Almost every college football analyst and personality picked Florida State to lose on their cross state trip to Miami on Saturday night, but Jimbo Fisher and company plans of their own. The Seminoles blew out Miami 45-17 and in a game with ACC Championship implications on the line; it appears Florida State has the one up on everyone in the ACC now.
Florida State continued their trend on offense by running over the defense. The offensive backfield tallied 298 total yards on the ground led by sophomore back Chris Thompson who accounted for 158 yards of his own. Jermaine Thomas added 78 while fullback Lonnie Pryor had 45, all three backs each had touchdown runs; Thomas had two of them.
Christian Ponder still doesn't appear to be the menacing quarterback that he was last year, but never the less he led his team to a huge victory and still contributed with 177 yards and two touchdowns. His main target of the night was Taiwan Easterling who had four catches for 53 yards while Thomas snagged two catches, one of them being a touchdown.
The defense again performed well under new defensive coordinator Mark Stoops and while they didn't rack up sacks they way they have been doing, the certainly prevented the big plays that hurt them against Oklahoma earlier in the season. The defense did allow Damien Berry to have over 100 yards rushing, the first running back to do so against the 'Noles this season.
Miami's quarterback Jacory Harris appeared to be gimping much of the night with an apparent groin injury and it showed with his performance. Harris was 19 of 47 for 225 yards and an interception. He did rush for 31 yards and a touchdown, but his poise wasn't evident. He was overthrowing receivers and leaving them out to dry most of the night.
The ACC's best receiver, Leonard Hankerson, was held to just five catches for 72 yards. Most of the other Hurricane receivers were shut down by the young secondary of Florida State.
With the win, Florida State moves to 5-1 and 3-0 in ACC play making them the front runner in the conference. With still half the season to go, Florida State's main challenge will come from North Carolina State, Clemson and Florida. If the Seminoles can win these key games they can regain their National Championship form and appear in a BCS game for the first time since 2005.
