FSU vs. Louisville: Score and Twitter Reaction

Lamar Jackson continued to make college football his personal playground as No. 10 Louisville (3-0, 2-0) scored an emphatic 63-20 victory over No. 2 Florida State (2-1, 0-1) on Saturday at Papa John's Cardinal Stadium in Louisville, Kentucky.

The Cardinals' sophomore quarterback, who's already entrenched himself in the Heisman Trophy discussion, registered 362 total yards (216 passing and 146 rushing) and five touchdowns in the shockingly lopsided statement win.

Deondre Francois and the Seminoles offense couldn't keep pace. They finished the hyped encounter with 284 yards of offense—246 less than Bobby Petrino's high-powered group—against a Louisville defense that brought the heat early and often.

Here's a look at the quarter-by-quarter scoring recap from the Top 10 clash:

Team	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	Total
Seminoles	3	7	0	10	20
Cardinals	14	21	14	14	63

Florida State head coach Jimbo Fisher tried to warn his players about getting off to another slow start leading up to Saturday's high-profile battle. The Seminoles were sluggish out of the gate in their season opener against Ole Miss, falling behind 28-6 before staging a second-half comeback.

Louisville, in contrast, has been outstanding early in games. The Cardinals took the opening kickoff and scored on their first possession in each of the first two weeks. Safid Deen of the Orlando Sentinel noted Fisher's efforts to reverse both trends.

"It's on those guys to understand how to get us started early and get off to a quick start because we don't want to get behind up there," Fisher said.

Alas, nothing changed.

The Cardinals got the ball to start the contest and immediately drove 75 yards on six plays in a shade over two minutes for a quick 7-0 lead. They gashed the FSU defense with plays of 30 and 31 yards before Jackson finished the job with a two-yard TD run.

CFB on ESPN Radio highlighted the opening score, which put the Louisville quarterback's remarkable agility on full display:

A similar drive stretched the Cards' lead to 14 later in the first. This time, they had plays of 24 and 20 yards to cover most of the 68-yard journey. It was Jackson who once again found the end zone, as he scampered in from 14 yards out for his second rushing touchdown of the game.

ESPN Stats & Info provided an interesting note about that feat:

Steve Palazzolo of Pro Football Focus noted the early success came despite some errant throws:

Florida State responded to digging itself another hole by rattling off 10 quick points.

Ricky Aguayo got the Noles on the board with a 47-yard field goal late in the opening quarter. They finally found the end zone with their first drive of the second when Francois came up with a third-down touchdown throw to Auden Tate from 20 yards out.

Jason Staples of Seminoles Radio pointed out the 6'5" target is establishing himself as a key weapon for the FSU aerial attack:

Just as it appeared Florida State had righted the ship, the final 10 minutes of the second quarter turned into an unmitigated disaster for the second-ranked squad.

The Cardinals scored touchdowns on each of their next three drives as the Seminoles struggled to maintain focus defensively against the fast-paced attack.

Jackson accounted for two more scores during the 21-point surge. He found Jaylen Smith from four yards out for his first passing touchdown of the day and then finished the first half with his third rushing TD of the day, this time from one yard.

Jeremy Smith provided the other score, a two-yard TD run.

Chris B. Brown of Smart Football heaped more praised on Jackson after he put up 274 total yards and four scores before halftime:

Brett McMurphy of ESPN passed along the only silver lining for Florida State based on the teams' other recent meetings:

Any hopes of another memorable comeback faded quickly after the break, however.

The Seminoles went three-and-out after receiving the ball to start the second half. In a game that created serious questions about the team's defense, the special teams also made a critical mistake. Jaire Alexander returned the ensuing punt 69 yards to stretch the Louisville lead to 32.

ESPN College Football noted the score and provided a picture that summed up the entire game:

Unsurprisingly, the punt return eliminated any wind remaining in FSU's sails and Louisville cruised to the finish line with the definition of a signature win. The Cardinals were the better team by a significant margin in all three phases of the game.

Jackson put the icing on the cake with a 47-yard TD run early in the fourth, which College GameDay spotlighted:

Desmond Howard of ESPN discussed the fact that it wasn't merely a one-man show, though:

Eric Crawford of WDRB noted Florida State set a record of the wrong kind as part of a miserable day:

George Schroeder of USA Today passed along some additional context:

Looking ahead, Louisville has another marquee game on the horizon in two weeks against reigning national finalist Clemson, with the winner owning an inside track to the College Football Playoff. But first, the Cardinals must make their way through a proverbial trap game against Marshall next week.

While Jackson is tearing up defenses with the greatest of ease right now, he must be prepared for teams to start making adjustments. The Tigers will throw some unique looks at him and it will be intriguing to see how he responds as the pressure of the national spotlight intensifies.

The outlook for Florida State is far less promising after Saturday's debacle. The Seminoles still have games with Clemson, Florida and Miami on the schedule, but they have no further margin for error. Winning out wouldn't even guarantee them a spot in the final four given the size of this loss.  

Postgame Reaction

ESPN passed along reaction from Jackson after another monster performance:

Jody Demling of Scout relayed Petrino's summation of the blowout win.

"This was a great team win," the Louisville coach said. "I'm so happy for these guys. They took the field with a lot of confidence."

Rick Bozich of WDRB noted Fisher didn't think Louisville could post such a lopsided result.

"No," he said. "I felt we would match and score right with them."

Tim Scrib of Tomahawk Nation provided the coach's response about how the Seminoles must respond.

"We're not going to panic," Fisher said.