Florida State Football: Winners and Losers from Week 7's Game vs. Boston College

Now that's a turnaround!

I honestly expected the Florida State Seminoles to come out playing cautiously against the Boston College Eagles. Instead, the Seminoles played loose and had their most complete game of this football season.

EJ Manuel aired the ball so much that he must have doubled his frequent flyer miles.

For the detractors, a short statement. Yes, the Seminoles' national title hopes are almost certainly dashed. But the team responded to their adversity strongly.

Don't get me wrong. Like you, I would have loved to see the Seminoles reach the BCS National Championship Game. But remember, this team hasn't won the ACC yet—it is a tad unfair to expect them to go from crawling to running without some walking in between.

But what matters is that FSU continues to gain experience and play well. If this trend continues, expect that elusive ACC crown.

Boston College definitely won't win it.

Winner: EJ Manuel

Sure, he had two picks.

But look at the conglomeration of his work—439 yards and four touchdowns in the air. The Seminoles haven't seen that caliber of stats since Chris Weinke won the 2000 Heisman Trophy.

Manuel went 27-of-34 Saturday, completing 79.4 percent of his passes. He averaged nearly 13 yards per completion and completely trashed BC's defense.

Now if Manuel can have another day like that in Miami Gardens, maybe (just maybe) he can make the top five in Heisman voting in December.

Stat of the week: Manuel has a 175.8 quarterback rating, good for fifth nationally.

Loser: Chase Rettig

Chase Rettig didn't even go .500 when it came to passing.

Combine that with a mere four yards per completion, and you have an all right quarterback who just had a bad day.

Winner: Devonta Freeman

Jimbo Fisher decided to play smartly again.

Instead of working Chris Thompson to death, Coach Fisher did the obvious: hand the rock to Devonta Freeman. Freeman went for 70 yards on the ground on eight attempts; Thompson went for 68 yards on 10 attempts.

Which leads me to...

Winner: Jimbo Fisher

Jimbo increased the rushing output significantly in the Doak. The Seminoles nearly doubled their rushing output, going from 125 yards to 201 yards against BC.

By switching Freeman and Chris Thompson, he kept his duo refreshed and ready to go. Each of the two had plenty of time to recover, with EJ Manuel airing the ball out more often.

Overall, it was a perfect game plan for a team that needed to spread the wealth on offense.

Loser: Frank Spaziani

Anyone who watches a Frank Spaziani press conference knows the guy has a warm sense of humor and a great smile.

Unfortunately, that won't win you conference championships or get you to bowl games.

BC has fallen to 1-5, and a bowl game is extraordinarily unlikely. Combine that with his age (he is in his mid-60s) and this faithful BC man should do what is best for the program and step aside.

Winner: Dustin Hopkins

A total of 402 points—an ACC all-time record and fifth all time in his NCAA category.

Dustin Hopkins has made 402 total points from combined field goals and extra points.

Let me illustrate how amazing that is.

I'll assign each touchdown the basic value of six points (we all know Hopkins makes it seven, but that would lower the number I'm trying to convey).

Hopkins has scored 67 touchdowns in his career.

(Second) Stat of the Week: Hopkins is averaging 10.9 points per game.

Now, if only Miami could do that against legit competition...