GAINESVILLE — There was a roadmap to a road win. Florida State just kept getting lost.

The Seminoles limited the penalties to four and kept the turnovers to one until the game’s final play. But after yet another sluggish start, and a scoreless first quarter, FSU fell behind and couldn’t keep up. Or stop the run.

Jadan Baugh ran 38 times for 266 yards and a pair of touchdowns as Florida won with a steady dose of the run, mixed in some play action and thumped FSU 40-21 before 90,007 fans in the Swamp on Saturday. Baugh’s second touchdown came on a fourth-and-3 run as he scored from 13 yards out with 56 seconds to go.

Tommy Castellanos completed 1175 of 28 passes for 240 yards, including five to Lawayne McCoy for 109 yards and a 17-yard touchdown with 3:07 to go. Castellanos also ran 19 times for 77 yards.

FSU (5-7) lost for the fifth time this season on the road. This time it was to a rival that had lost four straight games and was led by an interim head coach, Billy Gonzales.

And this time, it was a similar issue with FSU failing to finish drives. The Seminoles had two touchdowns and a missed field-goal attempt to show from four possessions in Florida’s territory.

The Seminoles have suffered four losing seasons in coach Mike Norvell’s six years in Tallahassee. What began as a year of promise with a win over Alabama ended with consistent duds away from Tallahassee.

FSU managed 13, 10, 11 and now 21 in its last four road games.

Turning point

The game definitely turned on another of Norvell’s fourth-down decisions, this time early in the third quarter. If Norvell had opted to punt, FSU’s defense would have had a longer field to protect.

But with FSU facing fourth-and-1 from its own 40, Castellanos scrambled to his right and ran toward the FSU sideline. While he ran toward the marker, Castellanos was ruled short on the field. Norvell pushed officials during the TV timeout for a review, and the ruling was confirmed.

Baugh quickly made FSU pay. He ran for 20 yards and then 14 yards, setting up a DJ Lagway touchdown pass to Hayden Hansen as Florida (4-8) pushed the lead back out to 24-14.

Offense

Castellanos had a 13-yard touchdown pass to Micahi Danzy early in the second quarter, which cut the Florida deficit to 10-7.

The teams traded turnovers, with FSU benefitting from a short field off a tip-drill interception by Edwin Joseph. Four plays later, Castellanos ran for a 4-yard touchdown and FSU trailed 17-14 at the half.

But FSU couldn’t get much of a ground game going for dual reasons: Florida’s defensive front stuffed runs and FSU was behind the entire game. The Seminoles had just 139 yards on the ground, averaging 4 yards per carry.

McCoy also had an impressive one-handed grab on a 34-yard reception on fourth down in the fourth quarter.

Duce Robinson had three catches for 53 yards, including a 44-yarder. Danzy had three catches for 42 yards.

Defense

Baugh surpassed the 1,000-yard mark for 2025 in the second quarter. He became the seventh 200-yard rusher in a single game in school history.

DJ Lagway had three touchdowns, the most he had in an FBS game this fall. But he hadn’t had more than one touchdown since the Texas A&M game on Oct. 11.

Stefon Thompson led FSU with 10 tackles. He added a half sack.

Special teams

Squirrel White was back for a punt return and lost it in the lights. But he didn’t touch it and the punt went into the end zone for a touchback.

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