No. 14 Florida State tied a program record with 11 touchdowns, running away with a 77-3 beatdown of East Texas A&M on Saturday in Tallahassee, Fla.
The Seminoles (2-0) carried over the momentum from their Week 1 upset of then-No. 8 Alabama. They scored touchdowns on each of their first 10 possessions, surpassed 700 yards of total offense for the first time since 2000 and pulled many of their offensive starters before halftime.
Defensively, FSU allowed just nine first downs, taking its shutout attempt into the fourth quarter before the Lions (0-2) got on the board with a 21-yard field goal from Ozlo Rigby with 9:32 left.
The Seminoles rebuilt their roster off last year’s 2-10 team through the transfer portal this offseason, and that was on display throughout the start of Saturday’s blowout. The first five touchdowns were scored by transfer additions.
Oklahoma RB transfer Gavin Sawchuk opened the scoring with a 1-yard touchdown run on fourth-and-goal on FSU’s opening drive, scored a second touchdown on the first play of the second quarter and then took a screen pass 53 yards to make it 35-0.
USC receiver transfer Duce Robinson caught a pair of first-quarter touchdowns from Tommy Castellanos, one an 82-yard catch-and-run and the other a one-handed grab through pass interference for a 42-yard score.
Robinson finished the game with 173 receiving yards, 160 of which came in the opening quarter, while Sawchuk had 88 all-purpose yards (53 receiving, 35 rushing) and three scores.
Castellanos, who was pulled midway through the second quarter after leading six straight scoring drives, completed 8 of 11 passes for 237 yards and his first three touchdown passes as a Seminole.
True freshman QB Kevin Sperry threw two touchdowns while Brock Glenn added another in relief to give the Seminoles six passing touchdowns for the first time since 2011.
FSU’s 729 yards of offense came in a balanced attack with 368 passing yards and 361 rushing yards. It’s the first time since 2016 that the Seminoles went over 300 passing and rushing yards in the same game.
On the ground, Samuel Singleton Jr. paced the Seminoles with 82 yards. Eight different FSU players rushed for 20-plus yards.
The FSU defense racked up three sacks and nine tackles for loss. It also had a pair of first-half interceptions from Earl Little Jr. and Jerry Wilson which set up touchdowns.
Three ETAMU quarterbacks combined for 7-of-13 passing for 92 yards. Jack Jacobs led that charge, completing 2 of 3 passes for 43 yards to set up the Lions’ lone score.
Micahi Danzy scored a 53-yard touchdown on a jet sweep in the second quarter, marking the second straight week the wideout scored a rushing touchdown on a trick play.
Walk-on running back Zay Parks put an exclamation point on the remarkable team performance with a 13-yard touchdown run coming out of the two-minute timeout. He finished with 61 yards on 10 carries.
–Field Level Media
