No. 8 Florida State Defeats Orange, 17-13

Saturday, October 9

Syracuse, NY

7:00pm

Syracuse University

Florida State

Perry Patterson threw for a career-high 207 yards against the Seminoles.

10/9/2004 10:42:03 PM | Football

Box Score

Syracuse Game Notes

Syracuse Post-Game Quotes

Florida State Post-Game Quotes

SYRACUSE, N.Y. – Perry Patterson’s pass into the end zone with five seconds left was intercepted, giving eighth-ranked Florida State a 17-13 victory in front of 40,359 fans at the Carrier Dome on Oct. 9.

Two second-half touchdown runs by Leon Washington sparked the Seminoles to victory. Syracuse (3-3) led 10-3 until the 2:41 mark of the third quarter when Washington broke free for a 21-yard run to tie the game. He then came back on the Seminoles next possession and went 45 yards to give FSU a 17-10 lead with 13:29 left in the game.

The Orange had one more chance to take the lead after the SU defense forced the Seminoles to punt with 2:36 left to play. Patterson was sacked for a loss of eight yards on the first play and SU was forced to call its final timeout. The Orange converted the first down on a pass to Andre Fontenette and moved the ball to the FSU 46-yard line. Patterson was sacked for the second time on the drive, setting up another second and long. The Seminoles again got to Patterson, but a 15-yard facemask gave the Orange an automatic first down back to the FSU 40-yard line with 45 seconds to play. A first-down completion to Landel Bembo put the ball on the Seminoles’ 30-yard line. Two straight incompletions put the Orange at third-and-10 with 13 seconds left to play. Patterson attempted to go into the endzone to Damien Rhodes, but the Seminoles intercepted the pass with five seconds left to play.

Patterson threw for a career-high 207 yards and a touchdown. He also registered career highs with 19 completions and 28 attempts.

Senior running back Walter Reyes had a career-best six catches for 51 yards and ran for 27 yards on 14 carries. Senior wideout Jared Jones made three catches for 56 yards, including a 44-yard touchdown reception, the longest catch of his career. Fontenette had three catches for a career-best 55 yards. Junior tight end Joe Kowalewski made two catches for 18 yards, both for first downs. It is the fourth straight game that Kowalewski has caught at least one pass. Bembo ran for 32 yards on his first career rushing attempt.

Florida State (4-1) outgained the Orange, 427-265, including a 258-58 advantage on the ground. One hundred eighty-two (182) of the Seminoles rushing yards came in the second half. SU has now lost 17 straight games when rushing for less than 100 yards.

Washington paced the Seminoles with a career-high 164 yards on 21 carries. One hundred thirty-one (131) of his yards came after halftime. He also made four catches for 24 yards. Lorenzo Booker added 85 yards on 15 carries. FSU quarterback Wyatt Sexton was 15-of-26 for 169 yards. Craphonso Thorpe made six catches for 84 yards.

Senior safety Diamond Ferri led the Orange defense, forcing two turnovers and making six tackles. He caused and returned a fumble for 30 yards, and intercepted a pass, returning it 44 yards. Both returns were career longs. Sophomore linebacker Luke Cain also had a career-best nine stops. Sophomore cornerback Tanard Jackson made five tackles, including one for a loss, in his return. Jeremy Sellers also recovered a fumble on special teams.

The Orange struck first with points on its first possession. Collin Barber knocked home a 44-yard field goal to give Syracuse a 3-0 lead with 10:26 left in the first quarter. The eight-play, 52-yard drive took 4:34 off the clock and was highlighted by a 32-yard reverse to Bembo.

The SU defense forced the Seminoles to punt on its first possession, but FSU punter Chris Hall’s 35-yard kick was downed at the two-yard line. The Orange completed a pass to Jones that brought the ball out to the nine-yard line on third down, forcing Brendan Carney’s first punt of the game, a 46-yarder.

