Charleston Southern Buccaneers

FSU Football vs. Charleston Southern: Halftime Recap

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

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Here’s a look at FSU football and the first half of their game against Charleston Southern.

After nearly 10 months of waiting, college football made its return to Doak Campbell Stadium as the Florida State Seminoles opened their 2016 home schedule against the Charleston Southern Buccaneers.

For FSU football, it’s all about a short work week coming off Monday night’s historic comeback win over Ole Miss in Orlando. This game against an FCS foe, on paper, could look like one that the ‘Noles might slightly look over considering next week’s game against a nationally ranked Louisville team that is looking more and more like one of the best games in the ACC this season.

After getting the ball to start things off, FSU football marched down the field (shooting themselves in the foot three times with penalties) before Deondre Francois found Travis Rudolph for the game’s opening score:

The defense had some issues stopping CSU’s option offense during the first drive, but stepped when needed and got the first turnover in the game when Demarcus Christmas recovered this fumble:

FSU would drive down and cap of the offensive drive when Dalvin Cook punched it in from a yard out (after a long run to get to that point) and the blowout started.

It was deja vu all over again when DeMarcus Walker forced another fumble, which was recovered by FSU and led to another toss from D12 to Rudolph for the score:

Special teams got into the action before the end of the first quarter, when Bobo Wilson went 89 yards all the way to the house and pretty much put the game out of reach:

In the second quarter, the Seminoles would have a short field and add to their total when Jacques Patrick punched it in from two yards out to make it 35-0. The shutout would go away when Charleston Southern completed a 57 yard pass for the score, cutting FSU’s lead to 35-6 at the break.

Statistically, the Seminoles out gained the Buccaneers 254 to 128 and had nearly three times as many first downs (16 to six). 188 of those yards came from the arm of Francois, who also threw his first interception late in the second quarter.