Florida State Seminoles vs Wake Forest Demon Deacons Match Player Stats On Oct 03, 2015

The Sports Xchange
Oct 3, 2015

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. -- No. 11 Florida State relied on its defense to hold up in the fourth quarter of a 24-16 victory over Wake Forest on Saturday at BB&T Field.

Wake Forest moved to the Florida State 20-yard line in the final minute before defensive back Tyler Hunter intercepted quarterback Kendall Hinton's pass in the end zone with 21 seconds remaining.

The Seminoles survived in a game in which running back Dalvin Cook, one of the country's top rushers, had a long touchdown run before exiting in the first quarter with a leg injury. Cook left with about 1:25 left in the quarter after making a reception for a first down.

Florida State (4-0, 2-0 ACC), which has won 26 conference games in a row, was coming off a 15-day layoff since winning at Boston College. It is 4-0 for the fourth consecutive season.

The Seminoles began the second half with a touchdown drive that ended with quarterback Everett Golson's 5-yard scoring pass to wide receiver Kermit Whitfield. They added kicker Roberto Aguayo's 25-yard field goal midway through the quarter before going stale on offense.

Hinton left at the end of the team's first possession of the second half with a hip pointer. Hinton started in place of John Wolford, who has been nursing an ankle injury since Sept. 19 at Army.

Hinton was back after a brief absence and helped orchestrate a couple of field goal drives in the fourth quarter.

The Demon Deacons (2-3, 0-2) drove to the Florida State 10 early in the fourth quarter before they were pushed back and settled for Mike Weaver's 34-yard field goal with 11:26 remaining. That cut the gap to 24-13.

Wake Forest converted a fourth down and moved into Florida State territory with eight minutes to play and ended up with Weaver's 29-yard field goal with 3:34 left.

Cook's 94-yard touchdown run in the first quarter set a stadium record for longest run from scrimmage, delighting thousands of Florida State supporters who made their way here on a damp and windy day. It was the third longest run in Florida State history.

Florida State led 14-3 after running back Johnathan Vickers' 9-yard touchdown run in the second quarter.

Wake Forest put together a 13-play, 73-yard drive in the second quarter. It concluded with tight end Cam Serigne making a diving 7-yard reception in the end zone when Hinton zipped a pass through the Florida State defense.

By that point, the Demon Deacons had amassed 12 first downs -- more than in any of the three most recent matchups with Florida State.

Wake Forest hadn't scored a touchdown the past three seasons against Florida State. The Demon Deacons had a total of six points in the three meetings.

Wake Forest's first points on Weaver's 28-yard field goal with 2:57 to go in the first quarter ended Florida State's shutout streak at 86 minutes, 51 seconds dating to a Sept. 12 game against South Florida.

NOTES: Florida State leads the series 27-6-1, including victories in the last four meetings. ... P Alex Kinal, a Wake Forest senior, set an ACC record for career punts with his 284th boot in the first half. ... Florida State is halfway done with its ACC road games this season, winning its past 14 true road games in the conference. ... Wake Forest is 22-128-1 all time against ranked opponents. Three of the victories were against ranked Florida State teams (in 2007, 2008, 2011). ... Wake Forest's seven rushing touchdowns this season are nearly double last year's total of four, though it didn't add to that total Saturday.