Florida State football: Seminoles come up short in comeback attempt vs Wake Forest | 5 takeaways

Florida State first test as a ranked football team since the 2018 preseason did not go the way it hoped.

No. 22 Wake Forest dominated the first half and the No. 23 Seminoles made a valiant comeback effort in the second half.

However, in the end Saturday, FSU fell short before a Doak Campbell Stadium crowd of 69,749 and television audience on ABC.

The Demon Deacons bounced back from last week's overtime loss to Clemson with a 31-21 victory behind a strong performance by quarterback Sam Hartman.

Florida State (4-1, 2-1 ACC) struggled against the slow-mesh offense of Wake Forest (4-1, 1-1).

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Hartman completed 22 of 34 passes for 232 yards and two touchdowns, with the majority of the damage coming in the first half. The Demon Deacons led 21-7 at halftime and scored to make it a 21-point game coming out of the locker room.

During the week, FSU coach Mike Norvell said to beat a team like Wake, the Seminoles would have to win the turnover battle. Unfortunately for his side, the only turnover of the game was on a Jordan Travis fumble in the second quarter.

"Congratulations to Wake Forest," Norvell said. "I'd say it was a hard-fought game, a game of swings. They did a nice job of coming in and being able to execute, doing the things necessary to win the game.

"Disappointed. I thought our guys, especially there in the first half, really started almost pressing when we had a little bit of adversity that showed up, did a lot of uncharacteristic things, uncharacteristic mistakes showing up. Way too many penalties. Turnovers, balls were in jeopardy."

Mycah Pittman had a career-best performance despite the loss. He caught five passes for 90 yards and two touchdowns. The yards and touchdowns were both career highs for the Oregon transfer.

Despite Hurricane Ian impacting much of the state earlier this week, FSU played in front of an energized crowd.

The university distributed 4,500 free tickets to Florida evacuees and an extra 2,000 tickets to Seminole students above their normal 16,000 allotment.

Here are four takeaways from the Seminoles' first loss of the season.

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Slow-mesh offense and the tale of two halves

It is unlikely the Seminoles will face an offense as unique as the slow-mesh offense again this season. Hartman, with a variety of weapons at his disposal, ran the offense to perfection.

Wake Forest had FSU’s defense off balance, controlling the clock in the first half. The Demon Deacons ran 50 plays to FSU’s 31 and gained 267 yards of offense.

In the second half, FSU got back into the game behind a strong performance from the defensive line. However, the Seminoles could not come up with a big stop on Wake's final touchdown game-sealing drive.

Wake Forest ran 33 plays (not including kneel-downs) in the second half to FSU's 32, with 18 coming on the game-clinching field goal drive of 66 yards.

A.T. Perry led the Demon Deacons with eight catches for 91 yards and a TD. Ke'Shawn Williams added four catches for 43 yards, including a leaping catch over cornerback Akeem Dent on the final drive.

Wake Forest ran for 171 yards. Justice Ellison rushed for 114 yards and a score on 18 carries, while Christian Turner added 64 yards and a TD on 20 rushes.

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Mycah Pittman breakout

The Oregon transfer was due for his breakout game.

He caught five passes, tying for the team lead of 85 yards and scoring two touchdowns. He opened the scoring with a 16-yard TD catch on the opening drive. He added a 6-yard TD catch in the third quarter.

"It was definitely satisfying," Pittman said. "I thank the coaches for giving me the opportunity. If Coach Norvell doesn't call my number, then I don't get to make that play. And (offensive coordinator Alex) Atkins as well.

"Them giving me the opportunity is really reassuring for them to call those plays for me, especially in a big time game like that. .. I just hope I can continue to build off this week and make those plays for this football team, and next time we’ll come out with the W.”

Johnny Wilson led the team with 10 targets, catching six passes for 85 yards and a touchdown in the fourth quarter.

Treshaun Ward led the Seminoles with 13 rushes for 87 yards and Travis completed 23-of-35 passes for 281 yards and three touchdowns.

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Darius Washington struggles in place of Robert Scott Jr.

Scott was dressed up and warming up ahead of the game with his teammates Saturday. But when the starters were announced, it was Washington named as a starter in his place.

The offensive line played a key in opening up holes and keeping Travis upright in previous games, but they struggled in this one, as Wake Forest dominated the trenches in the first half.

In the second half, with FSU gaining momentum and driving to make it a one score game, Washington allowed a sack and was penalized twice, including a holding call which negated a big catch from Ontaria Wilson which got the ball down inside the five.

The Seminoles could not recover from the penalty and punted the ball from the Wake Forest 43.

"It was kind of a mixed bag, to be honest with you," Norvell said. "Too many penalties, the negatives that showed up. I mean, we had a couple drives that were good. We've been battling, you have some guys that are still relative newcomers to the program being asked to do a lot. We've had some injuries up front. We're really kind of testing into the depth."

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Defensive line picks up in second half

Following a slow start, the defense line picked it up in the second half. Jared Verse, who played limited snaps, picked up a sack in the second half.

Patrick Payton and Joshua Farmer had back-to-back sacks in the third quarter to stall a drive and Kalen DeLoach added one in the opening minute of the fourth on third down to end another drive.

DeLoach, safety Jammie Robinson, linebacker Tatum Bethume and defensive end Malcolm Ray each added a QB hurry.

The Seminoles added 9.5 tackles for loss with Verse leading the way with 2.5.

Verse played despite Norvell saying he did not practice for much of the week. He was on a snap count in the first half, but the coaches let him decide on how much he would play in the second half.

“It was a lot of rehab," Verse said. :Everybody saw I went down at Louisville. It was a lot of pain. I would not say it was a long road. It was only like two weeks. But I was resting a lot, doing a lot of rehab, came in, got that work in.

"Today, I did the little warmup, talked with the doctors and trainers. They asked me how I felt. I felt great. So they said, ‘All right. Let's go out there.’ They limited me for a little bit. And then when they saw I started to feel a little bit better, they let me go out.”

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Kicking woes continue

Ryan Fitzgerald's struggles continued on Saturday. The redshirt sophomore missed a first half kick from 29 yards out and then added another miss in the fourth quarter from 55 yards to end any chance of an FSU comeback.

He is now 4 for 9 on field goals this season. He has missed six out of his last eight kicks since beginning the season making his first two of three.

"Obviously Ryan, missed opportunity today," Norvell said. "I do believe in what he's capable of."

Reach Ehsan Kassim at ekassim@gannett.com or follow him on Twitter at @Ehsan_Kassim. You can also follow our coverage on Facebook (NoleSports) and Instagram (tlhnolesports).

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This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: FSU football: Seminoles just short in comeback attempt | 5 takeaways