SB Nation - Preston Parker

Nitt Picks Can Taste It

Kevin HD — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 12:31:42 -0000

Ah yes, the cryptic pressers. Paterno had his weekly press conference yesterday and the news was mostly of the standard variety. Some things of note:

Wallace must have been on his very best behavior since earning a suspension for cutting class. Paterno mentioned that he stands a chance of actually seeing the field on Saturday.
Some freshman may "see some time." I know it's still Paterno, but is this still news?
There have been no decisions on redshirts yet.
And of course we have to talk about practice, and the response was not yeah everyone does it: "We never use (the) 20 hours. If we go, we'll go maybe 17.5, 18 hours. So when they passed the rule, I don't know how many years ago, that you could only go four hours a day and 20 hours a week, it never had any impact on us."

FWIW, the general disagreement is that there are other hours that aren't practice that may or may not have been implied as practice hours in that Freep story that everyone is all huba-huba about. Joe doesn't really address that here, but he did do something you would expect from the champion of the Grand Experiment, something that is kind of getting lost:

I think kids are here to get an education. If you don't interfere with their education, you give them an opportunity to achieve success in the classroom, whether you practice 20 and a half hours a week or whether you practice 18 hours a week, I don't know what kind of a deal that is.

Eric Thomas has more bullets if you're interested, and tPN as well. As always the full presser is here and game notes for those interested.

Let's hear it. Your Saturday announcers will be Matt Devlin, Glen Mason, and this guy (H/T: AA):

But they don't take themselves too seriously. The NYT did a story on The Bowdens and they were able to fill up almost the entire thing with arrogant quotes. Terry Bowden came out firing:

"This game ain’t over yet," said Terry Bowden, who starts his first season as the head coach of Division II North Alabama on Saturday at Southern Arkansas. "There is nothing less important in life than the score at halftime. Well, it’s halftime with the Bowden family. I’m ready for the second half, and Dad has a finish on his career that has yet to be written."

And the Undeniables:

"Who else has three family members that coached teams that were undefeated in Division I? Who else had a father-son coach at the same time, or coach against each other? Nobody, and they never will. Who has 70 years of head coaching in one family and 500-and-something wins? Darn it, heck with y’all."

Who else walked out on their team mid-season after being criticism for recruiting no-nos? Who else was fired mid-season after 9 years and no top-20 finishes at a BCS program? Who else can't keep a job working for their own dad at a program he apparently owns? Who else built a large part of their reputation at Samford? Nobody.

And this is too perfect:

Bowden has signed 25 Division I transfers to help make up for the loss of 15 starters from last season’s 12-2 [North Alabama] team.

[...]

Seven transfers are on the roster from Florida State alone, including Preston Parker, a leading receiver for the Seminoles in 2008. He was dismissed from Florida State after being arrested and charged with driving under the influence. That came after an arrest on drug and weapons charges prompted a two-game suspension to start the season.

So we can add this to the list: who else is building a D2 program on the backs of Criminoles who somehow build a rap sheet that FSU couldn't even take on? Nobody.

"We’ll go up against anybody right now, and we’re going coaching," Terry Bowden said. "We’re not apologizing for nothing."

Of course you're not.

One game at a time. No need to worry about 2010 draft picks now, but you kinda already have a feeling it might end like this way:

Royster said he would consider leaving early even if he isn't evaluated as a first-round draft pick.

"At the end of the year, I'll weigh my options, see who else is coming out and stuff like that," Royster said. "I mean, it's gonna take a pretty good year for me. It's hard to say exactly what kind of year, but I'll talk to some people at the end of the year, definitely my parents, and weigh my options."

Don't let it come to this. Rittenberg on Penn State's week one:

Whether it's fair or not, everyone expects a blowout here, and Penn State needs to deliver. The Lions' schedule forces the team not only to win, but win in very impressive fashion.

There is no question that it isn't "fair". It's not fair to the winning team, who should only ever have to win, and it's not fair to the paycheck team, who just want to get their money and save face. No one benefits from 70-point blowouts unless pollsters decide they'll start factoring that into their vote. They don't have to do this.

And besides, while games have gotten lopsided at times, Paterno is not the kind of guy to keep the starters in and throw bombs in the 4th quarter of a 30-point game. If the only way Penn State can "win" is to win by eight touchdowns and three field goals every week, I don't like our chances.

It's brilliance. Nothing to add:

That's TNIAAM, but you knew that. He's full of satire this week.

In scores of other games...RmN's computer likes Penn State...pure gold for Onion fans courtesy of BHGP...Bowman fluff, it's good for you.

Florida State's Receivers Embrace New Roles

FSUncensored — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 14:45:44 -0000

Taiwan Easterling hauls in a pass against Colorado. He will work mostly from the slot this year.

View full size photo »

As redshirt freshmen in 2008, Taiwan Easterling and Bert Reed didn't think they would be relied upon, as Florida State returned senior Greg Carr and junior Preston Parker. But they would soon be asked to come through on crucial plays. Early in the first quarter against hated rival Miami, Easterling caught a 9 yard pass on second and 10, setting up an easily convertible 3rd & 1 which FSU converted on the way to scoring a touchdown for the early 7-0 lead. As the half wound down, FSU was again driving, hoping to add to their 21-0 lead. With less than a minute left, Reed took a short pass, made a 'Cane miss, and scooted 19 yards up the sideline for the first down. FSU would add a field goal to close out the half. Late in the third quarter as Miami cut the one time 21 point lead to just 9, and with the rain pouring down, FSU again dialed up Easterling's number, as quarterback Christian Ponder hit Easterling for a 27 yard strike on third and 13 as Taiwan ran a beautiful route on a drenched field. Then in the 4th quarter, as the Hurricanes had cut the lead to just 2, Easterling ran a reverse for 20 yards. The play was ballsy given the circumstances and it caught the 'Canes totally off guard.

The way Reed and Easterling were thrown into the fire was refreshing for Seminoles fans, who had become accustomed to an unnecessary amount of deference to upperclassmen under the previous offensive coaching staff, led by Jeff Bowden. That's not to say that Carr and Parker weren't used effectively, but Easterling was the 'Noles best wide receiver in 2008 and Reed was a dangerous weapon who changed several games with his speed. I sat down with both of them Sunday to discuss what we can expect to see from them and the receiving corps this year.

Taiwan will play mostly slot this year (the "Y). This is good for the 'Noles because he is excellent at reading defenses and sitting down in the vacated areas in zone coverage. He's also decent at running the bubble screens FSU used so well last year when teams showed certain alignments. I asked Easterling about playing the slot. "I can really play all over. I know all the routes for all the positions. ," Easterling said. He talked about making the reads in the slot. "it's not harder than the outside, I don't know, it's just different. You have to see the safeties and once you get the safeties you know the defense. I just watch a lot of film and it seems to come natural to me." He also credited his high school program with helping him get ready for the college level "we threw the ball a lot, no huddle stuff and the QB and I would make the checks at the line, so that helped me a little, but I didn't play there but for one year, so it was still a huge adjustment for me and I had to watch a lot of film."

