FSU won toss, deferred, and ULM receives.
The first half of the first quarter was uneventful with no significant yard gains from either offense. This was due to opening day jitters and good defense by both teams.
It took a couple of minutes of play for the Noles offense to find their stride but find it they did. After Nole's Greg Reid ran a 179yard answer to a 34 yard punt, quarterback E.J. Manuel, who made his first career start as Florida State's starting quarterback, came alive. Manuel immediately followed up Reed's run with a 16 yard pass to Rodney Smith and and an 17 yard pass to Kenny Shaw to get the ball to ULM's 6 yard line. The Noles scored their first touchdown with 4:16 left in the first quarter with a pass to wide open Bert Reed, despite Manuel being sacked for a 3 yard loss.
ULM answered the Noles push with a push of their own. Three first downs took the Warhawks to the Seminole 40. However, the Seminole defense woke up in time to stop the drive and the first quarter expired.
notes:
FSU veteran lineman Andrew Datko was seen taking command of the defensive line to take the opening day jitters off of new Junior College (North Dakota State College) center Jacob Fahrenkrug.