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Seminoles Rally For Win

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By COREY CLARK

The Tallahassee Democrat

Published: October 17, 2008

Updated: 10/17/2008 12:34 am

RALEIGH, N.C. - Hey, there's nothing to these Thursday night games.

Trailing by four points in the fourth quarter, the Florida State Seminoles scored the game's final 13 points to defeat North Carolina State 26-17 on Thursday.

Sophomore quarterback Christian Ponder threw for a career-high 254 yards and the Seminoles racked up 28 first downs and 393 yards of total offense.

The first half was a bizarre one for the Seminoles. They ran 39 plays to N.C. State's 19, gained 14 first downs, 187 total yards and had an astounding time-of-possession advantage - 20:48 to 9:12.

And they trailed 10-6.

The Florida State offensive line was called for holding five times and gave up three sacks to a North Carolina State defense that had just two total in its last four games.

After N.C. State took a 10-0 lead, Florida State would score the final six points of the half, and found itself in a serious fight against the underdogs heading into the locker room.

The Seminoles came out swinging in the second half. After forcing a punt on N.C. State's first possession of the third quarter, Florida State took over at its own 35-yard line.

Antone Smith, a touchdown machine of late, made one of the best runs of his career on second-and-8 from the Wolfpack 27. The senior sprinted through a gaping hole in the middle of the line, ran over N.C. State's J.C. Neal at the 10 and then carried another defender past the goal line for his eighth touchdown in three games and a 13-10 FSU lead.

After N.C. State regained the lead on a 67-yard touchdown pass from Wilson to Owen Spencer, Ponder led an 11-play, 70-yard drive to retake the lead.

TCU 32, BYU 7: TCU (7-1, 4-0 Mountain West) upset ninth-ranked BYU (6-1, 2-1), snapping the Cougars' 16-game winning streak that was the longest in major college football.

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