Easterling is quite the film rat, and if he is recovered from his surgery (he says he is 100%, which is remarkable), he will be quite the weapon for FSU, particularly on 3rd downs. On his recovery, Easterling had this encouraging nugget "I feel a lot more explosive, because when i was doing my rehab I worked a lot of my smaller muscles in my leg that I normally wouldn't work." Easterling said he's a little sore, but feels good. He's also a lot bigger in the upper body.

Bert Reed was up next. The speedster with the newly shaved head said that he was excited about his move to the "X", which is the outside. "I really have to work on my release because the corners are up on me, and they weren't like that when I was in the slot, but I also don't have to block those 225lb linebackers, because at 175lbs that doesn't work too well." "I'm excited about playing on the outside where I can get the ball in space and only have to make one guy miss, even though I won't be catching those bubbles any more." [Realistically, Reed can and probably will still catch bubbles when FSU uses a trips (3-WR to one side) formation, or even in twins. FSU won't stop putting the ball in his hands.]

Reed also talked about feeling a greater responsibility this year. Last year, teams didn't respect FSU's run game (though it was very good), but they did respect the deep passing game (though it was poor), because FSU had two 6'6" wideouts in Carr and Corey Surrency. I asked Bert about the challenge and opportunity he would face as teams are likely to play single coverage against the 'Noles. "Oh we know they are going to try to stop the run game. The pressure is on us to make them pay when they bring those safeties down and play single coverage. But that also gives us opportunities for big plays. Ponder has more authority this year. If he sees them playing like that he'll let me know and I'll take off deep. We have to stretch the field and prove we can get separation and big plays deep. They have to fear us getting behind them." I asked Bert if any team showed that look last year. "Virginia Tech challenged us like you we expect to see this year, but other than that, nobody else really did. I guess NC State did a bit. Greg made Virginia Tech pay though with those two bombs." "We have opportunities to make big big plays deep this year through play-action and when teams pack the box. We were way short of our goal last year in big plays, and this year teams know we can run and we have to hit them deep if they try too much to stop the run."

I asked Bert about the hidden things Corey Surrency did. "His attitude was amazing, his attitude he brought to practice was great, and he did have the best things on our team. The catches he had to make were really tough. He was so tough and I made a lot of plays through Corey. I'm gonna miss running them bubbles and having him drive his guy." Bert thinks the wideouts need to step up to replace Surrency's blocking.

Bert also said that the game is really slowing down for him. "It really is. It's a comfort thing. I started to see that my 2nd year of quarterback in high school. Catching the ball now is almost effortless. It is becoming second nature and playing wideout now in my third year helps that." [Bert played QB in high school.]

Contrary to what Easterling said, Bert feels the reads at the "X" position are much easier than those at the slot (the "Y"). "Oh yeah, absolutely, because you have more time. You have less guys to read, and you can see everything because you only have to look in, not both ways. It makes it easier for me to know what to do." It seems that Easterling in the Slot and Bert at the "X" should be a good fit.

For more on what FSU could do with their wideouts this year, see Strategy Session: Bubble-N-Go

Progression, Continuation, or Regression? Noles Special Teams

FrankDNole — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 16:32:52 -0000

Every day while catching up on my daily Nole must reads, I very often wonder to myself, "Are my 2009 Noles going to be better than last year’s team?"

I would like to thank those of you who have been playing along. After finishing this part, only the Offensive Line remains. Then I will recap what the TN members have projected on how each of these units will perform, for prosperity's sake. After the season, we will all be amazed at what a brilliant group of prognosticators the TN members are, and many of you will have none other than Phil Steele banging on your door with employment offers.

So far we have analyzed, discussed, and you have voted on whether the Defensive Line, the Receivers/Tight End, the Secondary, the Offensive Backfield, and the Linebackers, will be better, the same, or worse than last years equivalent unit. Today we will take a look at the Special Teams, to determine if this unit has progressed, expected to continue at the same level, or regressed, in comparison to last years "SPECIAL" special teams unit.

Gano's gone. 'Nuff said. Please vote now. (OK wait a minute).

As I prepared for this Special Teams part of the series, I felt this was really all I needed to say. However,

I feel that if you are going to do something, do it as best you can. So on with my drivel.

SPECIAL TEAMS

No group suffered a bigger loss than the special teams when Lou Groza Award winner Graham Gano graduated. Gano not only won the top award for a kicker but he also is believed to be the first punter ever to be named the MVP of a bowl game when he took home those honors in the Champs Sports Bowl.

For more on what the loss of Gano might mean, I suggest you read this nice piece by fsu44, 2009 Florida State Place Kicking Preview: How Much Will FSU Miss Graham Gano?, which includes some good information on the success of freshman kickers, as well as some good statistics and analysis.

The Seminoles will return their deep snapper Zack Aronson, and holder Shawn Powell this season.

James Esco and Nathan O’Jibway handled all kicking duties this spring. Neither has ever attempted a field goal in a game during their careers. Esco and O’Jibbway were looking to get a leg up on the nation’s No. 1 kicking prospect Dustin Hopkins before he enrolled this summer, but Hopkins is the projected place kicker at this point.

Powell, who started the first seven games of the season as the team’s punter, will take over full-time duties for Gano. The sophomore had almost identical numbers to Gano through the regular season, however Gano's ability to pin opponents inside the 20 yard line is surely something that will not be forgotten very easily by Nole fans.

2008 PLACE KICKER=Zack Hobby started the first 2 games while Gano recovered from his injuries, then Gano started the next 11 games. Both are now gone.

2009 PROJECTED PLACE KICKER=Dustin Hopkins is expected to start, followed by James Esco and Nathan O'Jibway.

2008 PUNTER=Shawn Powell started the first 7 games and Gano finished the last 6.


PUNTING             No  Yds  Avg Long  TB  FC I20 Blkd
-------------------------------------------------------
Graham Gano        22  939  42.7  58    0   7   8   0
Shawn Powell       18  739  41.1  56    1   2   4   0

2009 PROJECTED PUNTER=Shawn Powell followed by Kevin Campbell

2008 PUNT RETURNER=Tony Carter and Bert Reed. Carter is gone.

 PUNT RETURNS         No  Yds   Avg TD Long
------------------------------------------
Tony Carter           8  113  14.1  1  68t
Bert Reed             8   63   7.9  0  18 
A.J. Alexander        1   12  12.0  0  12 
Preston Parker        3    7   2.3  0   4 
Ochuko Jenije         2    6   3.0  0   7 
Roosevelt Lawson      1    5   5.0  0   5 
Dekoda Watson         1    3   3.0  0   3 

Total.........       24  209   8.7  1  68t
Opponent......       16  138   8.6  0  18

2009 PROJECTED PUNT RETURNER=Bert Reed and Greg Reid

2008 KICK OFF RETURNERS=Michael Ray Garvin and Preston Parker are both gone.

KICK RETURNS         No  Yds   Avg TD Long
------------------------------------------
Michael Ray Garvin   22   662 30.1  1  94t
Preston Parker        8   162 20.3  0  35 
Taiwan Easterling     7   141 20.1  0  29 
Bert Reed             6   132 22.0  0  41 
Patrick Robinson      4   112 28.0  0  39 
Nigel Bradham         2    36 18.0  0  19 
Seddrick Holloway     2    28 14.0  0  22 
Joe Surratt           1     7  7.0  0   7 
Nigel Carr            1     0  0.0  0   0 
Total.........       53  1280 24.2  1  94t
Opponent......       71  1431 20.2  0  57

2009 PROJECTED KICK OFF RETURNERS=A.J. Alexander and Louis Givens

So there you have it. Graham Gano, last seasons MVP IMO, and Garvin left some pretty big shoes to fill.