Florida State took advantage of its good field position, going 40 yards in eight plays to tie the game. Xavier Beita kicked a 28-yard field goal with 1:04 left in the first quarter to knot the score at 3-3. SU safety Anthony Smith made the key defensive play of the drive, stopping a Florida State reverse on third down from the Orange’s nine-yard line.

The Orange took a 10-7 lead when Patterson connected with Jones on a 44-yard touchdown pass on the final play of the first quarter. Patterson faked an option and dropped back, finding Jones on a deep route. Jones’ touchdown catch was his first since the Central Florida game in 2002 and the Orange’s first scoring pass to a wide receiver this season.

Florida State started the second quarter backed up to its own five-yard line after an illegal block call on the kickoff following SU’s touchdown. After an initial first down, the Orange defense stiffened and forced the Seminoles to punt. Linebacker Kelvin Smith dropped Washington for a two-yard loss on third down.

Syracuse nearly scored its second safety of the season on special teams. Carney’s punt was muffed near the FSU 10-yard line. The ball carried into the endzone where the Seminoles recovered. The officials ruled the momentum of the kick put the ball into the endzone for a touchback. Carney was credited with a 65-yard punt, the longest of his career.

One play after, Sexton found Thorpe for a 23-yard pickup into SU territory. The Orange defense forced its first turnover of the game. Ferri caused a fumble by Booker and returned it 30 yards to the FSU 45-yard line.

Syracuse picked up a first down on a nine-yard completion to Kowalewski, but was forced to try a field goal. Barber’s 42-yard attempt missed wide right to give the Seminoles the ball at their own 24-yard line with 4:53 left in the half.

The Syracuse defense forced its first three-and-out of the game to get the ball back with 3:56 left in the half. Andre Fontenette made his second big catch in as many weeks, hauling in a 33-yard pass from Patterson to give the Orange a first down in Florida State territory. SU continued its passing attack with a screen pass to Reyes for 24 yards. It was Reyes’ longest catch of the season. A 13-yard reception to Damien Rhodes put the Orange on the FSU five-yard line. SU turned it over on the next play on a fumble by Reyes as he went off right tackle. The half ended two plays later.

On FSU’s first second-half possession, Ferri forced his second turnover of the game, intercepting a Sexton pass and returning the ball to the Florida State 24-yard line. It was Ferri’s second interception of the season, both of which he has returned for more than 40 yards (43 yards vs. Cincinnati.)

The Orange couldn’t convert the turnover into points as Barber missed his second field goal of the game, a 37-yard attempt. It was Barber’s first miss from inside 40 yards this season and just his second miss from 39-or-closer in his last 16 attempts.

The Seminoles drove into scoring position, but couldn’t put points on the board. Beitia’s 38-yard field goal went wide right, giving SU the ball at its own 20 with 7:08 left in the third quarter. The Orange took two minutes off the third-quarter clock, but were forced to punt.

Florida State tied the game at 10-10 Washington’s first touchdown run with 2:41 left in the third quarter. The drive covered 62 yards in six plays. Washington rushed for 26 yards, while Sexton was 2-for-2 for 36 yards through the air.

The Seminoles took the lead on the second play of their next possession. Washington broke free for the 44-yard scoring run to give FSU a 17-10 lead.

On its next possession, Syracuse was forced to punt, but Sellers recovered another muffed punt return by the Seminoles. Barber brought Syracuse within four at 17-13 with a 39-yard field goal with 10:00 minutes left in the game.

Beitia misfired on his second field goal of the game with 6:10 left in the fourth quarter, missing wide-right from 46 yards away. The Orange took over possession on its own 30-yard line. SU tried some trickery on its first play, but Rhodes’ was stopped for a loss of 13 yards on a reverse. The Orange was unable to convert a third-and-23 and punted the ball back to the Seminoles with less than five minutes remaining.

The SU defense held the Seminoles setting up the Orange’s final drive of the game that ended with Patterson’s only interception of the game.

Syracuse has an open week before traveling to West Virginia on Thursday, Oct. 21. Kickoff is at 7:30 p.m. on ESPN.