FSU record after the Clemson game is 1-5. I said FSU record is 1-5. I can't believe that FSU has fallen this far in 2024. Mike Norvell has a saying ("The Climb"). Well FSU has fallen and we are hoping they can get back up. Yesterday was a youth movement for the Seminoles. From Quarterback Brock Glenn to tight ends Amaree Williams Landen Thomas. While FSU did not win you could see there are some pieces to work with.
The Good: Amaree Williams and Landen Thomas- 8 catches 93 yards and 1 touchdown. Thomas had one drop but other than that showed the ability to get open. These two are both long and athletic. They are major miss-matches for defenses. While they did struggle to block that is something that can be taught. You can't teach what they have physically. I believe these two will put Courtney and Morlock on the bench the rest of the season.
The Bad: FSU continues to shoot itself in the foot during games. 7 penalties for 75 yards. FSU seems to get penalties at the worst time. This team just has terrible timing. They will drop passes. They will not get a stop when needed. They are just a bad football team. Fans get two things mixed up....Having talent and being a good football team. You can have talent which FSU does have but this version of FSU is a terrible team.
The Ugly: 1-5 - There is no denying this season has become a disaster. 1-5 should never happen at FSU. Now that we said that and got it out out of the way there is nothing we can do about it at this time. FSU has 6 games left in the season and right now their goal is to win 5 of those 6 and try and make a bowl game. I do think with Brock while the odds are against them there is hope. It is not a ton of hope but there is hope. The rest of the schedule is not terribly hard but that is tough to say when FSU sits at 1-5.
THE QUESTIONS: HOW and WHAT? The two questions that fans keep asking is how do we fix this. Answer: YES and what will happen to the coaching staff? There will be changes. While not a fan of the portal you will have to count on it again to get FSU out of this mess. FSU is going to have to figure out which players to go after once they enter the portal and who FITS. I am not ready to just throw the portal out. I think some may think I feel you can't use the portal. I am saying they need to find guys who actually fit what you are trying to do. I think Norvell found his answer on how...How do you fix the problems - RECRUIT HS FOOTBALL PLAYERS AND MORE OF THEM. FSU sits at 11-12 players committed from the HS ranks. I don't care what it takes you need to get guys like Javion Hilson back in the fold. He is a five star player for a reason. HE WILL MAKE AN IMPACT RIGHT AWAY.
Coaching Changes: The average coach I know personally and it is over 200 they stay at a school no more than 2.5 years. I have gone through all the coaches who I have dealt with and they are constantly on the move. Whether it is because of a promotion, they are fired, their head coach gets fired....It is the industry standard. The days of Mickey Andrews staying an entire career in one place is over. Odell is a rare breed these days. Heck even Corey Raymond while back at LSU was fired and moved on for a couple of years before being rehired at LSU. Coaches MOVE....Since MN has taken over there has been very little to no movement. You had Dillingham leave to become an OC and now a head coach. You had Marve leave to become the DC at VT. FSU replaced a DB coach. There are changes when teams are doing well, you can bet there will be changes after the season. Who? I really don't want to speculate on who is going to be gone. It is not my job to hire and fire coaches at FSU. When/If that happens, I will be the first one to put together of coaches who I would go after.
College football - THE NEW NORM - It is never going to be the same. There will be no more Nick Sabans. Kirby Smart and Dabo are the last of the old guard. Now the new norm is Vandy beating Alabama. I have stated over and over again that the current system is not sustainable. You have seen the after effects FSU and now Bama losing to Vandy. Pro teams have a hard time managing a roster of 50 guys. How are you going to manage a roster where there is NIL, there is 50 percent turnover of a roster, there is the transfer portal. College football can still be good but those that run it must realize there are problems and you better fix it. You don't want teams like FSU to be 1-5. While FSU fans think the world is against them, ESPN or whoever holds their TV rights don't really want FSU 1-5. It is bad for BUSINESS. Trust me they sure as hell don't want Bama losing to Vandy.
