Marcus Childers threw for a season-best 215 yards on 20-of-41 passing and scored on an 11-yard run in the fourth quarter. Meanwhile, the Huskie defense forced four turnovers and limited FSU to 121 rushing yards.
“We’re obviously disappointed with the outcome of the game,” said NIU Head Coach Rod Carey. “We got it to the fourth quarter, and I think we had our opportunities at the end with a missed field goal and a missed two-point conversion. We were in a fight; we kept on swinging but we didn’t land enough punches. You can’t fault our effort.”
NIU had a chance to close the gap even more after a Sutton Smith sack and forced fumble, recovered by Quintin Wynne, gave the Huskies the ball on the FSU 28 yard-line with 12:35 to play. Childers hit Wesley for a first down to the 17, and on third and nine from the 16, appeared to connect with Wesley in the end zone for a touchdown. However, Wesley was ruled to have stepped out of bounds before the catch and Andrew Gantz missed a 33-yard field goal.
Two plays later, FSU quarterback Deondre Francois completed a deep ball to receiver Tamorrion Terry for 78 yards and a touchdown that made the score 30-13 with 10:13 to play.
NIU narrowed the gap again later in the quarter after freshman linebacker Cortez Hogans intercepted Francois at the FSU 48 and returned it to the 37-yard line. Childers drove the Huskies for the score, taking it in himself from 11 yards for NIU’s first rushing touchdown of the year. With 8:01 on the clock, NIU was within 11 at 30-19 after a bad snap on the field goal.
The Huskies forced another punt, but could not move the ball on the ensuing possession. When FSU took over at the 28-yard line, the Seminoles went on to score with 12 seconds left to make the final margin.
“We won the turnover battle 4-0 and when you do that, you should win the game,” Carey said. “The offense didn’t perform well enough all day. I think after the first two drives, the defense played very well. Obviously the guys fought, but there aren’t any moral victories. They have good football players, we have good football players too. They made a couple more plays than we did in that fourth quarter.”
D.J. Brown caught seven passes for a career-high 117 yards to lead the NIU offense, while freshman Cole Tucker grabbed a career-best six passes.
Defensively, Lance Deveaux led NIU with 10 tackles and Antonio Jones-Davis and Mykelti Williams each tallied nine. The Huskie defense combined for nine tackles for loss.
With the loss, their third to a “Power 5” opponent, the Huskies fell to 1-3 on the year, while Florida State improved to 2-2.
Francois completed 23-of-31 passes for 352 yards and a pair of scores.
NIU resumes Mid-American Conference play next Saturday when the Huskies travel to Eastern Michigan. Kickoff is at 6 pm (CT) in Ypsilanti.