Rece Davis calls Virginia's upset of Florida State 'a bit of a fluke'

Virginia stunned No. 8 Florida State 46-38 in 2OT Saturday night to secure its first home victory against a top-10 opponent since Oct. 2005 (also against Florida State). Naturally, the fans stormed the field immediately after defensive back Ja’Son Prevard sealed the win with a game-ending interception.

This put a bit of a damper in the Seminoles’ monstrous matchup against No. 3 Miami this weekend, which would have been a clash between top-10 ranked rivals. Now a clash between No. 3 and No. 18, ESPN‘s Rece Davis downplayed the impact that the Virginia loss has had on the implications. He went as far to call the win ‘flukey’ for the Cavaliers.

“You know what… I’m fascinated. I know the perception has changed a bit about Miami and Florida State given what happened to the Seminoles last Friday night at Virginia,” Davis said on the ‘College GameDay Podcast‘. “I don’t want to take anything away from Virginia. That was a gutsy (win) and they’ve improved so much. They’ve improved so much and they stayed in there and fought.”

“Both teams had turnovers but Virginia was able to take advantage of them. They made big plays in the big moment. This is the thing you accused me of doing… it was bit of a fluke in my judgement. Everything kind of went Virginia‘s way.”

Castellanos says the loss could end up being be good for FSU

Virginia quickly jumped out to a 14-0 lead thanks to a passing and rushing score from quarterback Chandler Morris, but then allowed 21 unanswered points to FSU. It then scored on a J’Mari Taylor 26-yard run right before halftime, making it a 21-21 game at the break.

The teams then traded scores throughout the rest of regulation, sending the game to overtime. They once again traded scores (field goals), sending the game to another overtime. Virginia put the pressure on FSU with another Chandler Morris rushing score (and a successful two-point conversion) and cemented the win with a game-ending interception from Prevard.

Seminole quarterback Thomas Castellanos completed 18/32 passes for 254 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions in the loss. Postgame, Castellanos revealed that he thinks the loss could actually be a positive for the team going forward.

“I think we needed it,” Castellanos said. “I think guys were riding high and were kinda feeling ourselves. Little adversity. We’ll respond and bounce back from here. We have to really quick, but I think we needed it. It will be good for us moving forward. I think this will push us and make us work harder.”

Kick-off between No. 3 Miami and No. 18 Florida State this Saturday is scheduled for 7:30 PM. The game can be seen on ABC.