NOW THIS BAMA - It is amazing how the media and the narrative last week after one good half of Bama football against Georgia had them all buying the hype. BAMA is not that good this year. Yes, they played a great half against Georgia, at home where everything went right. When the game settled in, Georgia came back and took the lead. Alabama is a flawed team. It was flawed last year. Their QB Milroe is not the number one pick no matter what any expert wants to say. Their run game is not what it has been. Their OL is not this dominant group. This was Bama's first loss and it won't be their last. I feel Deboer is an elite coach but yesterday proved that even he is not immune to bad football. By the way their FRESHMAN receiver Williams is a BAD ASS...Is Jeremiah Smith.
Our Hot Board
Jeff Monken - Army: 55 years old - 75-55 (Army) - Monken name never gets mentioned but this guy can flat out coach. He is 20 games above .500 at Army. This is not a recruiting hotbed program he is leading. They are unbeaten this year and their offense is not just a run first offense. Yesterday they put it up and made big plays in the passing game. Can his system work at another program? I believe Monken is a coach who would adjust.
Curt Cignetti: Indiana: 63 years old - 6-0 (2024 season) 4.25 million per year: His age may be an issue for some programs. He is not old and he is not young. His 4.25 million dollar contract is eye candy for AD's. He is a guy who has won everywhere he has been. Indiana is 6-0. I watched them yesterday and their OL is big and can move. His teams are well coached.
Matt Campbell: Iowa State: 44 years old- his team is unbeaten in 2024. Iowa State may be the worst job in the power conferences. Eventually Campbell will move on to a bigger program. Will this be the year?
Jamey Chadwell: Liberty: I feel he is the next great coach in college football. Chadwell has Liberty at 4-0. This after a season where they went unbeaten. If this team ends up in the playoffs this guy won’t be at Liberty for long.
Coaches on the Hot Seat
Ryan Walters-Purdue - He is 5-12 and Purdue just got blown out again. Cignetti doing well at Indiana is doing him no favors. If Purdue does not pull some upsets this guy could be out of a job by the first weekend in November.
Dave Aranda- Baylor is 2-4. This comes after changes to both the OC and DC. Aranda seems like one of those guys who is a great DC but not a very good HC. He got off to a good start but it has been downhill ever since.
Mack Brown- North Carolina - 3-3 -Carolina is too good of a program to be ranked near the bottom of the ACC. He needs to go.
THE GAME; Clemson vs. FSU.
QB: Brock Glenn - Was he great? No. Did he perform better than most felt he would, I saw YES. Brock is someone FSU can win games with. He should have been the bridge QB this year. FSU could have won 7-8 games this year with Brock and made a bowl game. Is that good enough for FSU, this year it would have been. He is a quick decision maker and has a decent arm. He is also a good athlete. There were rumors this week we would see Luke but that never happened.
RB: 23 rushes for 22 yards. DISGUSTING. I can't believe how poorly FSU Is at running the football. No offense can be successful with this dreadful of stats. FSU has to get back to running the ball. If not you can forget about pulling off any upsets. I do think this needs to be addressed in the off-season. Wish Danzy had caught that ball...You see his speed and that is something FSU is missing.
WR/TE: Hykeem 4 for 53 yards. He needs to become FSU number 1 receiver. I expect him to have a good second half of this season and be FSU go to guy the rest of the season. Amaree Williams and Landen Thomas a mentioned above....They are the real deal. FSU youth movement needs to start with McCoy getting some more reps.
OL: For what is supposed to be a strength. WTF. This offensive line is not good. They need to be one group and you could not tell watching them. Their pass blocking is passable but the run blocking is a joke. Otto played....He had one play where he got run over. The rest of the game, Otto got important reps to what will be a long, productive career at FSU. It is time to see some of the younger guys on the OL. I have seen enough of the older guys.
DL: FSU can't run on offense and they don't stop the run on defense. The one thing you could always count on at FSU is stopping the run. Maffa never seemed to struggle running the ball. 25 for 154. It seemed like 200 plus from him. FSU defense is terrible at setting the edge. How does a defensive line get sucked in so badly? This team struggles with the plays to the outside.
LB: Omar Graham led the team in tackles. Do I need to say more? Really wish FSU had another season with Cam Riley. I think he could be really good with another season.
DB: Shyheim made some plays. You see KJ Kirkland was on the top of the stat sheet. What was 23 and 12 doing on the pass that put Clemson up 10-0? That was FSU season is a nutshell. The defensive backs did everything wrong on that play. Cypress has not played well this year. Hussey needs to wrap up and tackle.
