Seminoles upend BYU

PROVO, Utah – Florida State ran away with No. 7 BYU’s BCS hopes.

The Seminoles were too fast for the Cougars on Saturday, scoring every time they got inside the 20 and forcing five turnovers in a 54-28 win that crushed BYU’s BCS hopes.

Christian Ponder threw for two touchdowns and ran for another, Ty Jones ran for 108 yards and a score and Greg Reid returned an interception 63 yards for a TD in a rout by the Seminoles.

Three weeks after upsetting Oklahoma in the season opener, BYU’s Bowl Championship Series aspirations faded a little bit on each drive by the Seminoles.

Florida State (2-1) converted on its first nine third downs, pounced for 10 points in the final 24 seconds of the second quarter and added two touchdowns in the third, running away and spoiling the most anticipated home opener at BYU (2-1) in years.

“I think Florida State was more prepared in general than we were tonight, really from beginning to end,” BYU coach Bronco Mendenhall said. “I think their preparation exceeded ours and it showed – especially on third down.”

Florida State looked nothing like the team that needed to rally in the final minute a week ago in a 19-9 win over Jacksonville State.

The Seminoles finished 12 for 15 on third-down conversions and scored all eight times they got inside the BYU 20. They scored often enough, starting with a 13-0 lead that BYU was trying to catch up and only continued to fall farther behind with mistakes.

BYU’s Max Hall completed 20 of 31 passes for 306 yards and two touchdowns but also threw three interceptions. Harvey Unga ran for 97 yards and a touchdown for the Cougars.

“Any loss is devastating, regardless of if you’re ranked,” Unga said.

The Seminoles outran the Cougars 313 yards to 108.

FSU didn’t punt until about a minute remained in the third quarter and avoided starting the season 1-2 for the first time since 1989.