Mississippi Rebels vs Florida State Seminoles Box Score on Sep 05, 2016

The Sports Xchange
Sep 6, 2016

ORLANDO, Fla. -- Fourth-ranked Florida State, down by 22 points in the second quarter, mounted a historic rally to defeat 11th-ranked Ole Miss 45-34 Monday night in the Camping World Kickoff.

The 22-point deficit was the largest the Seminoles ever overcame for a victory, topping a 2014 comeback of 21 points against Louisville.

Led by Heisman Trophy hopeful running back Dalvin Cook and redshirt freshman quarterback Deondre Francois, who made his first career start in his hometown of Orlando, the Seminoles bent but never broke en route to seemingly improbably victory.

Florida State fell behind, 7-0, then 14-3, then 21-3 and eventually 28-6 before Francois and the Seminoles finally found the end zone before halftime to make it game.

After the second-half kickoff, it was all Florida State.

The Seminoles (1-0) put up 33 unanswered points and scored on nine consecutive drives after falling behind 28-6 with 3:04 left in the second quarter.

Francois finished 33 of 52 for 419 yards and two touchdowns in his debut, while Cook chewed up 91 yards on the ground and added 101 more on seven catches out of the backfield. Wideout Travis Rudolph and tight end Ryan Izzo both caught touchdown passes in the win. Kermit Whitfield's 3-yard run was the go-ahead TD in the third quarter.

Jesus Wilson, one of Florida State's senior leaders, paced the receiving attack with nine catches for 125 yards and helped the Seminoles improve to 8-1 against Southeastern Conference programs under head coach Jimbo Fisher.

The Rebels (0-1) wasted a heck of an effort by quarterback Chad Kelly, who -- outside of a first-quarter interception by Florida State defensive back Derwin James -- had an incredible first half that helped the Rebels storm out to the big lead.

Kelly, the SEC's leading offensive player a year ago who broke 14 single-season school records, finished with 313 yards passing, four touchdowns and three interceptions in defeat Monday. He pulled the Rebels within 39-34 early in the third quarter with his fourth TD pass of the game on a pretty 20-yard fade route to receiver Van Jefferson, but Ole Miss would never get closer.

Ole Miss wideouts Demore'ea Stringfellow, D.K. Metcalf and Evan Engram also caught TDs from Kelly, all in the first half. Engram was the Rebels' leading receiver with nine catches for 121 yards. Rebels running back Akeem Judd scored his team's only rushing touchdown, which came in the second quarter and gave Ole Miss the 22-point edge.

However, credit the Florida State defense for slowing the Rebels the rest of the way.

James led the Seminoles with eight tackles, while defensive back Trey Marshall and linebacker Matthew Thomas had seven each. Seminoles defensive back Marcus Lewis had a huge third-quarter interception that was converted into six points three plays later by fullback Freddie Stevenson from 1 yard out.

Florida State also got a huge lift from its special teams -- which were a huge question mark coming into the season. The Seminoles started with a new kicker and punter for the first time since 2001.

Logan Tyler averaged 44 yards a punt and notched five touchbacks on kickoffs, while the MVP for the Seminoles may have been true freshman kicker Ricky Aguayo. The younger brother of recently graduated Roberto Aguayo -- who was drafted in the second round by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers -- was a perfect 6-for-6 on field goals, a school record.

He converted from 25, 21, 40, 40, 44 and 30 yards.

Ole Miss' defense was led by defensive back Zedrick Woods with 11 solo tackles.

NOTES: Ole Miss DB Ken Webster sustained what appeared to be a gruesome leg injury during the Rebels' first defensive possession. He was carted off the field early in the first quarter. ... Rebels LB Tayler Polk was carted off the field early in the second quarter with an unknown injury. ... Less than 24 hours following Florida State's 2016 opener against Ole Miss will be the debut of the Showtime Network's "A Season With ..." -- a weekly, half-hour sports documentary series that will chronicle the Seminoles' year. The opening episode of will feature footage from Monday's game. ... The Rebels played a game in Orlando, Fla., for the first time. ... Family allegiances were likely split Monday night in Dalvin Cook's household -- Cook plays running back for Florida State, while his brother Deandre Burnett plays guard for the Ole Miss basketball program ... Coming into Monday, Ole Miss had only played one other season opener at a neutral site: a 35-13 win against Boise State in 2014 ... Florida State DB Nate Andrews -- who was listed as questionable coming into the game -- did not play.