Let's begin with the obvious. GT is a much better team than anyone anticipated except their coach. And you have to give credit to their coaching staff for preparing them, but more importantly, scouting and breaking down our film. Their defense was amazingly well designed to stop our running. They had 7 TFL versus our 3. Their safeties and LBs shot gaps and read our blocking better than any team we've played in the last 2 years. I don't know how much it hurt us to not have Atkins on the sideline, but I suspect quite a bit. They were gettin penetration on every play after our initial drive. Scott had an embarrassing day. Jones had moments. Maurice appeared to have the best game of any of our OL, but again, they beat us to the snap repeatedly and looked much quicker and faster. That goes back to how well their coaches prepared them and they knew our playbook well. That new DC made a name for himself today. So the scenario that most anticipated of FSU's offense being able to dominate the worst rushing defense in the ACC didn't materialize. They pretty much kept us off balance and had better tackling angles combined w/ excellent reads to keep us in second and long constantly. 8 and 9 in the box w/ safeties creeping up dares a defense to pass. We passed on that opportunity.
DJ is no Jordan Travis, but King looked the part. The Total yards for the two were equal, but King's 54 yards rushing gave them another gap and us another gap to defend. We were suppose to be the faster team. Their RBs looked faster and their OL accounted for at least ~20 yards after contact between the tackles. They routinely changed a 4 yard gain into a seven. RBs ran with tenacity and their OL out manned us. Clearly Norvell didn't want to put the game on DJ's shoulders. But surprisingly when he finally had to, he delivered. Not a thing a beauty, but he performed in the clutch. Douglas had an excellent game and Benson showed he can catch in traffic.
So, if we couldn't dominate offensively, perhaps our much heralded front 4 could contain their OL. Their OL was better than ours; make that much better. Their experience and scheme just shut down Jones, Payton, Farmer and Jackson. Between the 4, they had 6 TT and zero TFL. Farmer and Payton each had a single tackle the entire game. It is usually a bad sign if your leading tackler is your safety but when you see Brown with 13 TT and 9 solos and the next closest tackler to him (Lundy) has only 7 TT, you know that preseason overwhelming front 7 was abused like a rented mules. Their OL threw Farmer around like a rag doll. I think Payton may have had one QB pressure, but King completed the pass. Jones was often looking at the end of a play from the ground up, flat on his back. He was on the canvass more than a glass jawed punch drunk boxer. Graham didn't register a single tackle. Riley had 7 TT and 4 solos. Graham has earned a prime seat on the pine. Nichelson and Cryer moved well past him.
So other than that Mrs Linclon, how was the play? We played poorly, but GT is a much better team than expected. Their OL w/ that QB will put them in every game on their schedule and if they can break down future team's scheme like they did us, they'll be hard to beat. We got outcoached. That hasn't happened in a long time. But no one is better at learning from his mistakes than CMN. Gonna be a chore to get ready for BC. Their QB is licking his chops after watching us today.
DJ is no Jordan Travis, but King looked the part. The Total yards for the two were equal, but King's 54 yards rushing gave them another gap and us another gap to defend. We were suppose to be the faster team. Their RBs looked faster and their OL accounted for at least ~20 yards after contact between the tackles. They routinely changed a 4 yard gain into a seven. RBs ran with tenacity and their OL out manned us. Clearly Norvell didn't want to put the game on DJ's shoulders. But surprisingly when he finally had to, he delivered. Not a thing a beauty, but he performed in the clutch. Douglas had an excellent game and Benson showed he can catch in traffic.
So, if we couldn't dominate offensively, perhaps our much heralded front 4 could contain their OL. Their OL was better than ours; make that much better. Their experience and scheme just shut down Jones, Payton, Farmer and Jackson. Between the 4, they had 6 TT and zero TFL. Farmer and Payton each had a single tackle the entire game. It is usually a bad sign if your leading tackler is your safety but when you see Brown with 13 TT and 9 solos and the next closest tackler to him (Lundy) has only 7 TT, you know that preseason overwhelming front 7 was abused like a rented mules. Their OL threw Farmer around like a rag doll. I think Payton may have had one QB pressure, but King completed the pass. Jones was often looking at the end of a play from the ground up, flat on his back. He was on the canvass more than a glass jawed punch drunk boxer. Graham didn't register a single tackle. Riley had 7 TT and 4 solos. Graham has earned a prime seat on the pine. Nichelson and Cryer moved well past him.
So other than that Mrs Linclon, how was the play? We played poorly, but GT is a much better team than expected. Their OL w/ that QB will put them in every game on their schedule and if they can break down future team's scheme like they did us, they'll be hard to beat. We got outcoached. That hasn't happened in a long time. But no one is better at learning from his mistakes than CMN. Gonna be a chore to get ready for BC. Their QB is licking his chops after watching us today.
