Florida State’s Jameis Winston added to his Heisman Trophy résumé, but Miami’s Stephen Morris showed he can still play in the first half of Saturday night’s game.
Morris, suffering from an ankle injury and bouts of ineffectiveness that has seen him slide down the NFL draft board, threw a highlight-reel touchdown pass to Allen Hurns to even the score in the first quarter. It was a 33-yarder lofted perfectly up the sideline, over the top of FSU cornerback P.J. Williams and into Hurns’ hands.
Morris added another touchdown pass to Hurns on a 14-yard throw to the left corner just before halftime. Hurns just got his foot down to pull the Hurricanes within 21-14. Morris completed 7 of 12 passes for 117 yards and the two scores in the first half.
Meanwhile, Winston led Florida State on three touchdown drives, but threw two interceptions that led to Miami touchdowns. UM sophomore Deon Bush grabbed his first career interception in the first quarter and Rayshawn Jenkins collected the second interception late in the first half. Winston completed 9 of 15 passes for 161 yards, one touchdown and the two interceptions in the first half.
Duke hurt: Duke Johnson left Saturday's game with an undisclosed injury after being stopped on a fourth-and-1 play late in the third quarter. He was helped off the field, unable to put any weight on his legs, and was later taken to the locker room on a cart.
Johnson gained 27 yards against the Seminoles in last year’s meeting. He surpassed that on his first three carries. Johnson picked up 57 yards on 17 carries in the first half, including a 14-yarder.
He also had a long would-be touchdown called back after a quick whistle.
The sophomore entered Saturday’s game with 3,340 all-purpose yards, on pace to break Santana Moss’ career record. Despite missing approximately seven quarters of football in seven games, Johnson entered the game ranked 12th in the nation in yards per game (117.6).
A-Rod all about the 'U': Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez was spotted on the sideline before the game. He taped a short interview segment with Miami alum Clinton Portis, a correspondent with ACC Digital Network. Portis asked Rodriguez, who played at Miami-Westminster Christian and pledged $3.9 million toward UM's baseball stadium, about the UM-FSU rivalry.
“I love it,” he said. “I came up watching this rivalry. To me it’s the best in football. We’re looking for a big night out of Miami tonight.”
GameDay hits Tallahassee: Saturday morning, hundreds of fans congregated outside the South end of Doak Campbell Stadium to watch ESPN's popular College GameDay show. The goal for some: try to get some camera time with a handmade sign.
Among the more creative ones we can print in a family newspaper:
“Chick-fil-A Opens On Sundays For Jameis”
“Nevin Shapiro Wants His Money Back”
“Jameis Made This Sign During The NC State Game”
“7th Floor Crew Shoulda Won A Grammy”
The official “sign of the day,” as tweeted by College GameDay’s twitter account to more than 590,000 followers, was “Hey Miami, there are more people here at Gameday then (sic) there are at your home games!”
In GameDay’s show-closing picks segment, analyst Lee Corso, a former football and baseball star at Florida State, donned his old Seminoles No. 20 jersey — “from 1954,” he said — and picked his alma mater.
See more signs and pictures from GameDay in Tallahassee at blogs.palmbeachpost.com/caneswatch.
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