No. 3 Miami avoids upset with thrilling 2OT win over rival Florida State
MIAMI GARDENS, Fla.— Darian Mensah threw for 326 yards and three touchdowns, the last of them a 3-yarder to Malachi Toney in the second overtime, and No.
3 Miami held on to beat archrival Florida State 43-35 in a back-and-forth classic on Saturday night.Toney had 11 catches for 154 yards and two scores, plus threw a 2-point conversion pass to Cooper Barkate after his OT score for Miami (6-0, 4-0 Atlantic Coast Conference).Bryce Fitzgerald sealed the win with an interception for the Hurricanes on the final play.Mensah completed 23 of 34 passes for Miami, which has now won seven of its last 10 games against the Seminoles.
Javian Mallory rushed for 108 yards and two touchdowns, including one in the first OT and Mark Fletcher Jr.added a rushing score for the Hurricanes.“That was something else,” Mensah said in the televised on-field interview.
“Credit to my defense to closing that out.What a finish.”Ashton Daniels threw for 298 yards and four touchdowns for Florida State (3-4, 1-3).
Duce Robinson had a pair of TD catches late, including a 75-yarder that tied the game with 2:49 left in regulation and a 20-yard score to open the first overtime.The Seminoles, who host Clemson on Oct.31 after their bye week, lost top rusher Ousmane Kromah late in the first half with a left leg injury.
Florida State appeared to give itself a chance when Daniels connected on a fourth-and-21, 36-yard heave that would have made it 43-41 — only to have the play called back by holding.The next play was a heave into a maze of bodies in the end zone, called an interception before going to review.Fitzgerald was ruled to have come down with the ball, and the Hurricanes stormed the field in celebration.Back and forth they went, the whole night seeing one team going up by seven points and the other coming back to tie it.
The drama went all the way to the end, with Miami — after a turnover — taking a 28-21 lead late in the fourth quarter on a 3-yard pass from Mensah to Lofton.That ...