No. 3 Florida State survives late Boston College rally

BOSTON — After blowing most of a 21-point lead, No. 3 Florida State escaped with a 31-29 victory over Boston College on Saturday and left the field to derisive chants of “Overrated!”

The Seminoles won’t have a lofty ranking to mock if they keep this up.

“We dug our own hole,” running back Rodney Hill said after Florida State closed with three punts and a fumble, then managed to run out the clock only because BC committed its 18th penalty of the game — a face mask after a third-down stop that would have forced a punt.

“We got back out there and it was fine,” Hill said. “We sealed it.”

DJ Lundy intercepted a pass to set up his own 1-yard touchdown run as the Seminoles (3-0, 1-0 Atlantic Coast Conference) scored four unanswered touchdowns to make it 31-10 before surviving a late BC charge for their ninth straight victory.

Florida State's DJ Lundy (10) celebrates his touchdown during the second half. [ MARK STOCKWELL | AP ]

Boston College (1-2, 0-1) set a school record for penalties, missed an extra point, went for 2 after another touchdown and failed, and opted not to kick a field goal from the Seminoles 5 when trailing by 15 points early in the fourth quarter. But the Eagles still trailed by only 2 points, with the ball, in the final three minutes before Kalen DeLoach sacked Thomas Castellanos on third down to stall BC’s last possession.

The Eagles stopped Lawrance Toafili on a third-and-7 and would have gotten the ball back with about a minute left, but they were called for a face mask.

“Just self-inflicted wounds,” said BC quarterback Thomas Castellanos, who threw for 305 yards and one touchdown and ran for 95 and another score. “We’ve just got to clean it up. Can’t have it.”

Jordan Travis completed 16 of 24 passes for 212 yards and two touchdowns and ran for 38 yards for the Seminoles. FSU had its first close call of the season after winning its first two games by a combined 74 points.

Kye Robichaux scored from 1 yard out for BC to cut the deficit to 31-16 with a minute left in the third quarter, but Connor Lytton’s kick failed. BC recovered a squib kick and advanced to the FSU 5 before getting stopped on fourth down.

Florida State running back Trey Benson (3) scores a touchdown despite the defense of Boston College linebacker Jaylen Blackwell (8) during the first half. [ MARK STOCKWELL | AP ]

Khari Johnson recovered Toafili’s fumble and ran it in to pull the Eagles within nine points; BC went for 2 and failed, then stopped FSU for the third straight time — the Eagles did that only once in the entire first half. They drove to the 7 before Castellanos froze the defense with a stutter step and ran it in on a fourth-and-2 to make it 31-29.

But BC’s last possession stalled after Castellanos was sacked. The Seminoles needed a first down to kill the clock, and they got it on a face-mask penalty after Toafili was stopped three yards short of the markers.