TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) — The Florida State University football team began its 2022 regular season with a near flawless performance against Duquesne University.
The host Seminoles scored 26 first half points en route to a 47 to 7 victory against the Dukes inside Doak Campbell Stadium.
With the win, FSU secured its first season opening game win since the 2016 season.
The game Saturday was delayed 90 minutes from its scheduled 5 p.m. start because of lightning near the stadium.
Once the game started, the Seminoles (1-0) got rolling against their opponent from the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS Division I-AA).
Florida State quarterback Jordan Travis gave the Seminoles a 6-0 lead on a 5-yard touchdown run at the 10:03 mark of the first quarter.
Lawrence Toafili, a running back, helped increase the FSU advantage to 13-0 following a 4-yard touchdown run.
The Seminoles continued their rushing onslaught with another touchdown run as running back Treshaun Ward scored from six yards out to give FSU a 20-0 lead earn the end of the first quarter.
Ryan Fitzgerald converted two field goals of 24 yards each in the second quarter.
After an efficient first half, Travis was on the sideline for the majority of the second half.
He finished the game by completing 11-of-15 passes for 207 yards and added 11 rushing yards.
The Seminoles finished the first half with 200 rushing yards on 28 rushing attempts and passed for 159 yards.
The FSU offense ended the game with 406 total rushing yards and seven touchdown runs. Ward led FSU with 127 rushing yards and two touchdowns on the ground.
The Seminoles had 638 yards of total offense.
The FSU defense was stout as it limited the Dukes (0-1) to 88 total yards during the first 30 minutes of the game.
The FSU defense held the Duquesne offense to 164 total yards with 71 passing yards surrendered.
The Dukes ended FSU’s shutout bid in the third quarter as quarterback Joe Mischler connected with Abdul Janneh for a 22-yard touchdown reception to trim the Seminoles lead to 40-7.
Up next, Florida State travels to New Orleans to play Louisiana State University in a matchup of Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) teams inside the Caesars Superdome for a neutral site non-conference game Sunday, Sept. 4 at 7:30 p.m.
On looking ahead towards LSU in New Orleans. He said anytime you can get on the field, it helps.
— Alison Posey (@AlisonPosey14) August 28, 2022
He said they’ll take the experience they got, and build on it. https://t.co/GCq4GMzzQi
The game against LSU will be broadcast locally exclusively on WTXL ABC 27.