Final Thoughts: I watched Clemson last year live against Miami. This is the same team with an easy schedule. If FSU had anything on offense they probably win this game. Clemson is not a top ten team. They don’t have any players on offense who scare you. Maffa is a nice back but he is not CJ Spiller or the back that went to Jacksonville. I am surprised Klubnik played the entire game as I do believe he was concussed. Clemson may make the playoffs because the ACC outside of Miami is not very good. That being said they won’t go far.
Top 25
1-Texas (5-0) vs. Oklahoma - Longhorns have the best team in the country. No other team has two future NFL draft picks at QB. They are about as a complete team you can have right now.
2-Ohio State (5-0) at Oregon: Ohio State first real test comes next week at Eugene. Oregon will be a tough test for the Buckeyes. If they win this game Ohio State is guaranteed basically of playing in the Big 10 title game.
3-Oregon (5-0) vs. Ohio State: Oregon is putting up impressive numbers on offense. The problem is they get inside the red-zone and can’t finish. If Oregon wants to beat Ohio State they must fix this problem.
4-Miami -Bye Week- Miami have the best play maker at QB in the country. Cam Ward can give up big plays but man he makes them. Miami came back after being down three touchdowns and beating Cal. Big win for a program that always seems to find ways to lose.
5-Penn State-(5-0) at USC- Penn State gets their first real test against USC. The Trojans have had a tough schedule. They get Penn State at home. Each week is a playoff and next week is no different.
6-UGA -(4-1) vs. Mississippi State - The Bulldogs come off a loss vs. Alabama. I would expect them to take it out on Mississippi State.
7-LSU-(4-1) vs. Ole Miss- The Tigers have a very good OL. They have a very good QB. They have an elite WR. Their defense is what will hold them back in 2024. They figure out that side of the football and LSU will be a tough out the rest of the way. Next week’s game against Ole Miss may eliminate one of them from the playoffs.
8-Notre Dame (4-1) vs. Stanford- The loss vs. NIU may haunt them. That was a bad loss and when you are not part of a conference it does you no good to lose to an unranked team at home. ND loss to NIU is worse than Alabama to Vandy.
9-Clemson (4-1) -Clemson is barely a top ten team. Their one loss though is to Georgia. They don't play Miami, they don’t play SMU. They have the easiest ride to the ACC title of any team in the conference. They are not good enough to take a weekend off and think just showing up will win them a spot in the playoffs.
10-Alabama (4-1) vs. South Carolina - Losing to Vandy is never good. Clark Lea was on the hot seat. You can bet Vandy will lose their next game. Bama has holes and they were exposed yesterday. I don't believe this is the last time they will lose this season.
11-Ole Miss (5-1) vs. LSU- Ole Miss controls their own destiny. Win out and they could get back in the playoff race. They are the one team that no one would want to face. They can score points on any team outside of Kentucky.
12-Iowa State (5-0) at West Virginia - The Big 12 will get one team in the playoffs. Iowa State right now sits at the top of the conference. WVU is up next. This is the type of game that Iowa State finds a way to lose.
13-Texas A&M (5-1) Bye Week - A&M looked really good yesterday. That looked like a top ten team. They dominated every facet of the game vs. Missouri. They took a big lead early and never let off the gas. Texas A&M could come out in their next game and lay an egg. Which Texas A&M will we get each week?
14-SMU (5-1) BYE - SMU struggled early but damn are they good right now. I believe they are the best team in the ACC. SMU vs. Miami -Take the over in that game.
15-Tennessee (4-1) vs. UF -Tennessee came out flat. When you come out flat in the SEC you find a way to lose a game. They get UF at home next week. Does Tennessee get over the one team that constantly stands in their way?
Best of the rest
16-BYU-(5-0) vs. Arizona
17-Kansas State (4-1) vs. Colorado
18-Indiana (6-0) BYE
19-Utah (4-1) at ASU
20-Colorado (4-1) vs. Kansas State
21-Texas Tech (5-1) Bye
22-Missouri (4-1) UMASS
23-Pittsburgh (5-0) vs. Cal
24-Nebraska (5-1) BYE
25-Liberty (4-0) at App State
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