Cook makes Heisman case with 300-plus yards

The FSU Florida State Seminoles play the USF South Florida Bulls today in a college football game on the fourth cycle on the 2016 schedule. FSU went from squarely in the College Football Playoff picture to the outskirts of that conversation, now likely in need of a ideal 10-game run to make the top four at the season’s end.

Where in the world was Florida State running back Dalvin Cook? Cook also had four receptions for 62 yards through the air. The 213-pound junior’s rushing total on 28 carries topped his previous best of 266 yards against South Florida a year ago. Mack is one of the best running backs in the country, and he looks very much on top of his game.

The 6-foot-4, 297-pound senior tackle, Kofi Amichia, will have his work cut out for him on the perimeter of the offensive line, as he’ll be trading hands with the Seminoles’ senior defensive end DeMarcus Walker. The two teams traded scores for the rest of the game, which largely prevented FSU from resting their starters. “We’ve been saying from day one that we’re going to build it and get it to this point”. Florida State is coming off a brutal beatdown at Louisville last week; how will that affect the Seminoles this week? He started early, scampering for a 75-yard touchdown on the Seminoles’ first snap of the afternoon. Cook went on to add another 110 yards in the half to finish with a whopping 185 yards through two quarters of play. Last week the Seminoles struggled mightily in containing Louisville’s quarterback Lamar Jackson, and although the Bulls are less talented, they can pull off the upset.

South Florida: Beating the Seminoles would have been nice, however a better test of where coach Willie Taggart’s rebuilding job stands is whether they can shrug off the disappointment and contend for a spot in the AAC championship game.

Hopefully this is a sign of things to come for Cook, and not just an outlier against a hapless South Florida team that is getting a really ticked off Florida State group.

“You have to go back to work with a passion, a objective, and a drive and get it done”. It’s a matter of inches, Fisher said, separating Cook from a so-so start and the explosive runs he spoiled the fan base with in 2015, when he ran for a school-record 1,691 yards on a hobbled left leg. With the junior rolling again, FSU amassed 391 yards total offense in the opening half and finished with 647. Seminoles running back Jacques Patrick had 119 yards on 19 carries as FSU racked up 473 rushing yards in the game.

The South Florida – FSU game is intriguing to me, because the Bulls’ Quinton Flowers is a dual-threat QB that has the ability to take over the game. By halfway through the third quarter, it was 45-14 with no USF relief in sight. After scoring on its first two drive, South Florida was held without a first down for six consecutive possessions with five “three-and-outs” and one turnover.