Special teams playing huge role in college football race

But even with all the success, Utah never looked like a dominant team. If he missed, the Seminoles would head to overtime.

Lance Austin ran toward the ball, rolling along at the Georgia Tech end of the field as the final seconds ticked off the clock.

With that said, something very interesting happened over the weekend.

Georgia Tech handed No. 9 Florida State its first conference loss since October 6, 2012 on Saturday in most dramatic fashion, and no one was happier about it than Paul Johnson.

Gotsis left the game briefly with an injury, and White’s replacement, Step Durham, eventually went out for good as well. Only time will tell will this one. The committee showed past year with Florida State that it is willing to place an unbeaten team behind one with a loss if that undefeated team has been less-than-overwhelming.

For Florida State (6-1), the end of its ideal season was shocking.

Jimbo Fisher teams are 7-3 after regular season losses, with three of those losses come from 2011’s early season skid.

“They practiced really good yesterday and really good today”, said Fisher. But then he did, taking off the other way in front of the Georgia Tech bench.

They did this on a 78-yard return following a blocked 56-yard field-goal attempt as time ran out. I like what we saw.

“Everything I’ve heard from the players, they understand it. They are all ready to work and make sure we move on”, he said. Fisher’s focus though is more on getting to Saturday than the game itself.

That’s when the Yellow Jackets student section rambled and wrecked its way onto the field.

It was a new feeling for me. Each game the offense has hinged on Dalvin Cook, and with his health evidently less than ideal the offense sputtered.

But the Seminoles didn’t lose on one play alone. Instead, they were eager to get back to business.

The mindset of the two teams heading into the game might be the most compelling part of the matchup.

As for Golson, he was functional along the way, completing 20 of 30 passes for 210 yards. With an incomplete pass followed by a field goal, Florida State likely wins the game. But Georgia Tech lineman Patrick Gamble got a hand on the ball and blocked the kick, sending the loose ball into the Georgia Tech secondary.

“We played with so much energy and so much intensity”, Freeman said.

“We kept them off the field”, Johnson said. We did not finish. In 2012, Florida State was ranked No. 3 in the nation prior to that crushing conference loss that altered its season. In that span, they won three ACC Championships and one National Championship.

You heard correctly. Not only that, it isn’t surprising to Golson historians that he is transitioning from the most-error prone player in college football last season with Notre Dame into whatever he is now after transferring to Florida State. That streak ended on Saturday.

The first guess as to which will happen is how the team comes out against Syracuse, if the offense has managed to correct the flaws it so exposed against Georgia Tech. They came in with a 28-game winning streak against ACC opponents, looking to tie the mark that Florida State set by winning its first 29 conference games after joining the league in 1992. The Seminoles must find a way to fix the deficiencies in a roster that is still more talented than most in the country.

SERIES HISTORY: Florida State leads Syracuse 7-1, including seven straight victories since 1978. Fisher hopes to channel the painful reality of losing into a learning opportunity for his program. “A lot of our goals are still out there”. Well, Elliott officially shed any “Rudy” title he had Monday when Fisher confirmed that he felt comfortable with Elliott, a redshirt senior, as the primary backup going forward in the “star” role in the defensive secondary.