CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. - Florida State football won ugly Saturday.

That's OK.

The No. 3 Seminoles (3-0, 1-0 ACC) trailed for much of the first half and nearly blew a 21-point lead in the fourth quarter.

But the important thing is they held on. They escaped with a 31-29 victory over Boston College.

Winning ugly in college football is sometimes necessary and is not the end of the world. As long as FSU learns from it.

"We know we're the better team," FSU linebacker DJ Lundy said. "We've got to play better, we've got to execute better. At the same time, we won and that's all that matters. We've just got to go back to practice and fix our mistakes."

However, all the questions about the team before an impressive win over then-No. 5 LSU and Southern Miss last week are going to return ahead of a pivotal ACC matchup at Clemson Saturday.

It wouldn't be a major upset to see FSU no longer as a favorite for next Saturday's game. Especially considering the Seminoles haven't won in Death Valley since 2013 and the first true road game of the season was not smooth.

"I told them in the locker room, 'That's real life there,'" FSU head coach Mike Norvell said. "Experiences happen where you have to bring that edge and you have to have that edge every single snap when you step on the football field and whatever you want.

"The first thing I was talking to our coaches about is 'Keep the edge, keep the edge keep on the attack, keep being aggressive.' But then something negative happens. We allowed that to kind of snowball a little bit."

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While the loss could hurt the Seminoles in the AP and US LBM polls which will be released later Sunday, in the grand scheme of things, it doesn't matter.

Every goal FSU had before the season still remains the same. If the Seminoles win next week at Clemson and finish the regular season undefeated, no one is nitpicking at the close win against Boston College.

"We don't care about the rankings," FSU running back Rodney Hill said. "As long as we win, we're good. We're going to come back and we're going to work hard."

Hill echoed the sentiment from Norvell about the team meeting adversity.

The players know the season is not lost on one game, especially one they won, regardless of how ugly it was on a day No. 9 Tennessee fell to unranked Florida, while Alabama struggled with South Florida (17-3) and No. 1 Georgia against South Carolina (24-14).

"Adversity is going to happen all throughout your life as Coach Norvell is telling us," Hill said. "As we go through life we will see a lot of adversity, like out there was adversity. So we just have to go back to practice and build on it."

Defensive struggles

The formula for BC to pull off an upset in less-than-ideal situations was to take away possessions from the Seminoles and control the ball. The best defense against FSU this year remains to keep Travis on the sideline.

The Eagles set the tone early. On their first drive, they went seven plays for 75 yards and took 4:07 off the clock. After an FSU field goal, they drove down 16 plays, for 72 yards and converted a field goal.

The second possession of the game did not come until the second quarter for the Seminoles.

"You have to give credit to Boston College," Norvell said. "They came out and played really hard. The quarterback did some great things extending with his legs. They did a good job of possessing the ball and converting third downs.

"Offensively we were limited on the number of drives today. We were limited in our opportunities. But that puts more of an emphasis on the importance of execution of those opportunities.

The Eagles were 8-for-19 on third downs and were 4-for-5 on fourth down conversions. FSU on the other hand was 2-for-9 on third downs and converted its only fourth down conversion.

BC converted third downs with an average distance of 9.8 yards to go. FSU recorded just two 3-and-outs on the day.

As a result, the Eagles held the ball for 33:50 and the Seminoles just 26:10.

"We just have to get off the field on third down," Lundy said. "The defense has to get off the field on third down. We did not get off the field on third down enough today. We have to be better at doing that."

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Run game struggles

In a game where the wind was going to play a major factor and then Travis went down with an injury late in the first half, the run game for FSU was expected to play a major role.

However, the Seminoles struggled to gain any traction all game against a team that allowed 264 rushing yards and 6.8 yards per carry to FCS-level Holy Cross in a narrow 31-28 victory at home the week prior.

FSU finished with 34 rushes for 126 yards, averaging just 3.7 yards per carry.

Rushing the ball in the first half was an issue against LSU and Southern Miss. It was all game against Boston College. That cannot continue to be an issue against Clemson, or even Duke or Miami down the line.

Hill led the team with five carries for 42 yards. Meanwhile, Trey Benson struggled with his 12 rushes for 38 yards and Lawrance Toafili had seven runs for 24 yards.

Toafili also had a fumble which led to a scoop-and-score from Khari Johnson to cut the lead down to nine with just over 11 minutes left.

In the third quarter, Benson mishandled a squib kick and could not gain possession, allowing BC to get the ball in very favorable territory.

"It was just a little adversity," Hill said of Benson and Toafili's turnovers. "After they came to the sideline, we talked. to them and they got right back up. It's like that sometimes. You just have to bring them back up as teammates."

GAME INFORMATION

Who: AP No. 3 FSU (3-0, 1-0 ACC) at Clemson (2-1, 0-1)

When/where: Saturday, Sept. 23, noon.; Memorial Stadium, Clemson, S.C.

TV/Radio: ABC/94.9 FM

Live game updates: www.Tallahassee.com; @Ehsan_Kassim on Twitter; @JackGWilliams on Twitter; @JimHenryTALLY on Twitter

Reach Ehsan Kassim at ekassim@gannett.com or follow him on Twitter at @Ehsan_Kassim. You can also follow our coverage on Facebook (NoleSports) and Instagram (tlhnolesports).

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This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Florida State football: Seminoles fine after close call Boston College