TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) Tommy Castellanos threw for 271 yards and had one of Florida State Seminoles’s five rushing touchdowns in a 42-7 rout of Wake Forest Demon Deacons on Saturday.

Sam Singleton had 14 carries for 91 yards and a 10-yard touchdown as the Seminoles (4-4, 1-4 Atlantic Coast Conference) halted a four-game slide and earned their first ACC victory since a 14-9 win over California on Sept. 21, 2024.

Florida State opened with a stunning upset of Alabama and then grabbed victories in two guarantee games. But the Seminoles lost in double overtime at Virginia before dropping a rivalry showdown against Miami and falling to Pittsburgh and Stanford.

“I know it’s been a rough month leading up to this game,” Florida State coach Mike Norvell said. “We’ve had to face some disappointments. Our players, they’ve been putting in the work.”

The pressure ramped up on Norvell, with Florida State athletics director Michael Alford releasing a statement after a 20-13 loss at Stanford that said the coach and program would be evaluated after the regular season.

In their first game since the statement on Oct. 20, the Seminoles delivered quite the response.

“Coach Norvell has been absolutely awesome, everything and more for us,” Castellanos said. “I know you guys don’t see that and I know they don’t see that. Everybody blames the coach. That’s on us. Those four games are on us. We were put in position to execute and win those games and we didn’t. I’m glad we got that done for him. It’s new November.”

Gavin Sawchuk added a pair of 1-yard TD runs, while tight end Randy Pittman had a 7-yard TD run out of the wildcat.

Castellanos completed 12 of 16 passes for 217 yards, connecting with Duce Robinson five times for 148 yards and an 11-yard touchdown.

Robby Ashford completed 12 of 21 passes for 93 yards and ran 12 times for 59 yards for Wake Forest (5-3, 2-3).

“We got decidedly beat in all three phases,” Wake Forest coach Jake Dickert said. “Didn’t have much going on offense. Didn’t execute. Weren’t able to put drives together. Defensively, we gave up big plays for the first time all season.”

Singleton had just one carry for -1 yard against a Power 4 opponent, Miami, this season coming into Saturday. The redshirt sophomore earned his first college start and averaged 6.5 yards per carry.

Wake Forest: The Deacons had a pair of long runs erased by holding calls, among six first-half penalties. Wake trailed 14-0 at the half and finished with just 247 total yards

Florida State: The Seminoles, who hadn’t won a power-conference game since the opener against Alabama, dominated and quieted the criticism of coach Mike Norvell.

Wake Forest plays at Virginia on Saturday.

Florida State plays at Clemson on Saturday.

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