WATCH: Florida State cheerleaders dumbfounded by last-second loss
Just one week removed from a near-miracle victory over Notre Dame, the Florida State Seminoles emerge from Week 2 losers of two-straight, with the second game somehow ending in crazier fashion than the first — and even the Florida State cheerleaders were shocked by the way it ended.
The Seminoles lost in impossible fashion, and the cheerleaders simply couldn’t believe it. Florida State was winning 17-14 with nearly no time left on the clock, before Jacksonville State ran a last-second hail mary play as time expired.
Down three with under 20 seconds remaining, Jacksonville State, an FCS school, ran four vertical play that worked perfectly. Jacksonville State quarterback Zerrick Cooper found Damond Philyaw-Johnson down the right sideline on a 59-yard touchdown pass as Jacksonville State picked up a walk off 20-17 win at Doak Campbell Stadium. Philyaw-Johnson, a Duke transfer, made a quick juke move on a Florida State defender and a teammate made a key block to secure the touchdown.
For Florida State, the loss is shocking. The Seminoles nearly knocked off the Fighting Irish off last Sunday. But on Saturday night, former UCF quarterback McKenzie Milton struggled, throwing an interception and the Seminoles rushing attack never took off.
Since the FBS/FCS split in 1978, Florida State was 26-0 against teams that were FCS members at the time of the game before Saturday.
Florida State’s loss in Week 1 was no less heartbreaking. The Seminoles honored legendary coach Bobby Bowden with a pregame ceremony. And with the No. 9 Fighting Irish in Tallahassee, fans filled Doak Campbell Stadium like it was the early 2000s. Former UCF quarterback McKenzie Milton made his first appearance since his major leg injury and helped force overtime, as Florida State fell just short of knocking off the top-10 team.
Paul Finebaum on ’embarrassing’ loss
According to ESPN college football analyst Paul Finebaum, Florida State should be embarrassed with the ending.
“I was tempted to go with USC [loss], but there’s no way anyone can not go with what happened in Tallahassee,” Finebaum on Sunday morning said on SportsCenter, when asked the worst loss of the week. “We’re talking about six days removed from a Disney movie when [Florida State quarterback] McKenzie Milton came in and nearly pulled the game off against Notre Dame in overtime.”
One week after Milton’s “Disney” story, a game in which the Seminoles nearly pulled off an impossible victory, Florida State followed it up with a dud.
“And what happened on the final play of the game? This is not exactly a textbook of how to teach defense and effort,” Finebaum said of Florida State’s loss.