MY BOTTOM LINE FOR THE SPECIAL TEAMS=REGRESSION

What is your bottom line? Please vote now.

Poll

2009 FSU SPECIAL TEAMS-PROGRESSION, CONTINUATION, OR REGRESSION? Please read the story before voting. Poll closes Tuesday August 11, at 11:55 PM.

PROGRESSION

38 votes

CONTINUATION

65 votes

REGRESSION

220 votes

323 votes | Poll has closed

Will the Florida State Offensive Line Pass Protect in 2009?

FSUncensored — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 20:57:35 -0000

There's a secret in coaching circles that most 'Nole fans don't know about and those who do know don't want the rest of the college football world to know: FSU's offensive line was very good last year- for being the youngest line in the nation. It's that qualifier that should dig at FSU's starting five. It's like saying "that's a nice jumpshot- for a girl." The truth of the matter is that without the qualifier, the statement that "Florida State's offensive line was very good in 2008" is false. All told, if you evaluated their performance without knowing how young they were, you'd be hard pressed to come up with anything more than average. There's a big difference between wildly exceeding expectations and being elite on a national or conference scale. When FSU needed their offensive line to dig in and provide protection in 2008, in passing situations like 2nd & 8+ or 3rd & 5+, the line failed miserably. They simply could not pass protect. Sure, they made big strides in other areas, and looked much better than some of the garbage produced by Jimmy Heggins and Mark McHale in the early and middle parts of this decade, but 'Nole fans eager to have a decent offensive line jumped all over the idea that their boys up front were now elite. They have not yet earned the pre-season accolades being strewn upon them by the media. Not with last year's performance. This year the challenge is to become elite- not just elite considering their youth.

This piece uses advanced measures. You may be familiar with how some of baseball's advanced and highly-specialized, opponent-normalized measures are taking over the way the sports world operates. Baseball is being dominated by all kinds of super metrics, and football is swiftly moving in that direction as progressive athletic departments and professional teams move to hire the advanced minds to give their team the edge in self-scouting and talent evaluation. They seek to improve their performance through a better understanding of the macro and micro elements of the their approach. Here's a look at FSU's 2007 and 2008 offense through the lense of the best available measures.

Measure	2007	2008
Fremeau Efficiency Index: Adjusted Offensive Efficiency (Drive Based)	82nd	15th
Vartisy Numbers Offensive Rating (Play-By-Play Based)	71st	33rd
Varsity Numbers Rushing Rating	89th	15th
Varsity Numbers Passing Rating	47th	57th

Fremeau Link | Varsity Numbers Link A big thank you to Brian Fremeau and Bill Connelly. Without their work, none of this would have been possible.

Everyone knows that Florida State made an improbable leap with their running attack last year, improving from the 89th rated rushing attack in 2007 to the 15th rated rushing attack in 2008. (Rating based off Varsity Numbers S&P close measure, which is adjusted for opponent and removes garbage time possessions). They did this despite having the youngest offensive line in the nation with three true freshmen and two sophomores. The end result was the top offense in the ACC, earning Jimbo Fisher the ACC Offensive Coordinator of the Year Award. All was not perfect, however, as the passing attack went from being rated 47th to 57th nationally (Rating based off Varsity Numbers S&P close measure, which is adjusted for opponent and removes garbage time possessions).

We've already spoken about the running game at length here, here, and here. Today we'll talk about the passing game, and specifically the much-heralded offensive line.

By almost any measure, be it the very basic total yards, or the hyper-advanced Varsity Numbers Close S&P+ measure, FSU's passing offense took a step back in 2008. But the step back was not nearly as large as some of the unrefined numbers indicate. In terms of yards per game, FSU fell from 47th in 2007 to 82nd in 2008. That's quite the drop, but the smarter measures suggest the drop was really only about ten spots, not 35, as the 'Noles saw their passing game fall from 47th to 57th nationally. Why is this so?

To better understand just how far the passing game fell (not as far as you might think), it is important to understand the components of the super advanced passing metric. Close S&P+ is comprised of Success Rate, and Points Per Play (a measure of explosiveness), in situations where the game is not wildly out of hand, and then normalized for opponent quality.

Measure	2007	2008
Passing S&P (combination of the two)	47th	57th
Success Rate +	62nd	28th
Points Per Play +	48th	73rd

To understand what this means please follow (and read) this link follow link. It's detailed but you will learn a lot. If you do not read it, this will not make much sense.

Success Rate

This one immediately jumps out at me. Back in early 2008, I argued against Drew Weatherford and stated that he was selfish for taking a 6 yard gain on 3rd and 11 in order to not throw an interception. It helped his numbers, but not the team, as the punt team was called upon a record number of times. In 2008, Christian Ponder was almost the exact opposite, as he tried to throw for the first down a bunch. Throwing for 7 yards on 3rd and 10 is a great example of how regular statistics can be misleading. Everything about that play looks good for the quarterback, but it doesn't help the team much. When FSU needed a conversion, they typically got it in 2008 where they did not in 2007. The jump from 62nd to 28th is excellent and FSU would do well to maintain that 28th Success Rate position in 2009.

Points Per Play (explosiveness)

While the Success Rate was better in 2008 than in 2007, the 'Noles Points Per Play was not. Think of Points Per Play as Slugging Percentage (and Success Rate as On-Base-Percentage). FSU's 2008 offense lacked the big plays of the 2007 year, and the difference was noticeable, as FSU fell from 48th to 73rd in PPP+ (explosiveness). Why was this? Did FSU simply trade big play potential for more consistency? Sort of. It's not that simple.

