TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Tommy Castellanos threw for 271 yards and had one of Florida State’s five rushing touchdowns in a 42-7 rout of Wake Forest on Saturday.
Sam Singleton had 14 carries for 91 yards and a 10-yard touchdown as the Seminoles (4-4, 1-4 Atlantic Coast Conference) halted a four-game slide and earned their first ACC victory since a 14-9 win over California on Sept. 21, 2024.
Florida State opened with a stunning upset of Alabama and then grabbed victories in two guarantee games. But the Seminoles lost in double overtime at Virginia before dropping a rivalry showdown against Miami and falling to Pittsburgh and Stanford.
“I know it’s been a rough month leading up to this game,” Florida State coach Mike Norvell said. “We’ve had to face some disappointments. Our players, they’ve been putting in the work.”
The pressure ramped up on Norvell, with Florida State athletics director Michael Alford releasing a statement after a 20-13 loss at Stanford that said the coach and program would be evaluated after the regular season.
In their first game since the statement on Oct. 20, the Seminoles delivered quite the response.
“Coach Norvell has been absolutely awesome, everything and more for us,” Castellanos said. “I know you guys don’t see that and I know they don’t see that. Everybody blames the coach. That’s on us. Those four games are on us. We were put in position to execute and win those games and we didn’t. I’m glad we got that done for him. It’s new November.”
Gavin Sawchuk added a pair of 1-yard TD runs, while tight end Randy Pittman had a 7-yard TD run out of the wildcat.
Castellanos completed 12 of 16 passes for 217 yards, connecting with Duce Robinson five times for 148 yards and an 11-yard touchdown.
Robby Ashford completed 12 of 21 passes for 93 yards and ran 12 times for 59 yards for Wake Forest (5-3, 2-3).
“We got decidedly beat in all three phases,” Wake Forest coach Jake Dickert said. “Didn’t have much going on offense. Didn’t execute. Weren’t able to put drives together. Defensively, we gave up big plays for the first time all season.”
Singleton had just one carry for -1 yard against a Power 4 opponent, Miami, this season coming into Saturday. The redshirt sophomore earned his first college start and averaged 6.5 yards per carry.
Wake Forest: The Deacons had a pair of long runs erased by holding calls, among six first-half penalties. Wake trailed 14-0 at the half and finished with just 247 total yards
Florida State: The Seminoles, who hadn’t won a power-conference game since the opener against Alabama, dominated and quieted the criticism of coach Mike Norvell.
Wake Forest plays at Virginia on Saturday.
Florida State plays at Clemson on Saturday.
Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here and here (AP News mobile app). AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-football
Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Please purchase a Premium Subscription to continue reading.
To continue, please log in, or sign up for a new account.
We offer one free story view per month. If you register for an account, you will get two additional story views. After those three total views, we ask that you support us with a subscription.
A subscription to our digital content is so much more than just access to our valuable content. It means you’re helping to support a local community institution that has, from its very start, supported the betterment of our society. Thank you very much!
Only subscribers can view and post comments on articles.
Already a subscriber? Login Here
Murder for Two Read moreMurder For Two
Much Ado About Nothing: A Modern Verse Translation, tells the timeless and hilarious story o… Read moreMills High School Much Ado About Nothing: A Modern Translation
Cathy Baird said:
Success! An email has been sent to with a link to confirm list signup.
Error! There was an error processing your request.
Sorry, an error occurred.
Already Subscribed!
Cancel anytime
Thank you .
Your account has been registered, and you are now logged in.
Check your email for details.
Submitting this form below will send a message to your email with a link to change your password.
An email message containing instructions on how to reset your password has been sent to the email address listed on your account.
No promotional rates found.
Secure & Encrypted
Thank you.
Your gift purchase was successful! Your purchase was successful, and you are now logged in.
| Rate: | |
| Begins: | |
| Transaction ID: |
A receipt was sent to your email.
(0) comments
Welcome to the discussion.
Log In
Keep the discussion civilized. Absolutely NO personal attacks or insults directed toward writers, nor others who make comments.
Keep it clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
Don't threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Anyone violating these rules will be issued a warning. After the warning, comment privileges can be revoked.