Travis shines in first start, FSU falls at Notre Dame

By Chuck Walsh
Seminoles.com

SOUTH BEND, Ind. – Coach Mike Norvell didn’t have to search hard for reasons why the Florida State football team fell to Notre Dame.
He wasn’t making an excuse, though.

“We struggled to stop the running game,” Norvell said. “We failed to convert on third downs offensively. Missed a couple opportunities throughout the course of the contest, but I thought our guys did battle.

“I was very proud of them, even there at the end – down 16, Notre Dame had the ball down at the goal line and the guys continued to fight to keep them out of the end zone so we could get another possession and another opportunity.”

Quarterback Jordan Travis threw for 204 yards and ran for a career-high 96 yards in the first start of his career, but No 5 Notre Dame outscored FSU 42-26 last Saturday night in the first meeting between the Seminoles and the Irish as members of the ACC.

Florida State (1-3, 0-3, ACC) totaled three touchdowns by three different players, scored on three touchdowns on four trips into the red zone and committed only one turnover. Notre Dame (3-0, 2-0 ACC), which is playing as a member of a conference for the first time in the history of its program, won its second ACC game following a season-opening victory over Duke.

Travis completed 13-of-24 passes for 204 yards as he surpassed the 200-yard passing mark for the second consecutive week. He threw for a career-high 210 yards in Florida State’s victory over Jacksonville State on Oct. 3. His 96 yards rushing surpassed his previous career-high of 94 rushing yards against Boston College on Nov. 9, 2019.

“I did alright (tonight),” said Travis. “There’s a lot of room for improvement once again; I made mistakes that I have to correct and we are going to get back to work this week and try to correct them and see how this week goes.”

Wide receiver Tamorrion Terry caught a season-high nine passes for a season-high 146 yards and his first touchdown of 2020. Travis led the Seminoles in rushing with his career-high 19 carries. La’Damian Webb gained 59 yards on 13 carries and scored his third touchdown in the last two weeks.

Florida State’s defense held Notre Dame to seven points and 189 total yards (113 rushing and 76 passing) in the second half after surrendering 35 points and 365 total yards (240 rushing and 125 passing) in the first half.

“Congratulations to Notre Dame, they did a really good job tonight,” said Norvell. “They made the plays necessary to be successful in the game. You are disappointed with the outcome. I thought our guys battled to the end. A lot of work goes into each and every game that we have the opportunity to play and it’s unfortunate that we weren’t able to apply some of the things throughout the course of the game to put ourselves in the best position to be successful.”

Norvell was especially pleased with Travis’ performance.

“I thought he (Travis) played extremely tough,” said Norvell. “He had a lot of different looks; a lot of things that were thrown his way. I thought he made some really good decisions and there are some things that he’ll be able to learn from. It was a gutsy performance. He carried the ball a good number of times throughout the game. I thought he definitely provides a great dynamic for us. I thought Travis played hard, prepared well and continued to grow.”

Florida State capped off a wild, high-scoring first quarter and took its first lead of the game on a 48-yard touchdown pass from Travis to Terry to put the Seminoles up 17-14. Terry got loose down the sideline for his first touchdown reception of the season and the 18th touchdown catch of his Seminole career. He moved into a tie for 13th place in school history with Travis Rudolph (2014-16) and Craphonso Thorpe (2001-04) for career touchdown receptions at Florida State with the scoring catch.

“He (Tamorrion) had a great game,” said Travis. “I gave him the ball and he made great plays every single time.”