To understand the results we have to examine the process. Last summer FSU knew that it had a very difficult situation at offensive line, as they suffered transfers, injuries, and had their most promising offensive tackle flunk out of school. The offensive line was the youngest in the nation. FSU decided that their makeup could do well in most games as a quick, double-teaming run blocking unit and a passable quick game protection unit. They didn't come out and say so, but the makeup of the offensive line (very small and young) wasn't going to be conducive to pass protection. That runs counter-intuitive to what many often think of when they conjure up images of a young line- as young lines typically do okay in pass protection but lack the tenacity and push needed to dominate in the run game. Typically, young offensive linemen are soft, but they do have bulk and it is that bulk which is needed to sustain the initial jolt delivered by the pass rusher. If a pass rusher knows he will have success witl the bull rush (straight ahead), he will not attempt other moves. FSU's line was different because it had the quickness to attain angles to block for the run, but the young guys were simply too small to effectively pass protect. The Problem was physical maturity. Kid's seemed for the most part to be assignment smart but lacked the bulk and strength to compete play to play. They couldn't withstand a bull rush and as a result, had to keep tighter than ideal splits in an attempt to force the pass-rushers outside. Think of FSU's 2008 pass protection as a high school basketball pack-it-in defense. It worked sometimes, but ACC edge rushers (more 1st round draft picks on defense than any other conference over the last 5 years) could beat the freshmen tackles to the outside. Additionally, Ryan McMahon struggled with injury and the sophomore center was routinely driven back. The pocket rarely existed for Christian Ponder.

Here's an important quote about pass protection:

Pass protection usually begins with the understanding that if the defense rushes five or six guys, you can pick them up, but your blockers will have to be able to block at least one defender one-on-one. No pass protection scheme can count on double teaming all possible rushers. If you can't handle Lawrence Taylor man-for-man, then a five man rush becomes like a seven or eight man blitz, but also with sound coverage behind it.

And trusting your protection as a quarterback really begins with an expectation of protection. Quarterbacks are told not to pay attention to the rush. You have to feel the rush but not look at it. That whole concept is built upon the assumption that most plays will be blocked successfully and to adapt to protection breakdowns. With FSU in 2008, no QB could reasonably have an expectation of protection, because it was not there. The Offensive Line's pass protection was nonexistent in summer practice, Fall Camp, and by most defenses. Sure, they did okay on some of the shorter passes and the screens- plays that didn't require them to have the initial bulk to sustain a rusher's jolt, but the dropback pass protection was just not there.

Aside from the offensive line's makeup, there are yet other reasons for the contrast in the run and the pass game. For a long, long time, FSU was pass first, second, and last. Heck, Bobby Bowden even wrote essays by the name of "The Pass First Offense". Forever and ever, teams geared up to stop FSU by stopping the pass. And going into last year, teams did not fear FSU's run game, nor their quarterback. No, they were scared of FSU's wideouts, however, in a big way. Greg Carr and Preston Parker, along with newcomer Corey Surrency (who teams regarded as a Carr clone) scared opposing defenses. Teams absolutely played to stop the deep ball. They kept their safeties back. Wayyy back. They did not stack the box. Defenses allowed the 'Noles to throw short passes and run the ball but they declared, via their pre-snap alignment, time and again, that they would not allow the deep ball. While Surrency and Carr had disappointing years, the very threat of the deep ball to them made playing back an easy choice for defenses. No team really challenged FSU's wideouts with single coverage- except for Virginia Tech- against whom Carr caught two crucial bombs.

And even after FSU began to run the football really well (Colorado and Miami), teams did not respect FSU's run game. The 'Noles were putting up top 20 rushing performances, and yet their past reputation of rushing ineptitude still carried the day. Most of the time, Fisher did a good job of running the ball against these looks. Occasionally, he tried to force pass plays against teams when the defensive formation dictated that a run be called- most notably Clemson.

But teams did make some adjustments to what FSU was doing. Teams saw Wake Forest shut FSU down with their excellent front 7 and not involve their safeties. Opponents continued to try to emulate that game plan. It didn't work against the run for the most part, as FSU started to gash opponents, but it did work against the pass. NC State, Georgia Tech, Boston College, and UF all did a great job generating pressure without bringing any blitz. They kept everyone else back in coverage. Unfortunately for the 'Noles, the youngest offensive line in the country could not protect against a simple 4-man rush. Typically when a team faces pressure, there are easier throws available because the defense is sacrificing a coverage player and rushing him, but the 'Noles faced great coverage and enormous pressure because opposing defenses were able to generate that pressure without sacrificing that coverage player to the rush. The other part of this was the complete lack of respect for the FSU play-action game, which is of course based off the threat of the run.

Here's a more detailed look:

Performance- Varsity Numbers 2007/2008	'07 Rank	'08 Rank
Passing Close S&P + (combo if Success Rate and Points Per Play)	47th	57th
Success Rate +	62nd	28th
Points Per Play+ (PPP+)	48th	73rd
Non-Passing Downs (1-10, 2-7 or less, 3rd and 4 or less) S&P+	47th	53rd
Non-Passing Downs (1-10, 2-7 or less, 3rd and 4 or less) Success rate +	37th	56th
Non-Passing Downs (1-10, 2-7 or less, 3rd and 4 or less) Points Per Play +	86th	47th
Passing Downs (2nd & 8+, 3rd & 5+) S&P+	53rd	27th
Passing Downs (2nd & 8+, 3rd & 5+) Success Rate +	96th	69th
Passing Downs (2nd & 8+, 3rd & 5+) Points Per Play +	82nd	57th

Okay, so you're probably trying to make sense of this, as you should. How could FSU's passing attack be rated lower in 2008 than in 2007, yet be slightly better on passing downs? The key is in the measurement. The performance on Non-Passing and Passing downs measures all plays run on those downs- not just passes. And if there was one thing Florida State did very well in 2008 it was run in passing situations.

Here's a look at every successful play (see definition of success rate linked above) the 'Noles fan on passing downs during the 2008 season. See if you can sense a pattern.

