Jameis Winston
He was already seen as a Heisman Trophy candidate, the player with the best chance of becoming the second consecutive redshirt freshman to win the prestigious award. His numbers backed him up, and he already had a highlight reel moment on a Hail Mary against Boston College.
But on Saturday, Florida State quarterback Jameis Winston etched his name atop the Heisman Trophy leaderboard in the No. 6 Seminoles’ 63-0 victory over the Terrapins. He completed his first five passes of the game and would finish 23-of-32 for a career-high 393 yards and five touchdowns in one of the most impressive quarterback performances of the season.
“He’s an outstanding football player,” coach Randy Edsall said. “We had him a couple times and one of the things we worked on all week was to say to tackle him low, wrap him low, tackle his legs, and we didn’t do that. We were up high and he made some really good plays.”
At 6-foot-4 and 228 pounds, Winston performed as advertised in nearly every matchup problem he created. The Terps pass rushers, so effective in the team’s 4-0 start, sacked him only once. Other times, they were able to get a hand on him, but he was strong and elusive enough to scramble away and find receivers.
The most notable example came in the third quarter, when Winston eluded outside linebacker Yannik Cudjoe-Virgil to throw a 12-yard strike to tight end Nick O’Leary in the end zone to give the Seminoles a 42-0 lead. The play instantly hit highlight reels and has been on a loop, whether on TV or in animated GIFs since.
“It makes a big difference getting a hand on him, being able to slow him down is not good enough because he still has the ability to make a big play,” nose tackle Darius Kilgo said. “As we see, he was still able to throw a couple touchdowns, so when we get back there, we definitely have to get him on the ground.”
Winston explained after the game that he actually botched the designed play by holding onto the ball too long. His receivers worked to get open, though, and he was able to make something happen.
His ability to extend plays broke down the Terps defensive backs — minus injured starters Jeremiah Johnson and Dexter McDougle — causing more things to go wrong for the Terps.
“As he started to come out of there, our eye discipline in the secondary wasn’t very good,” Edsall said. “We looked back at the quarterback instead of plastering on the receivers and they got some big plays that way.”
Winston never eased up on the Terps, either. He was on the field in the fourth quarter with a 42-0 lead and threw his fifth and final touchdown pass to wide receiver Kelvin Benjamin on his final play to extend the lead to 49-0.
“It didn’t faze me one bit,” Edsall said. “You play the game and you got 60 minutes to play the game. That’s what I tell our kids. You got to play the game for 60 minutes. It doesn’t matter who’s out there or anything like that. You got to play the game. I have no problem with it.”
Winston was the first quarterback to test the stout Terps defense this season, and he passed easily.
He kept things in perspective, too. Despite a national television audience, Winston just related the game to simpler times. And he made things look just as simple on the field.
“I’m going to enjoy this day right here because it felt like a Little League football game out there,” Winston said. “Twelve o’clock, the sun was out. I don’t think I saw a cloud in the sky. It was a beautiful day, so I’m going to enjoy this day.”
