Alex Hornibrook didn't know he would be Florida State's starting quarterback Saturday night until just before kickoff.
About an hour later, he might have wondered what he had gotten himself into.
After leading FSU to a field goal on the second drive of the night, Hornibrook and the Seminoles went backward on three straight possessions.
The graduate transfer was sacked twice on the next drive -- once on first down and again on third down. One drive later, he again was sacked on third down. And the same exact thing happened on the next drive.
Over the course of three possessions, from late in the first quarter through midway through the second, the Seminoles' offense accounted for negative-28 yards on nine plays -- and Hornibrook was sacked four times.
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But just when it appeared as if the Seminoles might be in deep trouble with Hornibrook running the show, the fifth-year senior showed exactly why head coach Willie Taggart and offensive coordinator Kendal Briles were so happy about landing him earlier this year.
Hornibrook remained calm and composed when the offense was clearly malfunctioning. And once the Seminoles cleaned up their pass-protection issues, he seized the moment and delivered a pair of second-quarter touchdown strikes to help FSU build a double-digit lead. He then led the 'Noles to two more touchdowns in the second half en route to a 31-13 victory over visiting N.C. State.
"What impressed me so much ... he never stopped. He never gave up," sophomore wide receiver Tamorrion Terry said of Hornibrook. "He kept getting sacked and things like that, and he never gave up. ...
"We believed in him, and he got the job done."
Terry played a major part in helping Hornibrook turn the tide.
With the Seminoles trailing 6-3 and the offense going nowhere on four of its first five possessions, the sophomore receiver caught a short post pass from Hornibrook and turned it into a 43-yard touchdown.
It was the first of three touchdown passes for Hornibrook, who threw for two scores while coming off the bench one week earlier. Through roughly six quarters of action, the Wisconsin transfer has completed 44 of 60 passes for 571 yards and five touchdowns with no interceptions.
"We've got a lot of athletes out there, and my job's just to get them the ball," Hornibrook said. "Coach Briles (offensive coordinator Kendal Briles) does a great job of calling the plays and putting it in those people's hands."