Against Wake Forest, FSU succeeded on 8 of 32 plays on Passing Downs (2nd & 8+, 3rd & 5+). FSU ran the ball 11 times in those situations, and had success on 4 of them (36% success rate). FSU ran 21 pass plays in passing situations, and was successful on only 4 of them (19% success rate). While neither are good, the Wake game was a microcosm of the stark differences had on the ground and in the air. Here are the runs:
Wake Forest: 2-10, run for 8
Wake Forest: 2-10, run for 11
Wake Forest: 2-10, run for 9
Wake Forest: 3-8, run for 18
FSU ran 21 pass plays in passing situations (2nd & 8+, 3rd & 5+), and was successful on only 4 of them (19% success rate). This should be the worst passing game in Fisher's history. Here are the passes:
Wake Forest: 3-5, pass for 8
Wake Forest: 3-8, pass for 16
Wake Forest: 3-5, pass for 21
Wake Forest: 3-10, pass for 10
Against Colorado, the 'Noles had a success rate of 35% on passing downs (6-20)
The 'Noles were successul running the ball 3 of 8 times on passing downs. (38%)
Colorado: 2-15, run for 60
Colorado: 2-7, run for 12
Colorado: 2-10, run for 7
The 'Noles were successful throwing the ball on 4 of 12 passing downs (33%)
Colorado: 2-8, pass for 6
Colorado: 2-10, pass for 15
Colorado: 3-8, pass for 17
Colorado: 3-7, pass for 24
Against Miami, the 'Noles faced 28 Passing downs, and were successful on 14 of them, for a great 50% success rate.
The 'Noles ran 15 times on passing downs, and had success on 8 of them! That's 63% successful running in long situations.
Miami: 2-10, run for 30
Miami: 2-10, run for 7
Miami: 2-15, run for 11
Miami: 2-7, run for 6
Miami: 2-11, run for 9
Miami: 3-20, run for 20
Miami: 3-8, run for 12
Miami: 3-11, run for 13
That's pretty remarkable. One of the best performances running in long situations I have ever seen. They were 6/13 on passes in those situations (46%)
Miami: 2-12, pass for 11
Miami: 2-10, pass for 9
Miami: 2-10, pass for 19
Miami: 2-10, pass for 17
Miami: 3-7, pass for 13
Miami: 3-14, pass for 27
Against North Carolina State's porous defense, the 'Noles faced 29 Passing Downs, and had success on 41% of them (12/29).
The 'Noles ran 17 times on passing downs against the Pack, finding success an impressive 7 times (41%)
NCST: 2-8, run for 27
NCST: 2-7, run for 8
NCST: 2-10, run for 11
NCST: 2-7, run for 12
NCST: 2-8, run for 16
NCST: 3-14, run for 15
NCST: 3-8, run for 8
Of the 'Noles 7 successful passing down situation runs, 4 gained a first down by exactly 1 or 0 yards. Talk about knowing where the marker is!
The 'Noles threw 12 times on passing downs, and had success 5 times (42%). You may find it odd that the 'Noles ran a lot more than they threw on passing downs, but consider that NCST's defensive line was abusing FSU's offensive line early in the game to the tune of 5 holding penalties and three sacks.
NCST: 2-14, pass for 13
NCST: 2-16, pass for 17
NCST: 2-10, pass for 17
NCST: 3-21, pass for 30
NCST; 3-17, pass for 23
The Wolfpack really hates playing the run apparently, but they were damn good rushing the passer.
Against VTech the 'Nole offense struggled on most every down. They faced 25 passing downs and had success on only 5 of them, for a horrid success rate of 20%.
VTech was very draw-conscious. FSU ran 10 times in passing situations, finding success only 1 time.
VTECH: 2-10, run for 8.
Because VTech was more focused on the run, FSU's success rate in the passing game was higher (27% on 4 of 15, compared to the 10% above)
VTECH: 2-8, pass for 13
VTECH: 2-15, pass for 13
VTECH: 3-20, pass for 39
VTECH: 3-10, pass for 21
Obviously, VTech's defense was top 10 nationally and Miami's and NCST's weren't in the top half, but this game showed FSU making a good late adjustment (discussed below).
Against Georgia Tech, the 'Noles did an excellent job staying out of Passing Downs, because they did well on first downs. The 'Noles faced only 17 Passing downs, and found success on 10 of them, which is an excellent 59%
The 'Noles ran 4 times in passing situations and absolutely dominated tech doing so, finding success on 3 of the four:
GTECH: 2-15, rush for 39
GTECH: 2-12, rush for 11
GTECH: 2-10, rush for 10
In a departure from the previous games, FSU threw 3X more passes than runs on passing downs (13), successfully doing so on 7 of them (54%)
GTECH: 2-15, pass for 14
GTECH: 2-8, pass for 20
GTECH: 2-17, pass for 13
GTECH: 2-10, pass for 9
GTECH: 3-7, pass for 12
GTECH: 3-8, pass for 10
GTECH: 4-6, pass for 9
The Clemson game is where we really start to see Ponder's injury impact the playcalling. While FSU was a great run team on passing downs earlier in the year, they tailed off considerably at mid-season. That's probably because Fisher didn't want to further injure Ponder. The 'Noles were 6/18 on passing downs (33%). Let's see how that happened:
The 'Noles had 8 runs on passing downs, and were successful on 4 of them, an excellent 50% rate. Interestingly, only one of them was Ponder.
CU: 2-13, run for 21
CU: 2-10, run for 11
CU: 2-10, run for 8
CU: 2-7, run for 27
I was really quite irritated with Jimbo's playcalling in this game. He was trying to force the passing game despite the huge pass protection issues FSU had (linemen pulled in the first quarter for massive blown assignments and poor play). FSU passed 10 times on passing downs, and were only successful 2 times, for a pitiful 20% success rate. Clemson was an extremely good team against the pass and while I've often praised Fisher, he was way too stubborn in this game. If FSU stuck with the run game (and the Clemson's alignment and ability to generate pass pressure with minimal rushers dictates that they should have), the 'Noles could have scored 60. Here are the two successful passes in passing situations:
CU: 3-7, pass for 14
CU: 3-13, pass for 14
Clemson's defense is extremely good and should content for the top spot in the nation in 2009. FSU must be patient and willing to run the ball against Clemson until Clemson shows that they are concerned with FSU's run game.
The Boston College game really showed just how good the Eagles defense was (2nd nationally). While most teams paid dearly for ignoring FSU's run game, BC was able to stop it with minimal personnel and still devote full attention to the 'Noles run game. The results were disasterous, as they would be for any offense in that situation (and most were against BC, as only two teams had more yards per play against BC). Florida State was just 5/21 in passing situations, which probably says as much about Boston College's defense (stacked with NFL starters) as it does FSU'S offense. Still, 24% succcess in passing situations will not get the job done. Let's look at the breakdown:
FSU only ran 4 times in passing situations, but were successful twice (50%, duh).
BC: 2-10, rush for 11
BC: 2-8, rush for 7
This really begs the question, why not run more in these situations? Clearly the 'Noles were quite good at doing so. The answer was Ponder, of course, as he was injured and the backups were not a reasonable alternative for a variety of personal and football reasons. Where earlier in the year the 'Noles would mix their runs and passes in passing situations, they did not do so starting with the GTech game- probably because of the QB injury.
In the passing department, the 'Noles were terrible here, successfully throwing in passing situations only 3 of 17 times! That 's 18%! I am yelling! Let's take a look at the three successful throws:
BC: 2-9, pass for 30
BC: 2-10, pass for 14
BC: 3-5, pass for 14
Again, BC had three top 40 NFL draft pick types- including two top 10 types, and they absolutely manhandled the 'Noles offensive line- even making Rodney Hudson looking terrible. It didn't help that Andrew Datko and Ryan McMahon were injured. Simply put- BC, like Clemson (passing plays only) and Wake, and UF, had an all-decade quality front-7 and rushed few men yet generated a lot of pressure while playing 7 or 8 men in coverage. FSU simply could not block them.
Against Maryland, the 'Noles did a great job on first down and avoided having a lot of passing downs, facing only 16, and converting 5, for a 31% success rate. That's not good, but given the context of the overall game it wasn't a big deal because there just weren't many of the situations.
The 'Noles ran 6 times on passing downs and were successful three times, again posting a decent running success rate of 33%. Ponder took off only three times and had the two successful runs. Go figure.
MD: 2-10, run for 8
MD: 2-10, run for 12
In the passing department, FSU, threw the ball 10 times, and was successful three times.
MD: 2-10, pass for 7
MD: 3-7, pass for 7
Md: 3-11, pass for 18
Maryland's pass rush was not very impressive and it's worth noting that FSU completed a lot of short stuff that just missed counting as a "success."
And against UF, nothing went right. FSU faced 27 Passing Downs, and found success on only 5 (19%). UF had the best defense in the nation and they are in line to have the best defense of all time this season. They shut down everyone in scary fashion.
FSU ran 8 times on passing downs, doing to successfully only twice. That's 25%.
UF: 2-10, run for 8
UF 2-7, run for 9
In the passing game, our offensive line couldn't handle the Gator rush, and they were able to generate a lot of pressure with minimal rushers. I've said this a lot now throughout this piece, but FSU's run blocking was at a level many would call "good", but their pass blocking was in the bottom 30 of all teams Nationally. FSU threw 19 passes on Passing downs, and was successful on only 3. 3 of 19 is 16% and that is bad.
UF: 2-10, pass for 8
UF: 2-9, pass for 12
UF: 3-14, pass for 19
In the Bowl game, FSU got back on track somewhat. The 'Noles faced 23 passing downs, and ran successful plays on 10 of them. That's not too bad- a 43% clip.
The 'Noles ran 6 times on Passing Downs, and were successful on 3, for a success rate of 50%. That's pretty consistent with the 'Noles performance all season when running in passing downs. Here were the plays:
UW: 2-13, run for 11
UW: 2-10, run for 8
UW: 3-5, run for 5
FSU threw 17 passes in passing situations, and had success on 7 of those tries. Let's have a look:
UW: 2-7, pass for 10
UW: 2-10, pass for 9
UW: 2-8, pass for 20
UW: 2-8, pass for 29
UW: 2-15, pass for 12
UW: 3-19, pass for 20
UW: 3-9, pass for 18

