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Florida State beat Michigan 33-32 in an epic Orange Bowl Friday night, as the Wolverines somehow managed to stay in the game without some of the greatest players in college football history. As always, longtime FSU play-by-play man, Gene Deckerhoff was on the call, and the Seminole IMG Sports Network shared some of the top calls from the evening. Enjoy!
Michigan won the opening coin toss, but deferred to the 2nd half, choosing to trust in their top-ranked defense by giving Florida State the ball first. However, the Seminoles came out on fire and took advantage, driving 75 yards on 6 plays in only 2:13 for the TD, culminating with this two yard plunge from junior RB Dalvin Cook:
Unfortunately, for Florida State and Nyquan Murray, after a nice defensive stand by the ‘Noles on their first series of the game, the sophomore WR tried to field a Michigan punt inside his own 5-yard line, and he muffed it, giving the Wolverines the ball at the 1-yard line. However, later in the quarter, “Noonie” more than made up for it with the longest TD reception in Orange Bowl history, a 92-yard strike from redshirt freshman QB Deondre Francois:
Early in the 4th quarter, the ‘Noles were backed up in their own end, facing a 3rd and 22 from their own 13 yard line. Jimbo Fisher called a counter play for Cook, and the hometown kid and Orange Bowl MVP carried the ball down the left sideline for 71 yards behind great blocking from TE’s Ryan Izzo and Mavin Saunders (he just stepped out of bounds, or his night would’ve been even more incredible). Frenchy punched it in four plays later for a 27-15 lead with 11:38 to go:
And last, but certainly not least, the game-winning TD pass on 3rd and 9 from the Michigan 12 yard line with 0:36 left from Francois to Murray: