Seminoles’ Defense Fails to Dominate SMU
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The
Florida State defense forced four turnovers against the potent SMU (1-0)
offense on Monday night, including two interceptions by Mustangs quarterback
Kevin Jennings. Yet, Florida State (1-1) could not impose their will.
The Florida State defense has allowed 904 total yards, 702 of those yards through the air. They had zero sacks against SMU, and despite those two interceptions, Jennings had free reign to pick apart the Florida State pass defense for 430 yards and three touchdowns. He completed 72 percent of his passes.
On the night, the Mustangs shredded the Seminoles defense for 585 yards and averaged 8.73 yards per play. However, defensive coordinator Tony White believes his defense can be one of the best in the country.
“I know obviously the biggest thing is not winning the game, but how do you evaluate the defense performance on that? said White. “You give up a ton of yards, but you also make a bunch of big plays. Yeah. emotionally wise, you're pissed off like hell and all that stuff. And then again, when you calm down, you look at the football and I think there was 69 plays in there or something. There's nine plays that you want back.”
Even if they were able to get those plays back and made those stops in the game when it counted the most, could Norvell have called the right plays aggressively enough to take advantage and scored enough points to win by more than walk-off field goal?
Here is a novel concept. How about the defense plays better and much more dominant, so that you are not put in the position to play from behind. That way, you can chop the head off the snake.
“You show them that and you show how when all 11 guys are playing as one and we play with that spirit, that effort, that attitude, that toughness, I mean, we're going to be we're going to be one of the best defenses in the country,” said White. “But until then, until we finish the game out that way, like we're going to we're not going to we're not going to do it.”
In addition, Coach Mike
Norvell failed to get aggressive in his play calling, and at times, the plays
he did call obviously were not executed properly.
The
passing offense has failed Norvell for the first two games of this season. Quarterback
Ashton Daniels averages 163 passing yards per game and is completing 58 percent
of his passes. He has thrown two touchdown passes and rushed for two scores.
As a
result, the Seminoles are now a one-dimensional team, leaning more on the
running game. Running backs Ousmane Kromah and Sam Singleton Jr. have been the most productive assets
on offense so far. Both have combined for 504 total yards and five touchdowns.
The
schedule does not get any easier from here, with the road trip to No. 12
Alabama in two weeks. Unless Norvell can motivate his troops to play a complete
game on both sides of the ball for four quarters, it will be a long day in
Tuscaloosa against another mobile and dynamic signal-caller.
Alabama
quarterback Keelon Russell, in his first collegiate start, completed 60 percent
of his passes. He accounted for 332 total yards and a rushing touchdown in a
48-10 win over East Carolina.
The
Crimson Tide defense limited East Carolina to 162 total yards, five first downs,
and just two yards rushing. Florida State cannot afford to be one-dimensional
against Alabama. A balanced attack rushing, and more importantly passing, the
football is crucial if the Seminoles have any chance of pulling off an upset. And the Florida State defense? Needs to play dominant, lights out defense.
Upset? 71
percent of Florida State fans believed that the Seminoles would lose to SMU,
and 46 percent thought they would lose by a large margin. Well, the majority
got their wish. The negative sentiment of the Seminoles fan base is palpable.
Norvell’s coaching seat has been nuked, and now he is a lame duck presence on
the Seminoles sidelines.
A complete game, on both
sides of the ball, for four quarters. Anything short of that against Alabama
and the rest of the schedule, and it will be a long season for the Seminoles.
However, maybe not so much for Norvell.
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