I know some of you like things in chart form. Let's do that.

Game	Success Rate on Passing Downs	Rushing Success on Passing Downs	Passing Success on Passing Downs
Wake	8/ 32 (25%)	4/ 11 (36%)	4/ 21 (19%)
Colorado	6/ 20 (35%)	3/ 8 (35%)	4/ 12 (33%)
Miami	14/ 28 (50%)	8/ 15 (63%)	6/ 13 (46%)
NC State	12/ 29 (41%)	7/ 17 (41%)	5/ 12 (42%)
V Tech	5/ 25 (20%)	1/ 10 (10%)	4/ 15 (27%)
G Tech	10/ 17 (59%)	3/ 4 (75%)	7/ 13 (54%)
Clemson	6/ 18 (33%)	4/ 8 (50%)	2/ 10 (20%)
BC	5/ 21 (24%)	2/ 4 (50%)	3/ 17 (18%)
Maryland	5/ 16 (31%)	2/ 6 (33%)	3/ 10 (30%)
Florida	5/ 27 (19%)	2/ 8 (25%)	3/ 19 (16%)
Wisconsin	10/ 23 (43%)	3/ 6 (50%)	7/ 17 (41%)
Totals	86/ 256 (34%)	39/ 97 (40%)	47/ 159 (30%)

And there we have it. The success on passing downs was undeniably buyoed by the ability ot Ponder, Smith, and Thomas to run in situations where the defense was expecting the pass.

Author Nole44 had an excellent comment I wanted to highlight:

1. FSU was 25% more likely to succeed running the ball on passing downs than throwing the ball on passing downs (40% success rate v. 30%). This makes me think we didn't run the ball enough on passing downs.

2. Based on my own recollection, a decent amount of the successful pass plays in passing situations came from bubble screens and similar quick hit passes (which were not featured in 2007). These operated almost like a run in my opinion, keeping the linebackers from cheating up too much and giving our lineman space to run out into the second level after hitting their double team. This bubble screen inflation, for lack of a better term, only underscores how incapable the offensive line was of creating and holding a pocket.

I touched on this above, but he's right. The dropback passing game was even worse when you consider that FSU threw a ton of screens (not dropback passes) and often had success with them.

Though I probably didn't need to list out all of those passes, I think you can see the point. FSU rarely had a completed pass go further than the 1st down marker. That's where the PPP+ (explosiveness) statistic comes in. FSU's passing game was not explosive because the line could not pass protect long enough for the players to run down the field. Almost all of the big pass plays came on screens (which don't require good protection) and jump balls (which don't require good protection). It's okay to have a low completion- high yards per catch passing game, but FSU's yards per catch were not even remotely high enough to make up for all of the blown protections.

The other obvious takeaway is that the success on passing downs came disproportionately from the run game, which isn't a bad thing, but it could be quite misleading to see the success on passing downs. One would think that the 'Noles passing game on 3rd downs was quite good, but we now see that it was the run game and particularly Ponder's legs in the passing situations that propped up the performance. There's a reason the passing numbers got worse and the overall offensive performance on passing downs improved: line play. The line was super quick and could adeptly lock onto smaller defenders when running the ball on passing downs. As discussed above, they still lacked the physical maturity to pass protect. Luckily, there are other ways to demonstarte this:

Bill Connelley discusses these here and here. It's a great measurement which separates offensive line play from the other players in the best available way. No measure is perfect, but it does do a nice job of comparing year to year performance. It doesn't disproportionately reward draw plays, as most of a draw play after the first few yatds is a back making people miss- even though FSU's offensive line is probably the best in the nation at downfield blocking, due to their athleticism. Here you go:

Performance	'07 Ranking	'08 Ranking
Close Line Yards +	85th	52nd
Passing Downs Line Yards +	56th	112th
Non-Passing Downs Line Yards +	91st	36th

Contrast much? Remember our discussion above on FSU switching to an ultra-light and young offensive line which was atypical of a young line which would be big and uncoordinated. This 112th ranking might surprise some of you who are constantly inundated with the Seminole media's praise of the offensive line. We're guilty here as well, as we too often said the offensive line was playing great instead of saying they were playing great considering they are the youngest group in college football. It's like saying she's not a bad ballplayer-- for a girl. The 2007 offensive line was decent in pass protection and abysmal in the run game. The 2008 offensive line was very good in the run game and terrible in pass protection. The tables turned.

I also found this article interesting, http ://www .footballoutsiders .com/walkthrough /2009/walkthrough -i-am-gm, I pulled some pointers on dealing with young quarterbacks. It doesn't discuss dealing with a young offensive line specifically, but some of this should apply to our discussion.

Run the football. It seems simple enough, but some teams forget that the newbie probably isn't ready to pass 45 times per game. Run more often on first-and-10 and second-and-long. Don't be afraid to run or throw a short pass on third-and-long; sometimes it's better to give the defense a chance to go to work than to put too much pressure on the first time QB.

As you can see from the numbers above and the numbers last season, FSU did a great job with this. They limited risk through the run game in an attempt to keep the pressure off the passing game- a passing game they knew was likely to perform poorly at times due to the choices they made in dealing with a pretty unfortunate situation at offensive line.

Increase your protection: Rookie quarterbacks, even great ones, aren't going to read a defense and expertly find the fifth option on a pass. Given the choice between more reads and more blockers, choose extra blockers. Use six and seven man protection schemes often (keeping in backs and tight ends).

