Going Big: 'Noles stunned B.C. with chunk play after chunk play

It wasn't the fact that Tamorrion Terry out-ran a defensive back that made his game-winning, 74-yard reception so improbable last Saturday.

It was who it came against ... and how many times the Florida State offense made similar big plays that afternoon.

Heading into Saturday's game, the Boston College defense had been one of the best in the country at preventing big plays. The Eagles had given up just two gains of over 50 yards in their first 10 games combined before the Seminoles hit them for two more in the 22-21 victory -- the 74-yard pass from Deondre Francois to Terry, and a 55-yard run by Cam Akers.

And it was like that for much of the day.

Florida State's offense, which had struggled mightily in recent weeks, gashed Boston College for 12 plays of over 10 yards and eight plays for more than 20.

Terry's game-winning reception was the longest pass surrendered by the Eagles' defense all season.

"I think overall we just executed better," FSU head coach Willie Taggart said. "I talked about it after the Notre Dame game and the North Carolina State game ... we're not consistently executing. And I thought on Saturday, we executed consistently a little bit more than we had all season, and it paid off for us."

In the days before the Boston College game -- after watching his team suffer three consecutive blowouts -- Taggart said the Seminoles needed to find a way to create more big plays. He expressed a lack of confidence in the offense's ability to put together efficient, lengthy scoring drives against quality defenses.