TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- For a half Saturday, No. 11 Florida State seemed to be in a bit of a funk.

Then the Seminoles remembered they had Dalvin Cook.

Cook, the Seminoles' prized Heisman contender who was held to 28 rushing yards in the first half on seven carries, exploded in the second half to lead No. 11 Florida State past Louisville, 41-21, on Saturday.

"Dalvin's just ... he's Dalvin; I don't know what to say," Florida State head coach Jimbo Fisher said of Cook, who finished with 163 yards on 22 carries and two touchdowns to go with 60 yards receiving. "I just sit there sometimes with my mouth open and watch him."

Florida State (6-0, 4-0 in the ACC) extended its Atlantic Coast Conference winning streak to 28 games. That's one shy of the ACC record of 29, which the Seminoles set from 1992-94.

Florida State's defense also deserves a game ball after holding Louisville freshman QB Lamar Jackson, the nation's third-leading freshman rusher coming into the game, to 32 yards on 19 carries.

Jackson did most of his damage through the air, finishing with 307 yards passing and three touchdowns -- both career highs -- with all three scoring throws going to wideout James Quick,

But while the final score Saturday looked lopsided, Louisville's defense shined early and the Cardinals led Florida State, 7-6, at halftime.

The second half, however, was a different story.

"We didn't play our best ball in the first half," said Seminoles' leading wideout Kermit Whitfield, who finished with a career-high nine catches for 172 yards and a score.

"Second half, that's when we came out and started playing FSU football."

Florida State's charge began less than two minutes into the third quarter with a 54-yard touchdown run by Cook, then continued one drive later with a 70-yard scoring pass from quarterback Everett Golson to Whitfield.

And when Seminoles defensive back Derwin James strip-sacked Jackson on the Cardinals' second possession of the second half, Cook cashed it in with a 14-yard run to the end zone for his second score of the game.

The rout was officially on.

"(The offensive line), they don't get enough credit and the receivers, they don't get enough credit for the blocking they do (for me downfield)," said Cook, who has 855 yards and 11 total touchdowns in six games. "They're the highlight of everything I'm doing right now."

Golson, who completed 13-of-20 passes with two sacks in the first half, continued his pattern this season of really shining in the second half. He finished the game 26-of-38 with three touchdown passes.

The 70-yarder to Whitfield was the longest of his short Florida State career, while his second touchdown pass went to Travis Rudolph from 13 yards with 12:44 left in the game to put the Seminoles up, 34-14, and all but end it.

Golson's second-half numbers for Florida State this season have been impressive, to say the least: 63-for-92, 873 yards and nine touchdown passes.

But the quarterback was once again not made available to the media after the game -- a trend Fisher usually reserves for freshmen, not graduate transfers like Golson.

Fisher addressed his gag order on Golson earlier this week, saying it was in Golson's and the team's "best interests" to keep him off-limits to the press while he settles in with his new team.

"I saw intensity and focus in his eyes the second half," Fisher said of Golson, who is leading a Florida State unit that still hasn't committed an offensive turnover this season, the only team in FBS that can say that.

"This game was a tale of two halves, and we saw what this team can do in a first half when it presses itself, and what they can do in the second half when they relax and plays up to its capabilities. They don't realize how good they can be."

Louisville (2-4, 1-2) led the Seminoles on Saturday for 17 minutes and 20 seconds -- longer than any other Florida State opponent this season -- mostly thanks to Jackson and Quick.

Louisville answered Florida State's first third-quarter score with one of its own to briefly retake the lead, 14-13, when Jackson found a wide open Quick for this second touchdown of the game.

Jackson would find Quick again in the end zone early in the fourth quarter on a gorgeous 39-yard touchdown bomb. Quick finished the game with four catches for 124 yards -- three going for scores.

But Florida State's defense, led by seven tackles and two sacks from linebacker Jacob Pugh, stymied the Cardinals most of the second half.

"I felt good at halftime when we were ahead, 7-6," said Louisville head coach Bobby Petrino, who is 4-12 all-time against Top 25 programs. "We didn't play as fast and as hard as we need to defensively in the second half, and right now we are not consistent enough to be able to match teams like that on offense."

Seminoles defensive end Josh Sweat recovered Jackson's fumble following the sack by James in the third quarter.

And the Seminoles got a third-quarter interception from an unlikely hero, defensive back Javien Elliot, a 5-foot-11, 176-pounder who recently was awarded a walk-on scholarship.

Elliot was mobbed by the entire defense, which responded with a mid-game dog pile, following the Seminoles' second forced turnover.

James, along with defensive linemen Demarcus Walker and Niles Lawrence-Stample, each had a sack. The five sacks by the Seminoles was their highest sack total in almost two years.

The Cardinals' defense was paced by seven tackles, two for losses, by linebacker James Burgess, while Louisville safety Josh Harvey-Clemons also recorded seven stops.

"We just have to keep pushing ourselves," said Jackson, who gets a chance to redeem himself next week against Boston College.

Louisville could've struck very early and set a much different tone Saturday, but on third down and three from the Florida State 30-yard-line on its opening drive, Pugh sacked Jackson and knocked the Cardinals out of field goal range.

The Seminoles instead opened the game's scoring with a long drive that culminated in a 43-yard field goal by Roberto Aguayo, his longest of the season.

The Cardinals would answer the Seminoles' score immediately and take the lead in the first quarter, needing only five plays and 1:41 to march 79 yards for the game's first touchdown.

Sixty-six of those yards came on two pass plays from Jackson to Quick, whose second catch on the drive was an 18-yard touchdown that put Louisville ahead, 7-3.

The Seminoles responded early in the second quarter with another field goal from Aguayo, this one from 32 yards to trim the lead to 7-6 -- and that was all the scoring either team could muster in the first two quarters.

Louisville fell to 2-14 all-time against Florida State, including two straight losses, and the Cardinals haven't won in Tallahassee since 1952.

"We overcame some stuff today, but we have to get better," said Fisher, whose team committed 10 penalties Saturday. "We have a lot of young guys still learning, but there is no age limit on being good. Youth is not an excuse."

NOTES: Florida State, which travels to face Georgia Tech next week, has won 18 straight home games and is 37-1 in its last 38 contests dating to 2012. ... Saturday's attendance was 71,225 -- some 12,000 fewer fans than turned out for last week's state rivalry battle between Florida State and Miami. ... Louisville QB Lamar Jackson's 48-yard pass to James Quick in the second quarter was the longest of his young career. ... Florida State lost DB Trey Marshall in the first half for the second straight week, this time because of an arm injury. Marshall went down late in the first quarter and was immediately taken to the locker room. Last week against Miami, Marshall was ejected in the first half for targeting. ... Speaking of ejections, Louisville LB Keith Brown was hit with a targeting penalty late in the third quarter on Seminoles wideout Travis Rudolph and was ejected .. Florida State's honorary captain for Saturday's game was a special treat: legendary defensive end and former pro wrestling star Ron Simmons.