ORLANDO -- Any minute now, Ole Miss will self-impose a second-half ban.
What was that, Ole Miss? "It was a nightmarish second half," a devastated Rebels coach Hugh Freeze said.
Where did you come from, Florida State? "Momentum is something that we don't talk about in sports enough," Seminoles coach Jimbo Fisher said. "We all want the reasons why, but once momentum swings, sometimes it just goes. It takes a heck of a group of kids to turn it back."
Around America, college football fans went to bed early Monday night believing they'd wake up the next day able to mock Dalvin Cook's bumbling fumble. What are the odds a couple AP Top 25 voters hit send on their ballots early with Ole Miss in the top five and Florida State buried?
Good morning. How did you sleep?
Say hello to a star quarterback. His name is Deondre Francois, not Chad Kelly. Say hello to Florida State 45, Ole Miss 34 after one of the biggest all-time meltdowns you'll ever see.
In something straight out of a basketball game, Florida State scored 33 straight points after trailing 28-6. The Seminoles went on a 30-0 run in less than 15 minutes. Total yards in the third quarter: Florida State 214, Ole Miss -7.
Week 1 in college football was one giant emoji with a shoulder shrug and smiley face. I don't know what the hell happened either, but please give us more.
At first blush, Francois' 16-yard touchdown pass 28 seconds before halftime, which he got off milliseconds before getting drilled, looked harmless. (Well, it wasn't harmless for Francois, who stayed down for a while appeared to have his arm looked at by trainers on the sideline.)
"Hey, look at the Seminoles still fighting," the thinking went. "At least they won't fold like USC."
Fold? These Seminoles showed heart they lacked at the Peach Bowl loss last year to Houston. They showed toughness they lacked when Clemson punched them in the mouth during the fourth quarter last season. For Francois, a redshirt freshman, to stand in th epocket and take shots without ducking, "that's when those teammates respect you," Fisher said.
Francois' touchdown pass to Travis Rudolph started the avalanche. Then Ricky Aguayo -- yes, Roberto's younger brother -- kicked a 40-yard field goal. Then Freddie Stevenson ran in from 1 yard out after a Kelly tipped-ball interception. Then Kermit Whitfield had a 3-yard touchdown run after a bad Kelly fumble. Then Ryan Izzo caught a 2-yard touchdown from Francois. Then Aguayo added another 40-yard kick.
For the love of God, why didn't Andy Kennedy call a timeout? Oh wait, this was football? (Kennedy is the Ole Miss basketball coach.)
You can't overstate how dominant Ole Miss looked and the mess Florida State found itself in during the first half. Television cameras caught Fisher rolling his eyes in amazement on the sideline as Francois, a redshirt freshman making his first start, tried to explain one of his miscues.
The lasting image of the Seminoles looked like it would be their Heisman Trophy candidate amazingly fumbling away a touchdown while trailing 21-3. Cook caught a wide-open pass at the 12-yard line and was about to waltz in when, inexplicably, he started to switch the ball from his right hand to his left.
Why? Was the ball slipping? Was he getting ready to celebrate?
"It was crazy. That's never happened to me in my life," Cook said. "I was going to get to the end zone and it just slipped out. I don't know how it happened."
Whatever the reason, Cook helplessly watched the ball dribble out of bounds in another sign that football -- this game, at least -- has truly become basketball on grass. The Seminoles settled for a field goal and those four missed points looked like they might loom large.
Give Fisher credit. He adjusted the offense to the strengths of his new quarterback, and Francois ran with it. With five minutes left in the game, Francois completed 33-of-52 passes for 419 yards and two touchdowns, and he also rushed for 59 yards. What is it about Labor Day night and redshirt freshman Seminoles quarterbacks? Ask Jameis Winston, who was on the sideline Monday and texted Francois before the game to stay calm.
"Kind of similar guys, exactly alike to me [in terms of their] confidence level," Cook said. "Them two guys, they're gonna bring it to the field every day. I was fortunate enough to play with Jameis and now I"m playing with a great quarterback, and he just wants to win."
The Rebels again got burned by their inability to establish a true running game to milk the clock and stay on the field. Florida State held the ball for 42:39 compared to 17:21 for Ole Miss. The more the Rebels relied on Kelly, the more Florida State's defense pinned Ole Miss' ears back and attacked him. Defensive end DeMarcus Walker had an incredible 4.5 sacks.
This one is going to hurt Ole Miss for a while, especially as the pending NCAA investigation looms over Freeze and his program. This is a meltdown of epic proportions, and in further wonderful news for Freeze, Alabama comes to Oxford, Mississippi, in two weeks.
This one will sting for the SEC, which went 6-6 outside the conference in Week 1. Seven SEC teams lost their first game, something that hasn't happened to the conference since 1992.
Before the game, SEC commissioner Greg Sankey put on a brave face about the tough start -- and yes, it's just that, a start -- but pointed out the SEC had won three of its four games by that point against ranked opponents.
"What's the old cliché? Teams show more improvement from Week 1 to Week 2 than any other point of the year," Sankey said. "I don't think it's a rough week. It's a week in college football. We've played some great games and challenged ourselves the first week. That's good for college football."
So, how did you sleep? Say hello to Deondre Francois. Welcome back Florida State from the dead and buried.
"I ain't trying to go through heartaches like I did in 2014, man, up and down all year when we come back every game," Cook said. "We ain't gonna start that up. We're gonna go out and start fast from now on."
The truth is, after a remarkable Week 1, nobody knows where college football goes from here. That's the excitement and danger for Florida State and Ole Miss when they wake up Tuesday.