Maybe it was the noon start. Maybe it was the disconcerting lack of sunshine in a domed stadium. Maybe it was the team’s season-long challenges with starting efficiently. Maybe it was the opponent.
Whatever it was, Florida State stumbled about for the first 30 minutes of Thursday’s Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl against Houston, and by the time the Seminoles recovered, it was too late. The end product was its 38-24 defeat to the Cougars at the Georgia Dome.
“We really wanted it in the second half,” FSU safety Derwin James said. “I think we were just flat in the first half. We were looking for somebody to make a play instead of somebody making it.”
Employing an unconventional defensive scheme and blitzing frequently, Houston locked down All-American running back Dalvin Cook, limiting him to 11 yards on 10 carries in the half and a season-low 33 yards for the game.
“They stacked the box, more than we could block,” Cook said.
Mistakes were killers. A personal foul on cornerback Marquez White extended Houston’s first drive, giving the Cougars a first down on their 20-yard line instead of having to punt from their 5. Houston later punted, but was able to flip the field. On the ensuing drive, kicker Roberto Aguayo’s plant foot slipped on a 52-yard field-goal try and the All-American left the attempt just short.
A busted coverage on a gadget play freed up Houston wide receiver Chance Allen to catch a 20-yard pass in the end zone from Cougars wide receiver Demarcus Ayers, giving the Cougars a 14-3 lead. On the second play of FSU’s next possession, Cook fumbled, giving the Cougars the ball back at the FSU 17 and setting up their third touchdown and a 21-3 lead.
It obviously didn’t help matters when starting quarterback Sean Maguire left the game with a sprained ankle late in the first quarter, leaving redshirt freshman J.J. Cosentino to play two futile possessions. (Everett Golson, who had started eight games before losing his job, did not travel with the team, reportedly due to a death in the family.) While Cosentino had thrown six passes all season, the Seminoles called pass plays on six of the seven plays he was in, which produced one five-yard completion, two sacks and two incompletions.
“Passing game was open,” Cook said. “We tried to pass the ball to open the running game up.”
Led by a game effort by the hobbling Maguire, FSU did indeed open up the passing game in the second half. After averaging 4.1 yards per play in the first half, the Seminoles kicked it up to 7.2 in the second half, including a 65-yard scoring pass from Maguire to Travis Rudolph to cut the score to 24-17 with 11:12 left in the fourth quarter. However, Maguire couldn’t pull off the rally, throwing three interceptions.
Fisher was not able to explain the flat start, saying the team practiced hard during bowl workouts and was ready to play.
“We just didn’t play as well and Houston did a really nice job,” he said.
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