Florida State interim coach Rick Stockstill leads Seminoles to win in debut, ends road losing streak

Florida State opened the Rick Stockstill era with a road win Saturday. Those victories have been hard to come by for the Seminoles in recent years.

FSU defeated Boston College 31-24 behind two rushing touchdowns from Amari Thomas. His 11-yard score late in the fourth quarter put the Seminoles ahead and made Stockstill a winner in his first game as interim coach. Entering Saturday, FSU had not won a game away from Doak Campbell Stadium since Nov. 25, 2023. Ashton Daniels completed 15 of 26 passes for 178 yards and an interception.

Boston College quarterback Mason McKenzie finished the day with 166 passing yards, two touchdowns and an interception.

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With it tied at 24-all, the Seminoles marched 90 yards in 14 plays, with Thomas breaking to the outside for the go-ahead score with 2:29 left.

"This was emotional for me today," said a teary-eyed Stockstill, who was one of legendary FSU coach Bobby Bowden’s first quarterbacks. "I guess I wanted it as much for our players in there as I did for my former teammates and all our other players that came before us. It was special, it’s emotional.

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"I poured my heart and soul into this place as a player, and I was going to do that for these next couple of months here," he said.

McKenzie was shaken up and left midway into the third quarter, but returned the next series and capped off a crazy trick play when everyone on offense spun around in a circle before they lined up in a spread formation, snapped it and he tossed an underhanded pass for a two-yard touchdown to Javarius Green that pushed BC ahead 24-21.

"It was just a play in our game plan that we thought would be good for these guys," BC coach Bill O’Brien said.

Gabe Panikowski’s 22-yard field goal tied it.

Playing its first game since firing coach Mike Norvell after six-plus seasons, Florida State erased a 17-7 second-quarter deficit by putting up two touchdowns in the final six minutes of the half. Thomas’ 20-yard run down the right sideline sliced the gap to three points.

The Eagles entered Saturday’s game looking to rebound from one of the most lopsided losses of O’Brien’s tenure. Boston College lost that game 47-2. The Eagles will travel to Indiana next week to face No. 11 Notre Dame.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.