Texas Fold'em: Daniels Betrays the Seminoles' Passing Game

NCAAF College Football News, Photos, Stats, Scores, Schedule & Videos...

It appears
Florida State coach Mike Norvell has been dealt a losing hand.

In the off season,
Norvell pushed all of his chips to the center of the table, betting on transfer
quarterback Ashton Daniels to be his quarterback savior. Last night against the
No. 19 SMU Mustangs, Norvell’s poker face betrayed him last night as the
Florida State passing offense played with cards dealt from the bottom of the
deck in a sucker’s game of Texas Fold’em in a 27-24 loss to the Mustangs.

Norvell
named Daniels as the starter after 15 practice sessions during the spring. As a
transfer from Auburn and Stanford, Daniels has thrown almost as many interceptions
(23) as he has touchdown passes (26). Last season at Auburn, Daniels was a backup
for most of the year.

After two
games this season, Daniels has thrown for 327 yards, two touchdowns and one
interception. In addition, he has added two rushing scores. Daniels has
averaged 6.5 yards per pass and 163 passing yards per game.

What is a cause
for concern is that Daniels has only four completions of 25 yards or further.
Is that a failure on Daniels, or does that fall on Norvell and his conservative
play-calling? The Seminoles average 34 points per game, but you would not know it
by watching them on the field.

Another
casualty of this utter failure of Florida State to “effectively” implement the
forward pass, a game changing aspect of the game of football that has been
around since 1906, is wide receiver Duce Robinson.

Robinson
is an All-American pass-catcher and All-ACC performer that uses his 6-foot-6
height advantage to consistently win battles for contested catches. Last
season, Robinson came down 18 of those types of catches, the most of any
returning receiver in the ACC this season. However, through no fault of his
own, Robinson has been somewhat absent from the Seminoles passing offense
through the first two games of the season.

So far,
against New Mexico State and SMU, Robinson has caught just five passes for 75
yards, and no touchdowns. Whether it is Daniels, air mailing his passes intended
for Robinson into the stands as souvenir balls, or Norvell failing to dial-up
plays to take advantage of Robinson’s receiving skills that have earned him
numerous preseason awards and accolades:

  • Biletnikoff
    Award watch list
  • Maxwell
    Award watch list
  • Associated
    Press (AP) 2nd Team All-American
  • All-ACC

For
Robinson not to be targeted more by Norvell and Daniels with catchable passes
is criminal, and shows how inept Norvell is as a play-caller, how poorly
Daniels plays the quarterback position.

It is time
for Norvell to give someone else a shot at triggering the Florida State offense
on the field, whether that is junior college transfer Malachi Marshall, Kevin
Sperry, or Dean DeNobile. With a bye week looming, Norvell has two weeks to get
one of these backups prepped for the road game at No. 12 Alabama on Sep. 19.

Norvell’s
hot seat is a raging inferno now, with no chance of being snuffed out. The
remaining schedule from here on out is daunting. In addition to the Crimson
Tide, the Seminoles host No. 25 Virginia, and travel to play No. 24 Louisville
and No. 7 Miami, to name a few. It is the toughest schedule among all ACC
teams.  

Going into
last night’s game with SMU, a local Florida State fan site polled the people
with a survey of which team would win. 71 percent of Seminole fans said Florida
State would lose the game, and 46 percent said it would be by a large margin.
In the dictionary next to the word “jaded,” there is a photo of the Florida State
fan base, and it is justified. Norvell has coached the Seminoles to an 8-18
record over the past two seasons.

The fans can
only hope that Norvell uses this bye week wisely to correct numerous issues on
both sides of the ball as they prepare to battle yet another talented and mobile
quarterback. Alabama will deploy quarterback Keelon Russell against the
Seminoles. Russell gained 342 total yards and one touchdown in a 48-10 win over
East Carolina.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

More at NCAAF College Football News, Photos, Stats, Scores, Schedule & Videos