Rolling the pocket and using additional blockers limits the offense, but when a rookie is calling the signals, it's better to be limited and well-executed than complicated and confusing.

A friend of ours, Oline0175 (highly respected high school offensive coordinator), had this to say about how FSU did with this idea: Thats definitely how I'd classify our passing game. FSU tried to keep it simple. They limited the scheme for the sake of the QB and WR's, but thats more because they couldn't count on the protection to be there for down the field stuff and the WR's to run the correct routes. Ponder also struggled at times to know where to go with the ball though, particularly in post-snap reads.

Run some low-risk junk. QB runs, direct snaps, unbalanced lines, etc.

This is obvious, FSU ran their QB more than they had in 15 years.

Limit the decisions. Handoffs, option, play-action, screens, pre-snap reads to constraint plays, and rollouts. Get the ball in the hands of the playmakers without having to make difficult downfield throws or complex reads.

This of course depends on experience and time. Balanced teams will usually be more simple. All pass teams will be more pass difficult (Texas Tech) and run teams will be more run difficult(Georgia Tech). I prefer a balanced offense with an even mix of running schemes and pass schemes. Your pass schemes will need to be less intensive so the players can learn and get the necessary reps to be successful. Theres a reason option teams run option. The goal of an OC always should be to get the ball into the playmakers hands but sometimes you have to be creative. You need to move him around, just like UF did with Percy

Mix easy-to-read passes with a good running game, extra protection, and a dash of trickery, and you have an offense that a (good) rookie can succeed in throughout the season. It's that simple- provided you're not also dealing with a terrible pass blocking offensive line. Then it's not that simple.

And there's also Coach Saban on young QB's.

Q. From a defensive point of view, when you're facing a quarterback that doesn't have much experience, how do you try to take advantage of that? At the same time with an inexperienced quarterback this year, how do you try to guide him through games until he gets that experience?

COACH SABAN: Well, you know, I think that everyone develops at a little different pace and rate, depending on their ability to learn the knowledge and experience, how they learn from their lessons. And I think specifically in our case Greg McElroy learns very quickly and has had some experience. But I also understand that until he makes plays in the game, he's not gonna fully have, you know, the trust and respect of all of his teammates, even though they really, really like him and they really like him as a leader.

I think the biggest mistake you can make in development of any new player, young player, inexperienced player, is give him too many things to do, and increase the multiples of the kind of mental errors that they can make.

I think that it depends, from a defensive perspective, who the guy is that you're trying to defend. If he's a smart guy, if you try to pressure him, you may enhance his chances of making plays because he understands it, he sees it, and his reads actually become a little easier.

If you try to play all coverage against him and don't pressure him and he's a good runner, he may hurt you with his feet.

So I think to really answer that question effectively, you'd have to know the specifics of who you were trying to defend.

We ask our own coach about this. Oline0175 pays his bills by coaching offensive football and he recently won a state championship.

"I think we ask every player to do the same thing whether they are a freshmen or a senior. It's holding them to a higher standard. But the case here was different; Jimbo is building for the long haul. He wanted the class of 2008 to be the class that changes things for this program, so alot of them were asked to play as freshmen and we took our lumps while they learned on the job. In the future, freshmen won't be asked to play as big of roles so they can learn at their own pace and do what they can successfully if they play. Also every player learns at a different speed. We'll have some kids come through here or pick up on things quickly but struggle getting acclimated to the speed of the game and we'll have some who just can't pick the game up and play fast enough that it doesn't matter,

You'll notice that he discussed bringing pressure or not bringing pressure. What he didn't discuss is being able to get pressure without bringing extra rushers. He didn't discuss it because it is a huge luxury for a defense, and one that they normall do not expect to have, but that teams did have against FSU in 2008.

The Look Ahead

There is much reason for optimism. The 'Noles return their entire starting offensive line in LT Andrew Datko, LG Rodney Hudson, C Ryan McMahon (who should havea healthy foot), RG David Spurlock, and RT Zebrie Sanders. The line bulked up more than 10lbs per man while actually losing body fat. Their play in the spring was much improved and they have been the most impressive group in the summer workouts. There will be much more on this in the preview, but the future for this offensive line looks very bright.

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Progression, Continuation, or Regression? Noles Offensive Backfield

FrankDNole — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 20:13:48 -0000

Every day while catching up on my daily Nole must reads, I very often wonder to myself, "Are my 2009 Noles going to be better than last year’s team?"

So far we have analyzed, discussed, and you have voted on whether the Defensive Line, the Receivers/Tight End, and the Secondary will be better, the same, or worse than last years equivalent unit. Today we will take a look at the Offensive Backfield, to determine if this unit has progressed, expected to continue at the same level, or regressed, in comparison to last years backfield unit.

First the obvious. Florida State’s offense will only go as far as it’s backfield takes them because everything rest on that units shoulders. Speaking of the offense, here are some tidbits you may find interesting, uplifting, and/or depressing.

A) With eight starters returning, the offense returns the most starters since the 2004 season when nine returned. That was the last season the Seminoles won 10 games.

2) Players responsible for 71% of Florida State’s points in 2008 will not be back in 2009. That is the lowest number of returning points in the conference.

D) The ACC’s top two scorers in 2008 were both Seminoles, Antone Smithe and Graham Gano, and neither is back this season.

5) The Seminoles finished the year ranked first in scoring offense and second in total offense and rushing offense in the ACC.

L) FSU’s rushing offense improved from 91st in the nation in 2007 to 33rd last season. That was the ninth best improvement of any BSC school.

Here are some of my biggest question regarding the backfield as we get ready to start the 2-a-days this Friday.

Will Christian Ponder throw crisp and accurate spirals, proving he's gotten better this year with the experience he gained by starting every game last year?

Will he follow up with a more consistent performance?

Or will he be hearing the crowd chanting "EJ, EJ", which will surely come if he fails to deliver?

Will Jermaine Thomas be able to maintain the incredible 7.0 yard average from last year as the feature back, and stay healthy while taking the pounding that comes with being a feature back?

Will he put together a breakout season where he establishes himself as one of the ACC’s elite workhorse backs?

Or will Jimbo Fisher decide to make the tailback position a position by committee, and split playing time between Thomas, Ty Jones, and Tavares Pressley?

Before we get into the specifics of the positions in the backfield unit, if you haven’t already read these two very interesting perspectives by missourinole, I encourage you to do so. In both of his stories, What So Great About Ponder? and Jermaine Thomas: The Next Warrick Dunn? he presents some very good analytical comparisons with past FSU greats, and you the TN members told him how you felt. Some of the issues addressed in his stories might seem redundant here today, but the performance of these two positions will dictate what kind of season we will have, and how we will be talking about it come January.

QUARTERBACKS, TAILBACKS & FULLBACKS

2008 QUARTERBACK=Christian Ponder started all 13 games. His stats for last year were: EFF=115.0, PA=318, PC=177, YDS=2006, PCT=.557, TD=14, INT=13, LNG=54, AVG/GM=154.3, RA=119, YDS=597, LOSS=174, NET=423, AVG=3.6, TD=4, LNG=45, AVG/GM=32.5 (Total Offense=423R + 2006P = 2429 or 186.8 AVG/GM).

