FSU’s Path to Beating Alabama Offensively Starts in the Trenches
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Florida State proved a year ago that beating Alabama did not require anything complicated – it required physicality.
When the Seminoles stunned then-No. 8 Alabama, 31-17, in Tallahassee last season, Florida State established its identity on the ground. The Seminoles rushed 49 times for 230 yards and four touchdowns while averaging 4.7 yards per carry. Alabama, meanwhile, managed only 87 rushing yards on 29 attempts.
Now Florida State heads to Tuscaloosa for Saturday’s rematch, and if the Seminoles are going to duplicate last year’s result, their offensive line will once again be at the center of it.
“We know this team, we played this team a year ago,” head coach Mike Norvell said Monday. “Obviously, new personnel, just like we have some new personnel.”
The personnel has changed, but Florida State’s ability to run the football hasn’t.
Through two games, the Seminoles have rushed for 452 yards on 79 attempts, averaging 5.7 yards per carry with five touchdowns. That production has Florida State graded inside Pro Football Focus’s (PFF) Top 25 nationally in run blocking.
The biggest beneficiary has been sophomore running back Ousmane Kromah.
Kromah has turned 36 carries into 231 yards and two touchdowns, averaging 6.4 yards per attempt. He opened the season with 115 yards against New Mexico State before producing another 116 against SMU.
But the PFF numbers reveal something more important than Kromah’s traditional statistics.
His 84.6 rushing grade leads Florida State’s backs, while he has generated 180 of his 231 yards after contact, forced 10 missed tackles and produced five runs of at least 10 yards. He also has 106 breakaway yards.
Kromah is creating plenty himself.
The offensive line, however, is putting him in position to maximize that talent.
Left tackle Xavier Chaplin has been Florida State’s best run blocker through two games with a 75.1 PFF grade across 73 run-blocking snaps. Andre Otto has posted a 69.0 grade, center Bradyn Welch-Joiner sits at 68.6 and Chimdia Nwaiwu has a 63.3.
The Seminoles have also shown an ability to create success in multiple concepts. Kromah has carried 31 times on zone concepts while producing all 231 of his rushing yards on designed runs.
That’s an important development from the season opener.
Florida State averaged 5.6 yards per carry against New Mexico State, but its interior rushing numbers weren’t nearly as impressive. The Seminoles averaged just 3.4 yards on 15 attempts inside the tackles, compared to 9.4 yards on 16 carries outside.
There is still another concern.
Florida State’s offensive line has been substantially better at opening running lanes than protecting quarterback Ashton Daniels. Norvell has already made changes up front while trying to identify his best five, and Alabama represents a considerable escalation in defensive talent.
That makes Saturday another measuring stick for an FSU team coming off a disappointing 27-24 loss to SMU.
“It doesn’t change my perspective on my belief for this football team,” Norvell said. “We just have to be better.”
Being better against Alabama may begin with remembering exactly what worked last year.
Florida State didn’t finesse Alabama; it ran directly at the Crimson Tide.
This time, Kromah gives the Seminoles a potentially more dangerous centerpiece. He possesses the vision, contact balance and explosiveness to change a game, but Florida State’s early success isn’t simply the product of having a talented running back.
The guys in front of him are giving that talent somewhere to go.
And Saturday in Tuscaloosa, Florida State’s best chance to make history repeat itself starts with them.
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