, threw across his body and found Jeremy Kerr between two defenders in the end zone. Aguayo has made all 44 attempts of 40 yards or less.

“As you know, when we took this job we had some rebuilding to do on that side of the ball, but the great thing is how this team has hung together and for the most part throughout the year figured out a way to win ballgames”.