Florida State Football Schedule Opens 2010 Season by Blowing Out Samford

The 2010 Florida State football schedule opened on Sunday. The first opponent of the 2010 Florida State football schedule was Samford, an unimpressive opponent to be completely honest, but one which showed that Florida State can really put up the offense this season. In fact, Florida State was doing so well at halftime, that the second half was given over to back-up quarterback EJ Manuel. Starting quarterback Christian Ponder helped the Seminoles get to a 42-7 halftime lead over Samford, and at that point, this game was basically over. The final score was 59-6 in favor of Florida State, and showed that the team is indeed moving in the right direction under new head coach Jumbo Fisher.

Florida State only had a single touchdown in the first quarter, coming on a four yard pass from Christian Ponder to Lonnie Pryor. Then the Seminoles exploded for 35 points in just 11 minutes during a huge run in the second quarter that quickly put the game out of reach. That scoring barrage featured a 74-yard punt return from Greg Reid at about the eight minute mark of the quarter. Three additional passing touchdowns from Christian Ponder and a rushing touchdown from Jermain Thomas capped the scoring. For the day, Christian Ponder ended up 12-14 for 167 passing yards and four touchdowns. The lone blemish on his performance was an interception, but he put in all of those statistics in just the first half of the game.

Manuel ended up with 129 yards on 10-13 passing in the second half, but he didn't register a touchdown during his time on the field. Running back Ty Jones rushed for 107 yards on eight carries and had a touchdown, while Thomas and Chris Thompson each also scored one on the ground. With their first game of the 2010 regular season out of the way, Florida State has to get ready for the tough schedule to come. There are some easier games within the ACC schedule this year, but first they have to head to Oklahoma to take on the No. 7 ranked Sooners on September 11. Then they also have Miami and North Carolina on the schedule before they finish the 2010 regular season by hosting No. 4 ranked Florida on November 27. Jumbo Fisher has a lot of work ahead of him with this team, but they definitely have the big games on their schedule that could lend to talk of a national championship if they can pull off a few key wins along the way.

2010 Florida State Football Schedule

September 4 vs. Samford
September 11 @ No. 7 Oklahoma
September 18 vs. BYU
September 25 vs. Wake Forest
October 2 @ Virginia
October 9 @ No. 13 Miami
October 16 vs. Boston College
October 28 @ North Carolina State
November 6 vs. No. 18 North Carolina
November 13 vs. Clemson
November 20 @ Maryland
November 27 vs. Florida

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