How FSU football's defensive poise helps retain confidence before Clemson game
NCAAF College Football News, Photos, Stats, Scores, Schedule & Videos...
Some may say Florida State football’s (4-4, 1-4) defense played its best game last Saturday against Wake Forest — at the very least, its best game in recent weeks, just in time heading into its road game at Clemson (3-5, 2-4)
While FSU’s defensive coordinator, Tony White, admitted to feeling stressed about facing the Demon Deacons‘ offense, he looked over to the sidelines. He saw his defensive starters looking calm, which allowed the unit to execute plays.
“I feel like they were calmer,” White said.
“I feel like we played fast and we played aggressive. We weren’t always clean. By no means were we clean, but when adversity hit, it wasn’t a like a distraction. It didn’t separate us. It it brought us together,”
FSU dominated in all cylinders defensively, allowing 247 yards of offense, 85 yards on the ground. Neither Wake’s QBs, Robby Ashford and Deshawn Purdie, were held under 100 yards of passing. Each was sacked four times.
FSU had seven tackles-for loss, forced six fumbles and generated two turnovers. One of the turnovers was an interception by starting rover Earl Little Jr, following a quarterback hit by defensive end James Williams.
Williams, who played his best game with two tackles, one TFL and 0.5 sack, didn’t pay too much attention to his individual performance, but his play that set up the takeaway by Little, which to him represented the chemistry between the defensive line and the secondary.
“I really think that the trust we have within each other,” Williams said.”I trusted Earl the second I knew that ball was in the air, I knew he was going to pick that off.”
Head coach Mike Norvell said during his weekly press conference that the defense played with confidence, crediting White for the defense having complete control of the game all night, which ended the four-game losing streak.
“Our guys, they were in control of the things that we were asking them to do, even on some of the bad plays. In every defense, you don’t get to take away everything,” Norvell said.
“You have to understand where some of the vulnerabilities are. If somebody hits you in one of those vulnerable areas, regardless of the defensive call, you go make the tackle and you play the next play. I think we saw that really well throughout.”
FSU defense prepares for explosive Clemson offense
Just less than a year ago, Clemson was the ACC champs and earned a playoff berth. Heading into this season, the Tigers were favored to win it all because nearly everyone was coming back.
Sounds familiar?
FSU was in a similar situation when it won the ACC title in 2023, had national championship contentions, and dropped to 2-10 the following year.
The Tigers dropped to 3-5, following the losses to SMU and Duke in back-to-back weeks. It may be a down year for Dabo Swinney’s Clemson Tigers, but Norvell is taking no chances, knowing that the talent level remains the same.
“It’s a talented team, no question about it,” Norvell said.
“It’s a team that has returned, I think, around 80 percent of the production from a year ago. I mean, ACC champion last year. This is a team that has all capabilities.”
Clemson is led by its senior quarterback Cade Klubnik, who is coming off a strong performance after passing for 385 yards and two touchdowns.
“He’s getting better. Getting a championship team, I don’t I don’t care what the record is. Like they’re getting better. Teams that are good, they get better in in November and they’re on fire,” White said.
While FSU still holds the No. 1 offense in the country, averaging 510.5 yards a game. The Tigers’ offense has shown gradual improvement each week. Despite the losses, the offense is still producing 420.6 yards per game, which ranks fifth in the ACC, and 28.4 points per game (10th in the ACC).
In three of the last eight games, Clemson put up over 500 yards of offense, as White pointed out, including the Duke loss, where it produced a season-best 560 total yards. Clubnik, who has thrown for 1,915 passing yards, 13 touchdowns, and five interceptions in seven games, has a trio of receivers to throw to.
Leading the pack is Brian Wesco Jr with 31 rec. 573 receiving yards and six TDs. T.J. Moore is second on the team with 28 catches for 499 receiving yards and four TDs. Antonio Williams, who missed the first three games due to an injury, is coming off a 149-yard performance and is third on the team with 367 receiving yards and a touchdown.
With momentum on its side, Clemson will remain a tough challenge for the Seminoles, who are still in search of their first road win of the season. For the defense, they are moving forward in hopes of replicating their performance from last week against Wake.
“We’re going to flush out everything that was and that they did and start new and make sure that we’re as confident, we’re as calm, we know what to do, we know how to execute, and we put our guys in the right positions to go make plays this week,” White said.
How to watch FSU vs. Clemson
- Date: Saturday, Nov. 8
- Time: 7:30 p.m. EST
- Where: Memorial Stadium, Clemson, South Carolina
- TV: ACC Network
- Radio: Seminoles.com
Florida State football 2025 schedule
- Aug. 30, Alabama, W,31-17
- Sept. 6, East Texas A&M,W77-3
- Sept. 20, Kent State, W, 66-10
- Sept. 26, at VirginiaL 46-38 double OT
- Oct. 4, Miami,L, 28-22
- Oct. 11,Pittsburgh,L, 34-31
- Oct. 18, at Stanford,L, 20-13
- Nov. 1 Wake Forest, W, 42-7
- Nov. 8 at Clemson, 7 p.m.
- Nov. 15 Virginia Tech, 7:30 p.m.
- Nov. 21 at North Carolina State (Fri.), 8 p.m.
- Nov. 29 at Florida, TBA
Peter Holland Jr. covers Florida State athletics for the Tallahassee Democrat. Contact him via email at PHolland@Gannett.com or on X @_Da_pistol.
This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: FSU football’s defense plays calmly, confident in final stretch of season
More at NCAAF College Football News, Photos, Stats, Scores, Schedule & Videos