Miami holds off late Florida State surge to win 28-22

FINAL: Miami 28-22 Florida State

The game has gone final, and Miami has outlasted Florida State to take home a key road win. Here are the final statistics for the game. And that will do it for our live coverage tonight. Thanks for following along!

Miami recovers the onside kick

The kick isn’t a very good one, a slow dribbler that wasn’t going to make it 10 yards. Miami easily falls on it and that should do it. Yep, the Hurricanes hit a knee and it is over. Valiant comeback bid by the Seminoles, though. Final statistics coming shortly.

SCORE ALERT – 0:20, 4Q: Florida State 22-28 Miami

Florida State quickly drives down the field but opts to take a field goal with time quickly winding down. The field goal is good, so it’s officially a one-score game. Recover the onside kick and we could get spicy down the stretch. Here we go!

FOURTH DOWN CONVERSION – 3:02, 4Q

The game has taken a huge turn on a Florida State penalty. Miami was facing a fourth-and-1 and opted to go for it, but the Seminoles lined up in the neutral zone. Having already taken two timeouts on the drive, Florida State is down to its last one and time is ticking away. Miami should keep the ball on the ground and, barring something crazy, it should ice the game.

SCORE ALERT – 3:22, 4Q: Florida State 19-28 Miami

Florida State does what it needs to do and marches it all the way down the long field to score a touchdown. The drive featured three different fourth-down conversions, including one in makeable field goal range. The concern is that the drive took 19 plays and ate a good bit of time off the clock. Florida State needs help, and it can’t recover the onside kick despite having a shot at it.

THREE AND OUT – 8:38, 4Q

Miami’s ensuing drive after a failed onside kick doesn’t take much time off the clock, and the Hurricanes punt it away. Unfortunately for Florida State, which still needs three scores, the punt is a beauty and pins the Seminoles deep inside the 5-yard line. Still, that glimmer of hope remains.

SCORE ALERT – 10:04, 4Q: Florida State 11-28 Miami

Florida State isn’t going down without at least somewhat of a fight. The Seminoles take the ball and march it right down the field for an 8-yard touchdown pass from Castellanos to Lawayne McCoy. A two-point try initially fails, but Miami is penalized, allowing a second attempt. And this time Florida State punches it in to cut it to a 17-point game.

END OF 3RD QUARTER: Florida State 3-28 Miami

Miami maintains its big lead into the start of the fourth quarter. And while the game was reasonably close statistically early on, that has definitely shifted as the game has gone on. The Hurricanes have worn down the Seminoles and capitalized off turnovers. It’ll take a Herculean effort for Florida State to get back into the game at this point.

SCORE ALERT – 3:53, 3Q: Florida State 3-28 Miami

Miami wasted little time taking advantage of the turnover, a growing theme in this game as we get deeper into the second half. The Hurricanes marched 80 yards in eight plays and took only 4:03 to do so.

The drive was capped by… you guessed it, another CJ Daniels touchdown. Carson Beck hit him short and Daniels did the rest, taking it 24 yards for a touchdown that put Miami up 28-3 with about 19 minutes left to play.

INTERCEPTION! Tommy Castellanos picked off

Things go from bad to worse for Florida State as the offense takes a shot at the end zone and is picked off. Tommy Castellanos simply hung it up in the air too much and Miami defensive back Jakobe Thomas got under it for the interception.

SCORE ALERT – 9:09, 3Q: Florida State 3-21 Miami

Miami’s opening drive of the second half looked to be dead in the water around midfield after a couple of penalties and a play that went backwards created a second-and-16. Instead, Miami worked it to a fourth-and-2 and opted to go for it. And Malachi Toney did the rest. He caught a short pass over the middle, then simply outraced four defenders to the end zone for the touchdown. There’s a ton of time left, but the Hurricanes have an ample cushion now.

HALFTIME STATS

HALFTIME: Florida State 3-14 Miami

The two teams traded drives before the end of the half, with neither able to get a whole lot going. The game has slowed down a little bit. Take away an explosive play or two and the game is actually fairly evenly balanced. We’ll post the halftime stats momentarily.

BALL! Florida State coughs it up

No sooner than we had posted our last update, Florida State fumbles it away. Ousmane Kromah didn’t have it firmly secured and Zecheriah Poyser punched it out. Miami falls on it and will now have a chance to stretch out the lead before halftime. This could be an early dagger of sorts.

5:10, 2Q – Teams trade drives

Florida State and Miami have now traded offensive drives, with both teams settling in a bit more defensively. This is a key stretch for Florida State before the half. Miami will get the ball first out of the break, so a score here seems somewhat paramount for Mike Norvell’s bunch.

SCORE ALERT – 11:25, 2Q: Florida State 3-14 Miami

Miami wastes absolutely no time taking advantage of the turnover. Mario Cristobal dials up a little trickery and calls a flea-flicker. Carson Beck gets the ball deep in the backfield and fires down the middle to a crossing Malachi Toney for the 44-yard score. And the crowd at Doak Campbell falls into a hushed silence.

INTERCEPTION: Florida State turns it over

Florida State drives just past midfield but gets to fourth-and-8 and coach Mike Norvell calls a timeout. The Seminoles attempt to go for it, but Castellanos is picked off deep. It could be an arm punt, but Bryce Fitzgerald gets a great return out past midfield to set up the Miami offense.

SCORE ALERT – 0:50, 1Q: Florida State 3-7 Miami

The Hurricanes answer the Seminoles after forcing a stop defensively. Carson Beck got the drive really started with a deep shot to CJ Daniels for 47 yards. That moved the ball well into Florida State territory.

The ‘Noles tried to hold up defensively but couldn’t get a stop on fourth-and-1 and Miami converted just two plays later on a 4-yard touchdown pass to Daniels from Beck. Miami takes the lead.

7:25, 1Q – First Miami possession comes up empty

Miami is able to pick up one first down, but Carson Beck looked a bit out of sorts on the drive and the ‘Canes eventually have to punt it away. Florida State did a nice job disguising its pressure, and it was having some early success against the Miami offensive line.

SCORE ALERT – 10:02, 1Q: Florida State 3-0 Miami

Florida State strikes first in the contest with a field goal. The drive was absolutely methodical, with a healthy dose of the run game working quite well in the early going. Castellanos’ legs were enough to help keep Miami off-balance, too. He picked up a key first down with a 15-yard scramble.

Ultimately, though, Miami got tough in the red zone and was able to corral the shifty quarterback. Kicker Jake Weinberg converted from 23 yards out for a 3-0 lead.

Florida State to receive opening kick

The game is about to get underway, and Florida State will receive the opening kick. We’ll get to find out in a hurry how Tommy Castellanos can handle the elite Miami defensive line. An early score for the Seminoles would get the crowd at Doak Campbell Stadium at full throat.

Miami opened as the favorite

Even playing on the road in Tallahassee, Miami opened as a decent favorite over Florida State. The line opened at -5.5 for Miami, which is a decent amount given the team is on the road. The over/under for the contest is set at 54.5. All lines courtesy of BetMGM.