Florida State senior place-kicker Dustin Hopkins made a 51-yard field goal as time expired in the second quarter of Saturday night’s 51-7 win over Boston College, helping him break two scoring records.
Hopkins became the Seminoles’ all-time scoring leader and grabbed first place on the Atlantic Coast Conference’s scoring chart. He made three field goals and six extra points Saturday and now has 402 points.
“Being mentioned with guys’ names that have done so much for the university and the ACC, I’m just humbled by the whole thing,” Hopkins said.
Former FSU kicker Derek Schmidt had 393 points from 1984-87, and former Maryland kicker Nick Novak (2001-04) also led the ACC with 393 points.
Hopkins is just the fifth player in Bowl Championship Series history to surpass the 400-point mark. He is quickly approaching the NCAA’s all-time kicking leader, Art Carmody of Louisville (433).
Hopkins has now made eight straight field-goal attempts and is 12-for-15 this season.
Manuel climbing charts: EJ Manuel threw for a career-high 439 yards Saturday, moving up from ninth place to seventh on FSU's all-time passing list.
The FSU senior now has 6,148 yards, pushing him past Charlie Ward (5,747) and Thad Busby (5,916). Next up is Danny Kanell, who is in sixth place with 6,372 yards.
Manuel’s previous career high was 380 yards against Clemson in September.
Goal-line stand: Boston College drove down the field on its first drive of the game and had first-and-goal from FSU's 1.
But the Seminoles stuffed the Eagles on four plays — a Chase Rettig incompletion, an Andre Williams run for no gain, another Williams run for no gain and a Rettig incompletion.
“That goal-line stand set a tone,” FSU defensive tackle Everett Dawkins said. “Being able to go down there and stop them on the first drive.”
Opening second half: FSU had not scored on its first possession of the second half the past four games, but on Saturday the Seminoles drove the field and capped an eight-play, 75-yard drive with a 3-yard touchdown run by Lonnie Pryor, a former Okeechobee High star.
The Seminoles had punted on their first possessions against N.C. State, South Florida, Clemson and Wake Forest.
Long distance: Manuel found Kenny Shaw for a 77-yard catch and run for a touchdown in the first quarter. It was the longest career reception for Shaw, the longest completion for Manuel and the longest TD pass for Manuel.
Big numbers: FSU senior Rodney Smith had a career-high nine receptions Saturday. Smith's previous career best was six catches.
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