FSU QB Jordan Travis celebrates TD (Photo: Paul Rutherford, USA TODAY Sports)

CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. For nine games, Florida State fans wondered what the Kendal Brilesoffense would look like with a true running threat at quarterback.

We got a glimpse of it when Cam Akers went wild in the WildCam against Syracuse. But largely, it felt like Briles was confined with personnel and game planning for most of the year...partially because his options at quarterback were not optimally tailored to what he wants to do as a play caller.

This is not meantasa slight to James Blackman or Alex Hornibrook. Weve seen them each put together some good performances against conference teams this year. Heck, Blackman had 346 passing yards on just 26 attempts and two scores in yesterdays 38-31 win over Boston College.

But theemergenceof Jordan Travis as a runner stole the show. The redshirt freshman was on the bench all season, with his biggest contribution coming as a scout-team signal caller.

Then on Saturday, Travis ripped touchdown runs of 26 and 66 yards on just three carries.

Watching the Louisville transfer juke past defenders, stick his foot in the ground and burst upfield was electrifying. In just a few seconds of playing time, Travis carries provided hope for the fan base, but they couldve also created confusion, caused some resentment or just provoked you to laugh at how absurd it was that this guy didnt touch the ball before Game 10.

It was a hell of a thing.

He was working all week getting reps, said Akers, who was the only FSU running back to get a touch in the game. Just to see him come out and dominate the run game like that, you know, that's just crazy. That's amazing to me. He came out and I think he rushed for 100 yards, three carries, two touchdowns. That just speaks for itself.

Travis finished with three carries for 94 yards and two touchdowns. His first career touch was the 26-yard touchdown, and his third carry sealed the game by giving FSU a two-score cushion with a minute remaining in the contest.

It was refreshing to see what Briles space-and-pace offense can do with a mobile quarterback. Blackman guided the Seminoles to a strong showing on offense after he was antsy early on, and I imagine hes QB1 going forward, but Travis undoubtedly gave the offense a spark and will potentially open up the playbook in the remaining two games of the regular season.

It begs the question...where has Travis been all season?

Remember, Travis transferred into FSU for the spring semester after he left Louisville. He struggled throughout spring practice, but had a bright showing in the spring game. Then a knee injury limited him in fall camp, and FSU went most of that offseason unsure if he would receive his eligibility waiver.

The waiver was granted, but Travis never played. Not one snap in a sub-package all season. I was told that he hadnt mastered the offense at a high enough level to see vie for reps at quarterback, a position that was unfortunately complicated by the consistent indecision of Willie Taggart.

In truth, I dont have a great reason for why Travis never played. But after yesterday, its fair to question the decision to leave him on the sideline all year and view his lack of playing time even if it was in a run-based capacity as a major misstep.

After the game, interim head coach Odell Haggins was asked when he knew Travis would be part of the game plan for this contest.

"I told Kendal Briles. He said something to me about it. I said, 'Kendal, run your offense. You make that decision. Let's go with it. I'll support you, Haggins said. And I went to Jordan, fist-bumped him, 'Hey, you a Seminole, brother. Our standards here are very high. You get in there, you make the plays, you do what you supposed to do.' And left it at that.'"

The answer felt telling. At the least, Haggins was giving Briles his blessing to run the offense in the exact way he felt fit.

To be clear, I dont believe that was the case for Briles most of the season. It certainly wasn't against Wake Forest,

Perhaps Briles himself wasnt sure if Travis was ready to contribute until yesterday. We wont know for sure until we talk to Briles later this week.

But I do know that Briles offense runs its best with a quarterback who can run. I had a staffer tell me as much back when Briles was hired as the offensive coordinator in December. And I know there was internal excitement when FSU landed Travisa few days later. Walk-on quarterback Wyatt Rector has apparently flashed in practice as well as a dual-threat QB, and I believe FSU wants to continue to stockpile this type of QBs as long as Briles is with the program.

Travis apparently showed glimpses of being a dynamic runner in practice, but to be fair, I dont think anyone was quite expecting what we on Saturday.

You cant really tackle quarterbacks in practice anyway, so it was more like wow, maybe we wouldve missed some of those tackles in practice, safety Hamsah Nasirildeen joked.We tap him and tell him we got him, we got him. But, shoot. You see what he did. Two touches, two touchdowns.

In a year full of what-ifs, the stellar late-season debut of Travis has to be right up there. For him to enter the lineup for the first time in less than a week after the head coach was fired, and then to do that? Like I said, its a hell of a thing.

Read more:

Where the heck has Jordan Travis been all season? - 247Sports