Florida State has turned to Ja’Khi Douglas so often for clutch catches throughout his career. From big games against Notre Dame and Miami to a six-catch day at Pittsburgh last November, a stuck-in-neutral offense needed the senior receiver again.

Douglas caught four passes for 86 yards, including a 36-yard strike from DJ Uiagalelei that hit him in stride for a fourth-quarter touchdown as FSU defeated Cal 14-9 on Saturday night.

This win came largely on the back of the defense. Patrick Payton had three of Florida State’s seven sacks, with Marvin Jones Jr. and Edwin Joseph combining to sack Cal’s Fernando Mendoza on fourth down with 54 seconds left. The Bears had driven to FSU's 23.

"It’s been a tough first three weeks of the season, just disappointing in the beginning," FSU coach Mike Norvell said. "Going into this week, you say challenge, you say opportunity. We talked about bouncing back. We’re in control of that."

FSU's offense had Darius Washington back at left tackle. And Alex Atkins on the sidelines for the first time in 2024. The offense didn’t move mountains. But the Seminoles were good enough in enough moments.

And it helped that Alex Mastromanno flipped fields, averaging 49.7 yards per punt, while Cal's Ryan Coe made three of his five field-goal attempts (missing from 36 and 38 yards).

FSU (1-3, 1-2 ACC) ran for 107 yards, with Lawrance Toafili leading the way as he racked up 17 carries for 80 yards. Kam Davis also picked up 25 yards on seven carries.

DJ Uiagalelei hit on the strike to Douglas in the fourth quarter, but there was too much miss in the second and third quarters.

Cal racked up 410 offensive yards but managed just nine points — three field goals made, two missed — on five productive drives deep into FSU’s end of the field.

FSU’s defense bent but made stops, recording 12 tackles for loss. Payton had a career-best three sacks and 3.5 tackles for loss, including a diving trip up of Mendoza on a fourth-quarter drive (it went as a sack).

Jones Jr. had a third-down sack of Mendoza, but the Cal quarterback converted on fourth-and-13 with 1:47 left. It was seemingly like that all night as nothing came easy for FSU. Jones Jr. had a career-high two sacks.

Shyheim Brown had 11 tackles in his return after missing the Memphis game.

Blake Nichelson started for a third straight game and recorded a season-best eight tackles.

And Joseph had an interception one week after he was tossed from the game due to targeting. It was Joseph's first career interception.

Quindarrius Jones had three pass breakups on the same drive in the second quarter.

Coe missed a pair of relatively short field-goal attempts in the third quarter (from 36 yards) and in the fourth quarter (from 38 yards), kicks that Ryan Fitzgerald would have likely made. But Coe’s misses were FSU’s gains.

FSU had just two touchdowns in 11 drives, with five punts (four of them on three-and-outs). Considering the Seminoles had only a touchdown apiece in prior losses to Boston College and Memphis, this is a positive. But not much of one.

Uiagalelei was better early in the game, completing some darts into tight coverage. But a costly red-zone interception was an early failure where the Seminoles should have capitalized and gone ahead early, only to have Uiagalelei hit Cal’s Miles Williams between the numbers.

Seven receivers caught passes. But there were drops, notably one by tight end Kyle Morlock over the middle that would have set up the Seminoles near midfield.

Florida State played without starting tackles Jeremiah Byers and Robert Scott. Byers missed his third straight game. Scott was on the sideline and didn’t have a visible brace.

Washington started at left tackle, while Jaylen Early started at right tackle.

Roydell Williams was also announced as out pregame. Kam Davis left the game after taking a big hit in the first half but returned before halftime.

Wide receiver Camdon Frier was on the sideline with crutches.

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