TAMPA — College football's top teams win games like these. Even despite the mistakes, an emotional crowd and a scrappy opponent with a fleet-footed quarterback.
No. 4 Florida State is showing its ability to persevere and win these dogfights.
If the Seminoles showed anything in Saturday's 30-17 win over South Florida, it's how well they respond when backed up against the wall. FSU pushes right back.
"In the past, I think we would have folded a little bit," FSU coach Jimbo Fisher said. "The kids kept believing and they kept playing hard. You have to find ways to keep winning those kind of games."
FSU is 5-0, capping off a perfect September that was full of potential pitfalls. The Seminoles won revenge games against Wake Forest and Clemson, two teams that had knocked off FSU in 2011.
And on Saturday, FSU won a road game — albeit one that often had the feel of a bowl game with a USF-record crowd of 69,383 fans, who seemed to be evenly split for both schools.
Against Clemson, FSU had to overcome a 14-point deficit in the second half. On Saturday, the Bulls had the Seminoles on the ropes after blocking a third-quarter punt and scoring a few plays later on a B.J. Daniels TD run.
FSU still led 13-10, but the USF faithful had plenty to cheer for at that point. It appeared that the Bulls had a chance to pull off another upset — just as they had done in 2009 in Tallahassee, Fla., when Daniels led the Bulls to a 17-7 win.
But this time, FSU responded. The 'Noles answered back with a seven-play, 63-yard drive that was capped by an EJ Manuel 1-yard touchdown pass to tight end Kevin Haplea, a transfer from Penn State. After Dustin Hopkins' third field goal of the game put FSU ahead 23-10, it was FSU's turn to capitalize on a USF mistake.
With Daniels shaken up after a long run, USF had to turn to backup Matt Floyd on a third-and-12 play from the Bulls' 23. Floyd dropped back, was blindsided by FSU defensive end Tank Carradine and lost the ball. FSU linebacker Christian Jones scooped it up and ran 12 yards for a touchdown and a 30-10 Seminoles lead.
"I just hit him hard and the ball flew out of his hand," Carradine said. "I didn't even know that (Jones) scored."
Despite Daniels' late attempt to rally the Bulls, FSU held on. It wasn't necessarily ugly and it wasn't pretty either. It was, however, a gutsy performance mentally and physically by the Seminoles.
"The makeup of our team, I think we're built for games like this," said Manuel, who completed 19-of-26 passes for 242 yards and a touchdown. "It's going to go down to the wire ... we're going to stay strong and not get mentally frustrated."
That was the theme of the day for a few of the top-five teams. No. 3 LSU received an unexpected push from Towson before claiming a 38-22 victory. No. 5 Georgia won a 51-44 shootout with Tennessee. FSU found a way to survive, too.
The Seminoles also accomplished something that used to happen all the time in Tallahassee. FSU is unbeaten this deep into a season for the first time since 2005, the year the program last won the Atlantic Coast Conference title.
"We're one of the top teams in the country," Manuel said. "We just have to continue to play well ... and understand that everybody is going to make us their biggest game of the season. Because they want to beat us."
