TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Yannik Cudjoe-Virgil ducked inside his man on the right side and reached his left arm toward Jameis Winston’s chest. The Terrapins football outside linebacker was in prime position to sack the Florida State quarterback late in the third quarter on what had been an otherwise frustrating day.

But Winston ducked and Cudjoe-Virgil fell to the ground. Then, the opposing redshirt freshman eluded outside linebacker Marcus Whitfield by scrambling to his right and threaded a throw on the run to tight end Nick O’Leary in the corner of the end zone.

The touchdown was Winston’s fourth of the day, and it put the then-No. 8 Seminoles up by six scores over the then-No. 25 Terps on a day to forget. Any momentum from a blazing 4-0 start and national ranking was sapped in a 63-0 shellacking before an announced 74,909 on a sunny, humid Saturday at Doak Campbell Stadium.

“To be honest, when I was on the sideline, it kind of felt like I was in a bad dream,” inside linebacker Cole Farrand said. “I wouldn’t have expected this to happen in the slightest.”

The Terps entered Saturday’s matchup under the skeptical eye of the national media. Though Florida State was still a heavy favorite, many viewed the game with intrigue. ESPN analyst Lee Corso picked the Seminoles (5-0, 3-0 ACC) on ESPN’s College GameDay, but he said if the game was being played at Byrd Stadium in College Park, he would have sided with the Terps (4-1, 0-1).

But instead, the Terps exited Bobby Bowden Field into a dark, narrow tunnel, ending a nightmare. They were the victims of their worst loss since a 70-7 drubbing against Penn State in 1993. The lauded offense that put up points with ease throughout the first month of the season was shut out for the first time since 2008.

“We weren’t very good,” coach Randy Edsall said. “Florida State’s a very good team. I take full responsibility for this, and we didn’t play well — offensively, defensively, special teams — and we didn’t coach as well as we needed to today.”

Quarterback play on both sides took on a particularly significant role. The Terps’ C.J. Brown suffered a concussion late in the second quarter and didn’t return, but he was just 6-of-14 for 82 yards at the time of his injury. Backup Caleb Rowe replaced him and went 9-of-17 for 119 yards. The Terps’ dangerous wide receiving corps of Stefon Diggs (two catches, 24 yards), Deon Long (three catches, 77 yards) and Nigel King (three catches, 46 yards) was bottled up by the Seminoles’ superior athleticism.

And while the Terps’ signal-callers struggled, Florida State’s continued to embellish his burgeoning legend. Winston threw for a career-high 393 yards and five touchdowns on 23-of-32 passing. His strike to O’Leary to put the Seminoles up 42-0 highlighted an all-around performance.

“Yeah, he’s a great quarterback and everything, but I feel like we had the talent out there to stop him,” Farrand said. “You saw the first couple drives, we were doing a good job. And then we definitely got sloppy with things, and you can’t let a quarterback like that, you have to be on point every time. You can’t give him a little bit of leeway because he’ll take advantage of it, and that’s what he did today.”

With the Terps missing their top two cornerbacks to injuries and the pass rush failing to get consistent pressure, Winston operated with a surgical precision to dismantle the secondary. Four Seminoles caught at least four passes for 55 yards, and they outgained the Terps, 614-234.

The Seminoles offensive line pushed the Terps’ front seven around, too, as running back Devonta Freeman rushed for 63 of Florida State’s 183 rushing yards. The Terps, on the other hand, couldn’t get anything going and rushed for just 33 yards. Running back Jacquille Veii was the Terps’ leading rusher with 15 yards, and all of those came with the game well out of reach. Brandon Ross, who started at running back, rushed just three times for minus-1 yard.

The loss was a shocking result for a team expecting to make a statement in a nationally televised game. In the end, the Terps left Tallahassee defeated but looking to their next game as a chance to right Saturday’s wrongs.

“It’s how you expected a

63-point loss to be,” Farrand said. “It’s quiet, and everybody’s upset. But I know we’re going to bring all this anger and what we have in us right now, we’re definitely going to bring it and put it into Virginia next week.”