Florida State Seminoles place kicker Ryan Fitzgerald produced a sensational 59-Yard field goal against Georgia Tech in Saturday's Aer Lingus College Football Classic in Dublin. Trailing 14-11 in the final seconds of the first half, Florida State looked to be heading into halftime with a deficit but Fitzgerald hit an insane new career-long 59-yard field goal to tie the game and finish a back-and-forth first half between both ACC programs.
Fitzgerald's 59-yard field goal tied the Florida State Seminoles program record for longest field goal.
59 yards.Career long. Second-longest in FSU history.Ryan Fitzgerald ties the game at the half. #NoleFamily |#KeepCLIMBingpic.twitter.com/ePaiB1yzTO
— FSU Football (@FSUFootball) August 24, 2024
Definitely, there's plenty to be desired on Florida State's offense. A few chunk plays could improve in rhythm in the second half, but trailing 14-8 would have the team in a much more difficult position had Fitzgerald not converted both field goals.
Florida State Seminoles place kicker also hit a 52-yarder earlier in the half. When it comes to Fitzgerald'sprevious career long, it was 53 yards back in 2021. He is coming off a solid 2023 season where he went 19-of-21 on field goal tries.
Interestingly, Fitzgerald was struggling to keep his spot on the roster two years ago.
Social media reaction on Ryan Fitzgerald's 59-yard field goal
As soon as Ryan Fitzgerald hit that 59-yard field goal for Florida State Seminoles, social media went crazy.
59 YARDS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Ryan Fitzgerald kicks the second-longest FG in school history. H1: FSU 14, GT 14#NoleFamily |#KeepCLIMBingpic.twitter.com/5nQq9iIIF6
— FSU Football (@FSUFootball) August 24, 2024
FSU kicker Ryan Fitzgerald hitting from 59 yards and doing the Conor McGregor!🇺🇸🇮🇪 pic.twitter.com/RcRnKGa1u0
— Lucky (@bettorthanlucky) August 24, 2024
Ryan Fitzgerald has come along way and I have always been there for him.
— Wyatt Rector (@WyattRector) August 24, 2024
Ryan Fitzgerald is clutch. Nailed a 52-yarder earlier and capped the half with a 59-yard bomb.@LifeofFitz has to be proud.
— 🌾 Jon Grove 🌾 (@jongrove02) August 24, 2024
Who is Ryan Fitzgerald?
Florida State Seminoles place kicker is a redshirt senior who hails from Coolidge, Georgia. He is in his fourth season as the Seminoles starting kicker.
As per his FSU player profile page, Fitzgerald entered the 2024 season ranked ninth in program history with 299 points scored. Notably, Fitzgerald is the only player in Seminoles program history with multiple seasons of at least 57 made PATs.
When it comes to Fitzgerald's stats during his career at FSU entering this season, he made 45 of 61 field goals attempted (73.77%) and 164 PATs.