Ashton Daniels Runs for Five Touchdowns as Florida State Routs Virginia 38-7

Florida State quarterback Ashton Daniels ran for five touchdowns and the Seminoles' defense sacked Virginia 10 times as FSU scored 38 unanswered points to beat the Cavaliers 38-7 on Saturday afternoon at Doak Campbell Stadium in Tallahassee. The win lifted Florida State to 3-2 overall and 1-1 in the Atlantic Coast Conference, and it came one week before a Friday night trip to Louisville that opens the hardest stretch of the Seminoles' schedule.

Virginia, which entered the day with the same 3-2 record, also fell to 1-1 in league play. The Cavaliers scored on their opening touchdown drive and then did not score again.

A Slow Start, Then a 38-0 Run

For 15 minutes, the afternoon looked like trouble for Florida State. The Seminoles opened with three consecutive punts and managed just 38 yards in the first quarter, while Virginia gained 101 yards and went up 7-0 on a 13-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Beau Pribula to Da'Shawn Martin, according to WTXL's scoring summary.

The second quarter flipped the game. Florida State outscored Virginia 17-0 in the period and outgained the Cavaliers 218 yards to minus 12, according to the Tallahassee Democrat's coverage carried by Yahoo Sports. Daniels tied the score with a 3-yard touchdown run, put FSU ahead with a quarterback keeper, and the Seminoles added a field goal to take a 17-7 lead into halftime.

Florida State added 14 points in the third quarter and seven more in the fourth. The backbreaker came late in the third quarter, when Daniels broke loose for an 81-yard touchdown run, the longest of his career, that pushed the lead to 24 points. Daniels told reporters after the game that the play was actually a busted play and that he simply trusted his speed.

Daniels Rewrites the Record Book

Daniels, a graduate transfer, finished with 136 rushing yards and five touchdowns on 17 carries and completed passes for 183 yards, giving him 319 yards of total offense. He accounted for every Florida State touchdown.

The five rushing touchdowns set a Florida State record for a quarterback and a Doak Campbell Stadium record, according to the university's athletics department and the Associated Press. The Democrat reported that the total also tied the program's single-game rushing touchdown record for a player at any position. His one blemish was an interception, a sideline throw that receiver Jayvan Boggs bobbled.

Daniels took a winding road to Tallahassee. The Buford, Georgia, native started for three seasons at Stanford, spent the 2025 season at Auburn, where he lost a quarterback competition and started three games, and committed to Florida State as a graduate transfer on Jan. 6, 2026. He won the starting job in preseason camp and opened the year with a 34-17 win over New Mexico State.

The supporting cast contributed as well. Ousmane Kromah ran for 80 yards, receiver Micahi Danzy led all receivers with 70 receiving yards and kept second-half drives moving, and Tre Wisner added 48 receiving yards and 46 rushing yards. Florida State averaged 6.1 yards per carry and outgained Virginia 464-205 after the first quarter.

Ten Sacks and 37 Rushing Yards Allowed

If Daniels supplied the highlights, the Florida State front supplied the control. The Seminoles sacked Pribula 10 times and recorded 12 tackles for loss. Nine different defenders were credited with at least half a sack. The outburst was striking given that Florida State had recorded just seven sacks through its first four games combined.

Virginia finished with 205 total yards and 37 rushing yards, an average of 0.9 yards per carry once sack yardage was counted. Pribula threw for 168 yards. Coverage of the Cavaliers carried by Yahoo Sports noted that the 38-0 run was the largest stretch of unanswered points the Cavaliers had allowed under coach Tony Elliott, and that an offensive line that allowed only 18 sacks in 14 games last season gave up double digits in one afternoon.

What the Win Means for Norvell

The result arrived at a pressure point for coach Mike Norvell. Florida State had dropped a 27-24 home game to SMU on Sept. 7 that counted as its ACC opener, then lost 50-36 at Alabama on Sept. 19 before bouncing back against Central Arkansas. The Democrat noted that Norvell's job security had been under scrutiny entering the week and described the 38-7 result as the team's most complete performance of the season.

Norvell said after the game that the team had experienced real challenges in the early part of the season but had also seen incredible work from its players during the week of preparation, according to WTXL.

The season to date, according to the team's schedule:

One clear area of concern remains the opening quarter. Florida State has repeatedly needed time to settle in, and against Virginia it punted on its first three possessions before finding a rhythm. A quicker start will matter more on the road against conference opponents with stronger offenses than Virginia showed after its first drive.

Virginia's Afternoon to Forget

For Virginia, the loss ended a 3-1 start on a sour note in the Cavaliers' first ACC road game. Their first-quarter scoring drive covered 63 yards, but Virginia was outscored 38-0 the rest of the way and its offense produced negative yardage in the second quarter. Missed tackles on defense compounded the problem.

Virginia returns home to host Syracuse on Saturday at 7:30 p.m.

What's Next

Florida State plays at Louisville on Friday, Oct. 9, with a 7 p.m. kickoff on ESPN at L&N Federal Credit Union Stadium. That game begins a run of seven consecutive ACC games to close the conference schedule, and it is the first of back-to-back road trips, with the Seminoles visiting Miami at Hard Rock Stadium on Oct. 17.

The remaining schedule also includes a home game against Clemson on Oct. 31, road trips to Boston College and Pittsburgh in November, a home game against NC State on Nov. 21 and the regular-season finale against Florida at Doak Campbell Stadium on Nov. 27. With two losses already on the ledger, one of them in conference play, the margin for error in the ACC race is thin, and the Louisville trip will show whether the Virginia performance was a turning point or a one-week spike.