No. 4 Florida State finished off its case for College Football Playoff inclusion on Saturday with a suffocating 13-6 win over Louisville in the ACC Championship Game. The Seminoles did not allow a touchdown while forcing nine punts and two turnovers on downs as they improved to 13-0 on the season.
Playing with third-string quarterback Brock Glenn, the Seminoles struggled offensively. The freshman completed just 8 of 21 passes for 55 yards but got a lot of help from Lawrence Toafili. The redshirt junior running back surpassed 100 yards rushing for the third time his career and scored a go-ahead touchdown in the third quarter while operating out of the wildcat.
Toafili set up the score with a 73-yard gain in the same formation as FSU coach Mike Norvell emptied the bag in creative pursuit of something that worked offensively. Louisville coach Jeff Brohm found no such anecdote for his ailing offense, however.
Jack Plummer completed just 14 of 36 passes with no touchdowns and a costly interception. Louisville took over at Florida State's 12-yard line with FSU leading just 10-6 early in the fourth quarter, but the Cardinals struggled to move the football. When faced with a third-and-9, Plummer threw an interception in the end zone, resulting in a touchback. It was the closest the Cardinals got to leading in the second half as the Seminoles proceeded to add two late field goals.
- Florida State is victorious in its first ACC Championship Game appearance since 2014
- The Seminoles are now 5-1 all-time in the ACC title game
- FSU has now won 19 straight games
- An undefeated power conference champion has never been left out of the College Football Playoff, though the Seminoles could be on the cusp of breaking that streak
Read on below for takeaways as Florida State held on for the ACC title win over Louisville.