Rick Stockstill explains pivotal fake FG call in FSU football's win over BC

Snap, flip, six.

Florida State football trailed Boston College 17-14 with under a minute left in the first half of the game on Saturday, Nov. 7. With the Seminoles (4-5, 2-4 ACC) set to get the ball after halftime, interim head coach Rick Stockstill sent his field goal unit onto the field for what looked like a short kick from the one-yard line.

However, as the ball was snapped, kicker Gabe Panikowski darted right and received a pass from holder Carter Jula, who flipped the football over his head. Panikowski caught it clean and sprinted into the corner of the end zone in Alumni Stadium to put FSU ahead 21-17, thanks to his ensuing extra point.

“I didn’t put it in; Herb Hand, our offensive line coach, put it in… We put it in over the weekend and we thought we had look. We had a check out of it if they didn’t give us the look we wanted,” Stockstill told reporters postgame in a Powerade-soaked shirt.

Just like we drew it up@GPanikowski#NoleFamilypic.twitter.com/0ub1GaUd77

— FSU Football (@FSUFootball) November 7, 2026

“My thought process behind it was there wasn’t a lot of time left in the first half… we were down three. So, in my mind, I’m thinking [that] they’re thinking, ‘Hey, they’re just going to get it tied up and go into halftime at 17.’ I said, ‘ Let’s do it.”

The flip-six gave FSU its first halftime lead of a road game since a 10-0 advantage over Pitt on Nov. 4, 2023. It was a gusty call, but one that was built toward by the Seminoles scoring 14 straight points against the Eagles in the second quarter.

FSU trailed 10-0 after the first quarter, but rattled off 21 points thanks to touchdowns from quarterback Ashton Daniels and running back Amari Thomas before Panikowski’s trickery. After the fake, the Seminoles tacked on 10 more points and held the Eagles to just one touchdown en route to a 31-24 win.

It was a call that the Seminoles needed to snap a miserable, near three-year-long road losing streak, and it resulted in a Powerade bath for Stockstill as the clock hit triple zeros.

The decision was one that Stockstill said his former coach, the legendary Bobby Bowden, would be proud of.

“The first thing that went through my mind is, ‘I’ve got coach Bowden blood in me.’ You know, he’d run a trick play or two himself,” Stockstill said.

“So, maybe he’s smiling down on me right now.”

FSU football’s record (3-5, 1-4 ACC)

• vs. New Mexico State | 34-17 W
• vs. SMU* | 27-24 L
• Bye
• at Alabama | 50-36 L
• vs. Central Arkansas | 34-7 W
• vs. Virginia* | 38-7 W
• at Louisville* | 44-20 L
• at Miami* | 43-35 2OT L
• Bye
• vs. Clemson* | 36-24 L
• at Boston College* | Nov. 7
• at Pittsburgh* | Nov. 13
• vs. NC State* | Nov. 21
• vs. Florida | Nov. 27

Liam Rooney covers Florida State athletics for the Tallahassee Democrat. Contact him via email at LRooney@gannett.com or on Twitter @__liamrooney.

This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Rick Stockstill explains pivotal fake FG call in FSU football’s win over BC