Louisville shocks Florida State in OT

This was big, all right, for the Cardinals - a 26-20 overtime victory over No. 4 Florida State on Thursday night.

In a hard and steady downpour, Henry Miller ran 25 yards for a touchdown on the second play of overtime following Anthony Floyd's interception.

"It was a national stage, they're ranked fourth in the country and they're Florida State," said Louisville's Dave Ragone, who completed 15 of 27 passes for 182 yards and two TDs. "How do you get any bigger than that?"

The Cardinals (3-2) salvaged a season on the brink after a 2-2 start with one of the biggest wins in school history.

The Seminoles (4-1) were the highest-ranked team to play in the 4-year-old Papa John's Cardinal Stadium.

"They were better than we were," Florida State coach Bobby Bowden said. "Before the season, I was very concerned about this game because they were playing as good as anybody last season. We came in here 4-0, but they could have been 4-0 just as easily."

Florida State was playing its first overtime game and lost to an unranked team for the second time in two seasons. N.C. State beat the Seminoles 34-28 in 2001.

"It's kind of like playing golf," Bowden said. "You come to the last hole even and then you hit your drive out of bounds."

The Seminoles, fourth nationally in scoring defense entering the game, had only 335 yards. Chris Rix was 14-of-33 for 173 yards with an interception.

The Seminoles led 20-13 after Rix found Talman Gardner on a 21-yard TD pass in the final minute of the third quarter. Ragone's 1-yard TD pass to Damien Dorsey made it 20-20 with 11:37 left.

"We got to him, got in his face," Bowden said. "But he tucked it and ran for a first down over and over and over. He killed us."

Remnants of Tropical Storm Isidore soaked Louisville all day and through the game, but most of the crowd of 38,109 stayed until the end.

The Cardinals won the overtime coin toss but chose to play defense. Rix eyed Gardner in the end zone on first down, but Floyd caught it at the 2 to set up Miller's run.

"Man, you dream of things like this all your life," Miller said.

The Cardinals trailed 13-6 at halftime, finishing the half with more penalties (eight) than first downs (six) and more penalty yards (100) than total yards (77).

Ragone finished a 51-yard drive in the third quarter with a 30-yard TD pass down the sideline to Joshua Tinch with 4:05 left.

Rix was just 2-for-12 in the first half, but was 5-for-5 on Florida State's answering drive. Gardner's 21-yard TD catch was his fourth reception of the drive.

A holding penalty nullified a 43-yard TD pass from Ragone to Dorsey early in the fourth quarter. Unfazed, Ragone found Tinch for 23 yards on the next play. Two passes to T.J. Patterson drove the Cardinals to the 2. After a penalty moved the ball to the 1, Ragone rolled right and hit Dorsey for the tying touchdown.

"I couldn't take him down enough," Florida State defensive end Alonzo Jackson said. "He's a great player."

The Seminoles gave up their first first-quarter points of the season on a 45-yard field goal by Nate Smith 1:42 into the game.

Florida State trailed for the first time this season, but not for long. A 33-yard pass from receiver Anquan Boldin to Gardner set up Xavier Beitia's 40-yard field goal with 10:21 left in the quarter.

A personal foul on cornerback Laroni Gallishaw kept alive Florida State's TD drive early in the second quarter. Rix found Gardner on a 23-yard slant with 11:08 left.

Leading Louisville receiver Dontay Spillman did not play. He was suspended for disciplinary reasons by Smith.