The 2nd Florida State Seminoles traveled to Papa John’s Stadium to take on the 10th ranked Louisville Cardinals. This was the first top 10 matchup of the year between the ACC schools. The Noles were favored by a single point, but the Cards handled business at home. Here are the three reasons why UofL routed the Seminoles 63-20.

Lamar Jackson backed up his Heisman hype

Coming into the game, Jackson was the early favorite for the Heisman but everyone said it was because the Cardinals only played against Charlotte and Syracuse. But today, he proved that all the hype was well deserved. The Noles couldn’t contain him when he ran the option and Jackson punished them with the flick of his wrist. He did overthrow a couple receivers but that’ll improve in the future. Jackson finished the game with 216 passing yards, 146 rushing yards, four rushing touchdowns, a passing touchdown, and interception. Jackson burned FSU with his legs all day on only 17 attempts. He had his Heisman moment today, now he has two more games to put the award and college football playoff bid on lock.

Brandon Radcliff had the best game of his career

Radcliff and Dalvin Cook looked like they switched bodies today. Dalvin Cook only had 54 yards on 16 carries compared to 118 yards and one touchdown on 14 carries for Radcliff. He was able to open lanes for Jackson because the Noles would bite on the run fake with Radcliff. He had a run as long as 30 yards and provided solid blocking as well. If Radcliff can continue providing 100-yard games, it’ll make the life of Lamar Jackson even easier. He embarrassed the FSU defense early and often, it didn’t seem like they game planned around him that much.

Louisville’s defense stepped to the plate

Last season, the Cards allowed 41 points to the Noles in Tallahassee. This game was expected to be a shootout with each teams trading touchdowns with explosive offenses. But the Cardinal defense made sure that wouldn’t be happening on their watch. They only allowed 284 total yards on 67 Florida State plays. Francois had only 101 passing yards and he threw an interception. It was his true road game as a freshman quarterback and it showed. His passes weren’t as precious and the Noles didn’t throw it as often as usual. The last two years, Cook was the difference maker and he couldn’t get anything going all day. The interesting stat is that the Noles had the ball for about two minutes longer than the Cards as well.

No one expected Louisville to completely dominate the 2nd ranked team in the country. The Cardinals now have a great chance to win the ACC if they can defeat Clemson on October 1st. It was great for the Cards to finally get over the hump and say they are better than the Noles. Lamar “Action” Jackson is officially the leading candidate for the Heisman trophy and after this, everyone should have the Cardinals in the College Football Playoffs projections.