TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Florida State quarterback Jordan Travis entered Friday night’s game against the Gators as one of the nation’s most underappreciated players.
Not anymore. With the Black Friday schedule all to himself, Travis rushed for a pair of first-half touchdowns and made multiple Houdini-like escapes to lead No. 16 FSU to a wild 45-38 win over Florida. The Seminoles (9-3) snapped a three-game losing streak and kept their Orange Bowl chances alive when Trey Benson rushed for his third touchdown of the night — a game-winner with 4:06 left.
Billy Napier ended his first year at Florida (6-6) by becoming the first coach in Gators history to lose to FSU, Tennessee and Georgia in the same season.
Travis had an outsized role in making it happen. FSU trailed 14-7 in the first quarter when he made his first highlight-reel run of the night. He rushed left, squeaked through a hole, sped past a diving Trey Dean and tight-roped his way into the end zone for a 29-yard score.
It wasn’t his best play of the night. Not even close.
That came in the second quarter on a miraculous third-and-10 scramble. Travis avoided four would-be tacklers, spinning out of one sack, avoiding another, shedding a defensive end and evading another on a third-and-10 conversion that was one of the state’s best plays of the year. He scored on the next play to tie the score and move into a tie with Dayne Williams for ninth in program history with 24 career touchdown rushes.
Travis’ third-quarter touchdown pass to Kentron Poitier was the 43rd of his career, tying him with James Blackman for No. 10 in program history. Travis, notably, was not among the Seminoles recognized before the game for senior day; he’s eligible for a sixth season of college football (five at FSU, one at Louisville) because the 2020 season did not count against anyone’s eligibility.
Florida hung with FSU in a game that, for the first time since at least 2016, resembled the classic games that carried national championship implications during the ‘90s. It was fierce, hard-hitting and entertaining. The atmosphere at Doak Campbell Stadium felt the way Florida-Florida State is supposed to feel.
Florida quarterback Anthony Richardson hit receiver Ricky Pearsall on a pair of streaking touchdowns early. Florida’s offensive line gashed FSU repeatedly and methodically for 5.5 yards per carry through two quarters.
Florida took a 24-21 lead into the break thanks, in part, to FSU missing a 37-yard field goal wide left. That, too, felt like a ‘90s flashback, albeit to the other in-state rivalry. Ryan Fitzgerald redeemed himself with a 46-yarder midway through the third quarter to tie the game at 24.
The teams continued battling, even after FSU took a two-score lead in the second half. The Gators struck twice quickly with touchdown rushes by Montrell Johnson and a 45-yard breakaway by dazzling freshman Trevor Etienne.
The Seminoles bounced back, with Travis hitting receiver Johnny Wilson for a pivotal third-and-6 conversion. That helped set up Benson’s 17-yard dash into the end zone that gave third-year FSU coach Mike Norvell his first win over the Gators.
Florida had a final chance to win it in an intense, white-knuckle drive. But Richardson’s last pass sailed incomplete.
Both teams are eligible for the postseason. If Clemson makes the College Football Playoff, FSU will likely be in line for a trip to the Orange Bowl. The Gators are headed to a low-level bowl game for the second consecutive year.
