My take on last night's game. We showed some fight, we battled out there. Defensively, I thought we did pretty well for the most part. However, offensively, the protection for Stephen wasn't as sharp as it usually is. Credit the FSU D for that. FSU made the plays they needed to make and they left with the win. The game went pretty much as I suspected it would. It was like the '98 game. We just couldn't make that one game changing play and they did. Tip your cap to the Noles, again, they made the plays they needed to make and that's what it came down to. I feel from a recruiting perspective, we're still in play for a lot of the recruits that are on the fence after our gallant effort last night.
That out of the way, time for the Report Card.
Offense: D: O-Line allows 4 sacks. Running game was ineffective. We had -12 yards rushing in the 2nd half on 7 carries. 137 yards of offense in the 2nd half, against that vaunted FSU D isn't cutting the mustard. The blocking was little to non-existent there. We had 5 three and outs. The pass protection was just terrible. Stephen Morris played his ass off last night with a bum ankle. We had our chances in the passing game, we just didn't execute that one big game changing play. 4-16 on 3rd Downs isn't going to get the job done, especially when you're in long yardage as the O seemed to be most of the night, and especially when you're 1-8 in the 2nd half on 3rd downs. Very poor all around here.
Defense: C-: This is a game where I'm not going to place total blame on the D. I thought this was Coach D's better called games. We didn't allow FSU to convert in the 2nd half on 3rd down (0-4), However, when you're out there for 18:35 of the 2nd half, trying to make plays and getting right back on the field after the O goes three and out, you're going to be tired and FSU's O-Line took control of the game. We did force two turnovers early on, however, we couldn't make the plays in key spots that we needed to make. We allowed FSU to go for 129 yards rushing in the 2nd half and 218 overall. In the 1st half, I felt the D did a pretty good job. We did sack EJ Manuel twice. We broke up 6 passes and hurried Manuel once. They played with heart, and brought the heat, but in the end, FSU's O made the plays needed to make to win. Hopefully, we can get better here, but still much to do on this side of the ball.
Defense: C-: This is a game where I'm not going to place total blame on the D. I thought this was Coach D's better called games. We didn't allow FSU to convert in the 2nd half on 3rd down (0-4), However, when you're out there for 18:35 of the 2nd half, trying to make plays and getting right back on the field after the O goes three and out, you're going to be tired and FSU's O-Line took control of the game. We did force two turnovers early on, however, we couldn't make the plays in key spots that we needed to make. We allowed FSU to go for 129 yards rushing in the 2nd half and 218 overall. In the 1st half, I felt the D did a pretty good job. We did sack EJ Manuel twice. We broke up 6 passes and hurried Manuel once. They played with heart, and brought the heat, but in the end, FSU's O made the plays needed to make to win. Hopefully, we can get better here, but still much to do on this side of the ball.
Special Teams: C-: Another solid game from Dalton in the Punt game. The Special Teams D did a very good job. Jake had a solid game with two FGs. We didn't have a kick return at all last night, there, you have to tip your hat to their Kicker Hopkins. That guy is money, he's not the typical FSU kicker that we've seen in the past. We did allow the big kick return to Joyner. Overall, I felt we did very well here. Though the field position in the 2nd half was an issue. FSU started overall from their own 34, but in the 2nd half, they started drives from their own 40. We started our drives from an average of our own 32, but our own 27 in the 2nd half. In the 1st half, we started from our own 35 on average while FSU started from their own 28. We could be better here, however, overall, not too bad.
In closing, we could use the BYE week to rest some key guys, especially Morris and get ready for VT on the Thursday Night after the BYE. Hopefully, we can build off the strong points of last night's game and correct some weaknesses. I get the feeling we're going to see the Noles again on December 1st in Charlotte for the ACC title.
