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FSU, Florida Atlantic Drops Season Openers for 2019

What to Know

  • Fields made it look easy early, engineering touchdown on Ohio State's first four drives, including his 51-yard scoring run.

Through the uncertainty, the travel and the adversity, Boise State never lost focus.

Not even when the Broncos were down by 18 points in the second half. And they have authored the latest chapter in Boise State's history of upsets.

Hank Bachmeier tossed a third-quarter TD pass and Robert Mahone had a 1-yard touchdown run in the fourth and Boise State rallied from an 18-point deficit to knock off Florida State 36-31 on Saturday.

"The first half, it was tough," Boise State offensive lineman John Molchon said. "But we knew if we were going to just fall over it would have been an embarrassment. At the end of the day our mentality was still fast and physical."

Boise State (1-0) was quick to rally and overwhelmed Florida State on a humid afternoon. In a game moved from Jacksonville to Tallahassee due to Hurricane Dorian, Florida State squandered a 31-13 lead and lost its season opener for the third straight time.

Bachmeier, a true freshman, was pounded early by Florida State's defensive front for five sacks and eight hurries. But he threw for 407 yards as Boise State defeated a Power 5 team for the sixth time since the 2014 season. It was the most passing yards by a Boise State first-time starting quarterback.

And Bachmeier delivered on third downs, completing 8 of 12 passes for 136 yards. All eight of the completions were first downs.

"The No. 1 thing is toughness," Boise State coach Bryan Harsin said. "He took shots. ... But at the end of the day, why do you play the game? To compete. Why do you compete? To win. What I found out about our quarterback today is he wanted to win and he wanted to win so bad that he found a way to get that done."

James Blackman had three touchdown passes in the first half as Florida State took a 24-6 lead with 10:53 left. Blackman finished completing 23 of 33 passes for 327 yards but the Seminoles (0-1) were held scoreless after halftime.

His third touchdown pass, a 58-yard toss to Keyshawn Helton, put the Seminoles up 31-13 with 4:07 left in the second quarter.

The second half was all Boise State. Bachmeier connected with Khalil Shakir on an 11-yard touchdown, Eric Sachse had three second-half field goals and Mahone then put the Broncos ahead with his plunge with 12:44 to go.

Mahone had 24 carries for 142 yards, surpassing the combined 128 yards he had in 2018.

"I always knew that I could carry a game," Mahone said.

The Broncos were 8 of 8 in the red zone but settled for field goals, especially early. Sachse connected on field goals of 36, 36, 41, 26 and 30.

Florida State had two fumbles in the third quarter on back-to-back drives, both of them in Boise State's end of the field.

"Let one get away as a team," Florida State coach Willie Taggart said. "I think everybody played a part in the mistakes. But I will say one game will not define this football team. Our guys will bounce back."

Meanwhile, Justin Fields made some mistakes that quarterbacks make when they haven't played much. The much-ballyhooed Georgia transfer also showed flashes of how good he might be and why he was a five-star recruit.

Fields, who saw limited action as a freshman last season sitting behind Jake Fromm, threw four touchdown passes and ran for a score in his first game for Ohio State, leading the fifth-ranked Buckeyes over Florida Atlantic 45-21 on Saturday in the season opener.

Fields made it look easy early, engineering touchdown on Ohio State's first four drives, including his 51-yard scoring run on the Buckeyes' first possession.

The Buckeyes' offense sputtered in the second and third quarters behind its relatively inexperienced leader. Fields stayed in the game for all but the last offensive series, finishing 18 for 25 for 234 yards.

"We jumped on them early, but we just got to keep that tempo up and just be able to score all game long," Fields said.

Tight end Jeremy Ruckert caught two touchdown passes , and Binjimen Victor and Chris Olave also had scoring grabs. J.K. Dobbins had 91 rushing yards and a touchdown.

"Lots to build from off of today," Ohio State coach Ryan Day said. "I thought overall, though, game management was decent. There was one time where (Fields) scrambled out and took a sack, could have just thrown it away. It would have been second-and110. I think it was second and 14. A lot of little things going on there. But again, overall pretty solid."

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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