Jacksonville State somehow beat Florida State on the final play of the game.
All hope of a Jacksonville State upset appeared to be lost when the Jaguars had fourth down with seven seconds left at their own 41-yard-line. But Zerrick Cooper threw a deep pass to Damond Philyaw-Johnson and Philyaw-Johnson did the rest of the work to get into the end zone for the game-winning score.
We’re not even going to attempt to explain how there was only one defender in the vicinity of Philyaw-Johnson when the pass was caught. What in the world was Florida State’s secondary doing?
We’re asking that question before we even get to the tackling part of the play. Just one tackle ends the game and seals the win for Florida State over its FCS opponent that it paid $400,000 to play. But nope, a tackle doesn’t happen and Philyaw-Johnson gets into the end zone.
Jacksonville State got the ball back with 1:23 to go after Florida State was stopped on a third and short and elected to punt the ball with two yards to get a first down instead of going for a game-clinching conversion.
That punt looked to be the right decision for much of JSU’s drive. The Jaguars looked incompetent for much of it. But Florida State’s defense was the unit that was ultimately incompetent. How did FSU not play a bunch of players deep and make sure there were multiple players in the vicinity of the pass? Cooper clearly couldn’t get the ball to the end zone and all FSU needed to do was stop the ball from getting to the goal line.
Instead, Florida State is now 0-2 after losing to Notre Dame in Week 1. And Jacksonville State not only got some money for its athletic department budget but it has a fantastic win and a highlight it can replay forever.