Florida State beat Oklahoma to win the Cheez-It Bowl. What happened, who was the player of the game, and what does it all mean?
Florida State 35, Oklahoma 32 Cheez-It Bowl What Happened, Player of the Game, What It All Means
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Cheez-It Bowl What Happened
– In a fun back-and-forth battle, Jordan Travis threw two touchdown passes and Treshaun Ward ran for two scores to help Florida State keep the pace, but it took a 32-yard Ryan Fitzgerald field goal with 55 seconds to play for a 35-32 lead. The Seminole defense was able to close.
– Oklahoma was missing a whole bunch of offensive parts, but the attack worked. Dillon Gabriel threw a touchdown pass and ran for another, and he engineered a 75-play fourth quarter scoring drive for a 32-25 lead. FSU answered with Travis’s second touchdown pass to tie it, and the two teams drafted field goals in the final four minutes.
– Florida State’s final drive went 61 yards in six plays, highlighted by a phenomenal one-handed catch by Johnny Wilson. The Noles weren’t able to wind down the clock all the way, but it was enough to give Fitzgerald a shot to hit his game-winning field goal.
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Cheez-It Bowl Player of the Game
Jordan Travis, QB Florida State
He completed 27-of-38 passes for 418 yards and two touchdowns with a pick, and he ran seven times for 50 yards.
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Cheez-It Bowl Fun Stats
– Oklahoma QB Dillon Gabriel completed 14-of-24 passes for 243 yards and a score, and he ran for 17 yards and a touchdown. Star RB Eric Gray didn’t play, but Javontae Barnes and Gavin Sawchuk each ran for over 100 yards and combined for 208 yards and two scores.
– Florida State WR Johnny Wilson caught eight passes for 202 yards. Treshaun Ward ran ten times for 81 yards and two scores.
– Total Yards: Florida State 587 – Oklahoma 496
Cheez-It Bowl What It All Means
Florida State started the season strong, had a hard time in the middle, and closed with a bang. It would’ve been nice to have put this Cheez-It Bowl away earlier – Oklahoma really was down a ton of good players – but it was a strong win to keep the momentum going after closing out the regular season with five straight wins.
The win is a big deal. It’s the program’s first bowl victory since the 2017 Independence, and this closed out the first ten-win season since taking down the 2016 Orange. With the win, Florida State is 9-3 in bowls since 2007.
It might be a loss for Brent Venables and Oklahoma, but it sure doesn’t feel like it. The Sooners should’ve been blown out. They were missing enough guys in what amounted to a Florida State home game in Orlando. Even so, they battled to the final drive, the offense worked even with the new guys, and now there’s some positive momentum to build on.
Even so, Oklahoma lost four to its last five games in what turned out to be a losing season. After winning two straight bowls, now OU is 2-4 in its last six and 3-6 in its last nine.
