ORLANDO, Fla. — Deondre Francois was a little concerned after his first couple of drives Monday night.
Things weren’t going the way Florida State’s redshirt freshman quarterback had hoped. Some critical passes floated high, some fell short, and the fourth-ranked Seminoles trailed No. 11 Ole Miss by 22 points before the end of the first quarter.
Then it all came together in the second quarter. Francois stood in the pocket and delivered a 16-yard touchdown pass to Travis Rudolph, the first of 33 consecutive points for the Seminoles in a 45-34 season-opening victory against Ole Miss — the largest comeback victory in school history — in the Camping World Kickoff.
“Things weren’t going right, but I couldn’t panic because my team needed me behind the wheel,” said Francois, the fourth freshman to start the season as the Seminoles’ quarterback. “I just kept chopping. We were down 28-6, but I couldn’t let them see me down, I had to portray the image that we were not about to lose this game.”
Francois made plays with his arm and legs while playing in front of his home crowd in Orlando. He 33 of 52 for 419 yards and two touchdowns and rushed for 59 yards.
He led the Seminoles on four touchdown drives and positioned freshman kicker Ricky Aguayo to convert a school-record six field goals. FSU scored on nine consecutive possessions between the second and fourth quarters.
“He’s a kid who loves his team,” FSU coach Jimbo Fisher said of Francois. “His teammates believe in him, and he’s a fighter, and he’s a competitor, which I’m very proud of.”
Francois outplayed his much more experienced counterpart, Ole Miss senior Chad Kelly, who was 21 of 39 for 313 yards and four touchdowns but also had three interceptions and a fumble.
“We did not deserve to win the game the way we played the second half,” Ole Miss coach Hugh Freeze said.
Francois didn’t commit a turnover and played with poise that earned him his teammates’ confidence.
“He just wants to make everything perfect, he wants to perfect his craft,” said FSU running back Dalvin Cook. “The confidence he has coming into the huddle, you have no choice but to go out and execute for him because he is going to lay it on the line for you.”
Classmate Evan Engram caught a career-high nine passes for 121 yards and one touchdown in the setback. Freshmen D.K. Metcalf and Van Jefferson caught touchdown passes from Kelly, the first of their respective careers. Akeem Judd led Ole Miss with 44 yards rushing.
Ole Miss’ longest scoring drive lasting 2 minutes, 19 seconds. FSU controlled the time of possession, holding the ball for 42:39 compared to 17:21 for Ole Miss.
“The thing with tempo is you have to get positive yards on first and second down, and we weren’t getting that in the second half,” Ole Miss co-offensive coordinator Dan Werner said.
After Florida State kicked a field goal on its first drive of the second half, two Rebel turnovers led to two touchdowns by the Seminoles. The 17 points gave Florida State its first lead, 29-28, with 9:17 to go in the third quarter.
Another FSU score put the Rebels in an eight-point deficit heading into the final 15 minutes. A field goal pushed the margin to 11 points, but a 49-second drive put Ole Miss within single digits. Kelly threw a bomb to Engram for 42 yards to get the Rebels into Seminole territory, and a 20-yard pass to Van Jefferson resulted in a touchdown.
But Aguayo added two more field goals to account for the final margin.
Kelly had 267 of the Rebels’ 312 yards in the first half, throwing for 215 (14 of 23, three touchdowns) and rushing for 52. Engram caught seven passes for 73 yards and a touchdown. Brown had in two receptions for 48 yards. On defense, Ole Miss limited FSU to 14 yards in the opening half.
Ole Miss marched straight down the field to begin the game, leaning on the strong arm of Kelly. The senior quarterback went 4-for-5 for 59 yards on the drive, including a 36-yard hook-up with Brown on third down. Kelly found Engram twice for 20 yards on the drive before hitting Damore’ea Stringfellow on a 3-yard slant for the touchdown.
The Seminoles put together a 13-play drive to cut into the Ole Miss lead as the first quarter drew to a close. Francois threw for 84 yards to get FSU into the red zone and inside the 10. However, Ole Miss held its ground and forced FSU to settle for a 25-yard field goal. Aguayo split the uprights to make it a 7-3 game at the end of the first quarter.
The combination of Kelly-to-Engram continued to be a popular play as the classmates used a trio of passes to move 39 yards. Kelly also used his legs, scrambling three times for 20 yards. The signal caller threw his second 3-yard touchdown pass on a fade to D.K. Metcalf. The first career reception was a memorable one for the freshman as he went over the defensive back and tipped the ball to himself in the back of the end zone.
After forcing a three-and-out, Ole Miss scored its second touchdown in as many drives. Kelly found Stringfellow and Taz Zettergren on passes of 21 and 37 yards, respectively. Two plays later, Kelly found Engram down the seam for a 21-yard touchdown to give Ole Miss a 21-3 lead with 9:42 left in the first half.
FSU tried to answer with a touchdown, but a Cook fumbled out of bounds inside the 5-yard line. Another stop inside the 10 limited the Seminoles to a 21-yard field goal. Ole Miss countered another Florida State score with a touchdown as Judd rumbled 11 yards to make it a 22-point game. Right before the half, the Seminoles found the end zone to cut the deficit to 28-13 at halftime.
Ole Miss will play host to Wofford at 3 p.m. Saturday (SEC Network) at renovated and expanded Vaught-Hemingway Stadium.
Quotes from The Clarion-Ledger were used in this story.
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