Florida State’s Week 1 win over Alabama feels like years ago.
The Seminoles dropped to 3-4 with a 20-13 loss at Stanford late Saturday night that ended with a bit of controversy. Namely, did Gavin Sawchuk get into the end zone?
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Sawchuk was stopped short of the goal line on the final play of the game. He was ruled down before the goal line after taking a shovel pass from backup quarterback Kevin Sperry, and replay review couldn’t prove Sawchuk broke the plane.
He might have. Take a look.
Had Sawchuk scored, FSU could have gone for the two-point conversion and the win or played for overtime with an extra-point attempt.
Both teams were playing with backup quarterbacks at the end of the game. Stanford starter Ben Gulbranson was out of the game before halftime with an apparent knee injury. Florida State’s Tommy Castellanos was knocked out of the game on Florida State’s penultimate drive after a targeting penalty as he slid to the turf after a long run on a play that was nullified by a holding penalty.
Florida State has lost nine straight ACC games
After a disastrous 2024 season, the Seminoles are in an almost unfathomable losing streak. The loss to Stanford was FSU’s ninth consecutive ACC defeat. Florida State’s last ACC win came over a year ago in a 14-9 win over Cal on Sept. 21, 2024. That game was FSU’s only win over an FBS opponent during the entirety of the 2024 season.
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This season, the only two FBS teams Florida State has beaten are Alabama and Kent State.
The 31-17 victory over the Crimson Tide looked like the springboard for a rebound season following that disastrous 2-10 campaign in 2024. Instead, it looks more and more like an aberration. The 20 points FSU allowed Saturday night are the fewest they’d given up in an ACC game all season after teams scored 108 points over their first three losses.
The win was Stanford’s second conference win of the season, too. The Cardinal, who are playing under interim coach Frank Reich, are now 4-8 in ACC play since joining the conference in 2024. Stanford has won three of those four games since FSU beat Cal.