No. 7 Florida State impressed in another blowout victory, beating Kent State 66-10 in Tallahassee on Saturday. The Seminoles moved to 3-0 on the season and will play their first ACC game next week on the road at Virginia.

While FSU has played two consecutive lesser opponents since its Week One upset of Alabama, there was still plenty to be learned in this latest rout. It was the final tune-up before the Seminoles play eight straight ACC games, followed by the regular season finale against in-state rival Florida.

FSU head coach Mike Norvell will surely be pleased with what he saw in FSU’s last game before that gauntlet.

Here is what we learned from the latest Seminoles win.

Danzy is Dandy: Each game, so far, an offensive player has had a breakout performance. After quarterback Tommy Castellanos in Week One and wide receiver Duce Robinson in Week Two, today was Micahi Danzy’s turn in the spotlight.

The sophomore receiver put the game away almost singlehandedly, gaining 146 yards on three touches in the first quarter alone. The highlight was a 64-yard scamper for a touchdown on an end-around late in the first quarter to give the Noles a 28-7 lead after just over 12 minutes of play.

Norvell spoke in the off week about Danzy’s transition from running back to wide receiver entering the speedster’s second season in Tallahassee. Based on his electric performances through three games, that switch has been a rousing success. Danzy is the type of player that keeps opposing defensive coaches up at night, and his game-breaking speed makes him a threat any time he’s on the field.

Backup Gets Back On: Freshman quarterback John Sperry got some early playing time for the second game in a row, and once again, he made a positive impression. The action was fairly limited, but Sperry went 4-for-5 passing for 64 yards (12.8 yards per pass) as he replaced the injured Castellanos.

Castellanos was running down the sidelines not long after having his leg rolled up under a defender, so he should be fine going forward. However, the temporary scare is a good reminder of Sperry’s importance. With the amount that Castellanos runs – and he had two rushing touchdowns today – the dual-threat QB is bound to take hits.

FSU coaches will be knocking on wood, but if Castellanos has to miss an extended period of time this season due to injury, then the experience Sperry is getting early on will prove invaluable.

Better In Time: Norvell spent FSU’s off week preaching that his team needed to use the break to get better. It’s hard to interpret exactly what improvement looks like against a clearly inferior opponent, but some signs point to the Noles having made positive steps during their 14-day stretch without a game.

While Kent State may not be a Top 25 squad, the competition is certainly a step up from FSU’s last opponent – FCS East Texas A&M. Starters were pulled shortly before halftime in both games, so the final score isn’t the best indicator of overall performance.

What we can look at, however, is the performance of the starters. Against ETAMU, the Seminoles totaled 416 yards in the first half. Against Kent State, they racked up 376 yards in the first quarter alone, jumping out to a 35-7 lead in less than 15 minutes of play. By that metric, at least, FSU outperformed its standard while playing an even tougher opponent.

Winners’ Mentality: Ultimately, this result is what’s expected of championship-caliber teams. It’s the kind of performance FSU couldn’t seem to summon in its disappointing 2024 campaign.

This was a game in which FSU had little to prove. The Seminoles rose from unranked to No. 7 in the country in under three weeks. The college football world believes in them.

All FSU had to do was avoid giving any reason for those believers to doubt what they had seen so far. There will almost certainly be moments of weakness for FSU along the way this season, with eight straight ACC games on the horizon. But in a game like this one, they needed to be dominant from the start and show no signs of weakness or cracks in the armor along the way.

Winning 66-10 and outgaining the Golden Flashes 775-206 is the exact kind of performance expected of championship teams.

Florida State returns to action next Friday, September 26, at Virginia to open ACC play.