Stockstill on Seminoles Win Over Pitt: ‘We Didn’t Flinch’

Florida State (5-5) came away from their road trip to Pittsburgh (6-4) Friday with a 16-10 victory, their second road win of the season.

Because of injuries, the Seminoles were down to one scholarship running back (Amari Thomas) and a walk-on running back (Zay Parks).

The two ball carriers Florida State combined for 57 of the team’s 97 rushing yards. Pitt has now held six opponents to under 100 yards rushing on the season.

Against the Pitt defense, the Seminoles gained the most rushing yards of those teams.

Florida State got their points in the red zone, especially in the second half. The Seminoles outscored Pitt 10-3 in the final 30 minutes.

The Seminoles were down 7-6 at halftime. It was Pitt’s only lead of the game.

Florida State coach Rick Stockstill spoke about his team’s effort at the post-game press conference.

“We didn’t flinch,” said Stockstill. “Nobody flinched-offense, defense. We didn’t flinch and we came back and made plays.”

In the third quarter, Thomas found a hole up the middle and ran for 16 yards down to the red zone. Later, Thomas scored on a 1-yard touchdown to take the lead at 13-7.

Florida State would not relinquish that lead the rest of the game.

The kicking game gave Florida State points in the red zone, as kicker Gabe Panikowski was a perfect 3-for-3 on field goal attempts.

“You don’t get a W by how your stats look,” said Stockstill. “You get a W with points. You do whatever it takes to win. I don’t care if we win 16-10, 50-0, or 3-2. Win the darn game. Win the doggone game. That’s what we did.”

Florida State’s offense and defense fed off each other.

Defensive Coordinator Ernie Sims’s defense stopped Pitt in their tracks when they needed to.  They forced a turnover, and gave the offense good field position.

The offense took advantage and moved the chains to the red zone and scored points.

“Again, we played really good together, complimentary football,” Stockstill said. “We got stops on defense. We got a turnover on defense. Offensively, we converted a touchdown after the defense got us an interception.”

The Seminoles defense kept pressure on Pitt’s freshman quarterback, Corey Dailey. Dailey was sacked twice and Florida State posted seven tackles for loss.

Dailey threw one interception and completed just 47 percent of his passes. Florida State’s pass rush disrupted Dailey’s rhythm in his passing game.

It was the third consecutive game that the Seminoles held opposing quarterbacks to under 60 percent completion rate.

Quarterback Ashton Daniels threw zero interceptions against Pitt. He completed 67 percent of his passes, which was the highest completion rate of the season for Daniels.

Further, Florida State held the Panthers to zero rushing touchdowns. The Seminoles have allowed just two rushing touchdowns over the last three games.

Stockstill is now 2-0 as interim head coach. The focus will now shift to preparing to take on the NC State Wolfpack (4-5) at home on Nov. 21.