TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- In its bid to make school history Saturday night, Virginia only added to its football futility.

In their 23rd road game against top-10 opposition, the Cavaliers lost for the 23rd time and it wasn't close as seventh-ranked Florida State hammered the Cavaliers 36-3 before a Doak Campbell Stadium crowd of 84,155.

For the fourth time since 1990, Virginia was unable to get to 6-0 after opening the season with five straight wins.

Virginia coach Al Groh didn't hesitate to say he was disappointed.

"If I didn't say yes, you'd probably feel like we should get another head coach," Groh said. "Anybody who's around me knows how I react to losing games. I feel the same way that I always do — not very good.

"I thought it would be a very difficult test. I thought this was far and away the most talented team and maybe the best Florida State team that we've encountered. I thought they played that way tonight."

It was the fifth straight victory for the Seminoles (5-1, 3-1 ACC) since an overtime loss to Miami in the opener. Sixth-ranked Virginia (5-1, 2-1) entered the game as just a three-point underdog but came in with some legitimate concerns.

When asked earlier this week if first-year Virginia punter Sean Johnson was about to face his biggest challenge, Groh responded without hesitation, "I guarantee it."

The second-largest crowd in Doak Campbell Stadium history saw FSU block Johnson's first punt, a scenario reminiscent of the 2002 game between the teams, won by the Seminoles 40-19.

In that game, Florida State scored its first touchdown after blocking a punt by then-freshman Tom Hagan, now a full-time member of the Cavaliers' baseball team.

The same thing happened Saturday night, when Ernie Sims' block of Johnson's punt went out of the end zone. That put the Seminoles on top 2-0, but the Cavaliers had to kick off from their 20 and did not cross midfield for the rest of the half.

Virginia squandered a chance to seize some momentum after Marques Hagans connected with Alvin Pearman for 40 yards on UVa's first offensive play, watching the drive fizzle and Connor Hughes miss a 42-yard field goal attempt.

When the Cavaliers finally made a good play in the kicking game, it came back to haunt them. Virginia appeared to foil a fake punt attempt at the end of the first quarter but Florida State maintained possession when Isaiah Ekejuiba was called for an incidental, 5-yard facemask penalty.

Florida State capitalized with a 26-yard Xavier Beitia field goal that made it 5-0 with 12:33 remaining before halftime, and another 5-yard facemask penalty led to the Seminoles' first touchdown with 8:45 left.

On third-and-1 from the UVa 16-yard line, Florida State's Leon Washington was headed down at the 19 when Kai Parham's hand slid across Washington's facemask. The Seminoles, who otherwise would have sent out their field-goal unit, were awarded a first down at the 11 and scored two plays later on a 6-yard run by Lorenzo Booker.

"That kind of started the landslide," Groh said.

After the UVa offense went three straight series without a first down, Florida State easily went 64 yards in nine plays, with quarterback Wyatt Sexton hitting Chauncey Stovall for a 24-yard touchdown pass to make it 19-0 with 2:33 remaining in the first half.

"They just wore us down," UVa defensive back Jermaine Hardy said.

The Cavaliers knew they wouldn't be shut out after Hagans took them 74 yards in 12 plays, culminating in a 23-yard Hughes field goal at the halftime buzzer. Hagans had kept the drive alive on third-and-20 with a 25-yard pass to Heath Miller that followed a sideline-to-sideline scramble.

Miller finished with nine receptions for 110 yards and "was the one guy who stepped up to the competition," Groh said.

The Cavaliers had dominated both lines of scrimmage in each of their first five games, but that may have been a reflection on the opposition, which did not include a team with a winning record going into this weekend.

Moreover, Virginia had not played on the road since Sept. 4, when it beat Temple 44-14 before a crowd of 20,154 at Lincoln Financial Field, where the UVa fans may have outnumbered their Owls counterparts.

On the other hand, Florida State had not been impressive one week earlier in a 17-13 victory over Syracuse, a team Virginia had routed two weeks earlier, 31-10, in Charlottesville.

"We saw what could happen against Syracuse," said coach Bobby Bowden, whose team improved its home record against ACC opposition to 50-1. "Our kids really wanted this game tonight and they went out and did what they are capable of doing."

Back-up running back Lorenzo Booker carried 15 times for 124 yards and two touchdowns on a night when the Seminoles outgained UVa 470-281. Hagans passed for 214 yards, his fifth 200-yard effort in six games, before missing the fourth quarter.

Groh said that Hagans had taken a blow to the hip and precautions were taken not to aggravate the injury. Offensive guard Elton Brown, who did not play after injuring his left knee, was walking without assistance by the end of the night.