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Fennelly: When Dalvin Cook's in need of a big game, he delivers vs. USF (w/ video)

 
FSU running back Dalvin Cook heads to the end zone for one of his two touchdowns as part of his 267-yard rushing day.
FSU running back Dalvin Cook heads to the end zone for one of his two touchdowns as part of his 267-yard rushing day.
Published Sept. 25, 2016

TAMPA — USF scored on Florida State shortly after noon Saturday, just 17 seconds into the game. First play from scrimmage, Quinton Flowers to Rodney Adams, 84 yards.

On with the USF coming-out party.

Was FSU staring at another Louisville?

The Seminoles were reeling

They needed an answer, quick.

The answer was the first time Dalvin Cook touched the football.

"I know my body," Cook said. "I know my mind. There's nothing wrong with Dalvin, to answer all the questions. I'm Dalvin, and I go out and play my football every game. … There's nothing wrong with me."

On the first play after USF kicked to FSU, Cook took a handoff from quarterback Deondre Francois, went left, past some good blocking, and headed 75 yards for a score that helped tie it 7-all. Twelve seconds after USF scored. Just like that.

And it was just the start.

By the end of the day, a 55-35 bounce-back victory for Jimbo Fisher's 13th-ranked Seminoles, Cook had carried 28 times for 267 yards and two scores, the 267 being a career best for the FSU junior, breaking his mark of 266, set last season in Tallahassee when FSU beat … USF.

Probably just a coincidence.

USF was Cooked again.

"It's always good to see the No. 4 jersey from behind running down the field," FSU fullback Freddie Stevenson said. "That's my favorite part of the game."

"Offensive line did a great job, first off," Cook said of the 75-yard touchdown run. "What came through my mind is I've got to beat this safety. That was my job, to beat him. I got in open space, and I just kept running."

Cooked again.

"I thought we would defend Cook a lot better than what we did," USF coach Willie Taggart said. "And we didn't. Very disappointed, and that's on me. I've got to do a better job of coaching our coaches and players to make sure we do a better job."

The Bulls' chances for a breakout game on national TV were summarily buried by a Seminoles ground game that turned hotter than this sweltering day: 63 rushes for 478 yards, holes everywhere, USF's defensive line rag-dolled all day, and Cook and other FSU backs ran with it and then some.

Cook answered, for now, the questions about his slow start to 2016. Was he injured? Was he just off his game? There had to be an explanation for why a guy who rushed for 1,691 yards as a sophomore, averaging 7.4 yards a carry, was so bogged down this time around.

In three games, Cook had just 228 rushing yards. True, he didn't have much of a chance to run in last weekend's annihilation at Louisville. But you get the idea. Cook did, too, and answered with 329 yards of offense against USF.

"I just let the game come to me," Cook said. "Coach Fisher called my number, and I just got the job done."

It's not as if Cook crashed back into the Heisman chase, any more than the Seminoles revived their playoff chances. That 63 points surrendered at Louisville are burned into brains, FSU's included.

"The loss we had against Louisville, it kind of woke us up," Cook said. "It's in the back of my mind."

But you have to start somewhere. Cook did just that.

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Teammates loved to see the back of his jersey again.

"Especially since people have been questioning him," Stevenson said.

There weren't many questions Saturday. Only an answer. And it wore No. 4.

USF knows it well.

Cooked again.