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FSU fends off Pitt, improves to 2-0 under interim coach Rick Stockstill
Ashton Daniels, shown last month against Clemson, passed for 163 yards, ran for 27 and avoided major mistakes Friday as Florida State took a more methodical approach Friday against Pitt. ©Colin Hackley
Ashton Daniels, shown last month against Clemson, passed for 163 yards, ran for 27 and avoided major mistakes Friday as Florida State took a more methodical approach Friday against Pitt. ©Colin Hackley

PITTSBURGH — Ashton Daniels passed for 163 yards, Gabe Panikowski kicked three field goals, and Florida State’s defense did the rest as the Seminoles edged Pittsburgh 16-10 on Friday night.

Florida State (5-5, 3-4 ACC) won its second game in as many weeks under interim coach Rick Stockstill, showing some grit on both sides of the ball that was lacking during the final weeks of former coach Mike Norvell’s tenure.

Daniels, who also ran for 27 yards, avoided major mistakes and the Seminoles took a methodical approach to move within a game of bowl eligibility.

Freshman running back Amari Thomas provided Florida State with its only touchdown on a 1-yard plunge in the third quarter shortly after defensive lineman Rylan Kennedy picked off Pitt quarterback Corey Dailey, whose pass deflected off a helmet and into Kennedy’s hands deep in Panthers territory.

The Seminoles managed just 260 yards of total offense, and drives regularly bogged down in Pitt territory — including one in the fourth quarter in which Daniels was stripped amid a rugby-like scrum after scrambling for a first down — but Panikowski’s trusty leg made sure it didn’t matter. Panikowski’s three field goals moved him to 11-for-11 on the season and 26-for-26 in his career, the longest active streak in the Football Bowl Subdivision.

Dailey, a freshman making his second start of the season after a hip injury sidelined Holden Geriner, completed 16 of 34 passes for 157 yards with a touchdown and an interception. The 6-foot-6 Dailey also ran for 58 yards, most of them coming on Pitt’s last-gasp drive that ended with a fourth-down incompletion at midfield.

Boosie Turner, appearing in just his fourth game of the season for the Panthers (6-4, 4-3), ran for 42 yards and caught seven passes for 41 yards and a touchdown. Yet Dailey could never really find a rhythm, and the Seminoles turned his one major mistake into a short touchdown drive that proved to be a big part of the difference.

The takeaway

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