Ponder was backed up by D’Vontrey Richardson and Drew Weatherford who are both gone.

Christian Ponder had one of the best seasons in school history for a quarterback when it came to the ground game. The sophomore rushed for 423 yards finishing with the fourth-highest single season rushing total by a QB in school history. However in recent history since 1950, only Heisman Trophy winner Charlie Ward rushed for more yards in one season than Ponder did in 2008 and he is just the fourth FSU QB to ever score a rushing touchdown in four consecutive games. Ponder completed passes to seven or more receivers in seven of 13 games in 2008, and he hit eight or more receivers with a pass four times.

2009 PROJECTED QUARTERBACK=Christian Ponder. Redshirt freshman E.J. Manuel will back up Ponder but has not thrown a pass in a collegiate game up to this point. Even though Manuel did not see any action in 2008, he was instrumental to the team’s success earning scout team MVP for the offense.

2008 TAILBACK=Antone Smith started all 13 games. His stats for last year were: RA=177, YDS=868, LOSS=76, NET=792, AVG=4.5, TD=15, LNG=60, AVG/GM=60.9

Replacing Antone Smith’s 177 carries and 15 rushing touchdown’s is the top priority for the Seminoles this season. If you remove quarterbacks from the equation, Smith’s 117 carries accounted for almost 55% of all the running plays by the Seminoles in 2008.

2009 PROJECTED TAILBACK=Jermaine Thomas is the projected starter with Ty Jones and Tavares Pressley expected to give him breathers.

Jermaine Thomas had a breakout season as a true freshman averaging 7.0 yards per carry on 69 attempts. Thomas finished behind only Sean Jackson and Warrick Dunn in Seminole history for yards per carry by a true freshman. He also had the sixth-best true freshman season in school history for rushing yards. One of Thomas’ greatest strengths in 2008 was his ability to make positive yards on almost every touch. The freshman lost only 10 yards rushing all year.

Carlton "Ty" Jones, a true freshman running back showed flashes of brilliance throughout the 2008 season but was slowed by an ankle injury most of the year. He showed what he was capable of in the Champs Sports Bowl when he rushed four times for 55 yards including a TD. His average of almost 14 yards per carry was more than six times better than any other FSU running back in that game. That final game of the 2008 season illustrated just how good he can be in a backfield with fellow freshman standout Jermaine Thomas. He also had a career high run of 30 yards in the first game of his collegiate career against Western Carolina.

Tavares Pressley was redshirted in 2008 after suffering an ACL injury in his left knee, but most recent reports indicate he will be ready to go this season. After a few days of practice, we should have a better idea of his prognosis.

2008 FULLBACK=Marcus Sims started 4 games and Sederick Holloway started 2. Sims has transferred and apparently Holloway is no longer on the team.

2009 PROJECTED FULLBACK=NONE. Apparently we will not be using a true fullback this year. Matt Dunham has rejoined the team but is expected to be used more in a H-Back role, similar to a smaller pass catching tight end.

OTHERS WHO CONTRIBUTED IN THE 2008 BACKFIELD AND ARE NOW GONE=D’Vo Richardson (RA=35, YDS=288, LOSS=34, NET=254, AVG=7.3, TD=3, LNG=55, AVG/GM=25.4, PASS EFF=121.27, PA=44, PC=23, YDS=315, PCT=.523, TD=3, INT=3, LNG=39, AVG/GM=31.5).

Drew Weatherford and Preston Parker also contributed and are also gone.

OTHERS WHO MAY CONTRIBUTE IN 2009=Lonnie Pryor (RB), Chris Thompson (RB), Corey Eddinger (QB), Will Secord (QB)

So there you have it. Considering this will be Ponder's second season running the Seminole's offense, it's likely we could see improvements made considering he'll have a better understanding of Jimbo Fisher’s offense, and his available weaponry. Manuel should also be better considering he too has had a full season in this offense under his belt.

The running game should have a much improved offensive line, so maybe that will improve their deceiving production of 4.8 yards per carry in 2008. I say deceiving because many of the long runs which inflated this average, were runs by the QB’s, which hopefully will not come down to that again this year.

Again, a lot rests on this groups shoulders. If the Seminoles receive favorable answers to those questions I posed above, Florida State will win the ACC’s Atlantic Division, will be playing in the ACC Championship Game come December while continuing the nations longest streak of Bowl appearances with 28 consecutive bowls, in what hopefully will be the Orange Bowl, at least.

MY BOTTOM LINE FOR THE OFFENSIVE BACKFIELD=PROGRESSION

What is your bottom line? Please vote now.

Poll

2009 FSU OFFENSIVE BACKFIELD-PROGRESSION, CONTINUATION, OR REGRESSION? Please read the story before voting. Poll closes Thursday August 6 at 11:55 PM.

PROGRESSION

189 votes

CONTINUATION

3 votes

REGRESSION

4 votes

196 votes | Poll has closed

Progression, Stagnation, or Regression? Wide Receivers and Tight End

FrankDNole — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 15:11:11 -0000

Every day while catching up on my daily Nole must reads, I very often wonder to myself, "Are my 2009 Noles going to be better than last year’s team?"

In the first part of this series, we analyzed the Defensive Line. Today we will take a look at the Wide Receivers and Tight Ends to determine if this unit has progressed, is stagnant, or has regressed in comparison to last years group.

Even though Jimbo Fisher and WR Coach Lawrence Dawsey have already released the preliminary and projected depth chart, I am willing to bet that if you were to talk to either one privately and off the record, neither one really knows who our top receivers will be this season.

I will not, and I do not think any of us need to beat a dead horse any longer by rehashing the fiasco that was our WR corps last season. Therefore, I will ignore the logistic nightmares that this group caused the coaches and their teammates with their "issues", and only present what they accomplished when they were actually allowed to be on the field and allowed to participate.

While it seems that the coaches have a laundry list of players available to put into game situations this year, none of those players have yet earned a reputation or can be considered a pass catching weapon that will really scare any of the opposing defenses. Will this be a problem that could affect the running game?

Last seasons lack of a deep passing game (other than the occasional jump ball downfield) along with the poor pass blocking have been very well documented here, and is something most of our regular TN readers are all too familiar with. While these two factors did contribute to an inadequate passing game, much of the blame also lies with the receivers running lazy and sloppy routes, they lacked clean and crisp cuts, and had a high number of dropped passes during the ‘08 campaign. Relying only on my memory and without any research to back this up, I believe our passing game’s bread and butter consisted of the WR or bubble screen. Fortunately we had above average down field blocking that created some very nice gains and kept us competitive in many close games.

Here are a couple of interesting (sad?) tidbits.

A) Three out of the top five wide outs from last season, Greg Carr, Preston Parker, and Corey Surrency are no longer on the team and the third most productive receiver, Taiwan Easterling missed all of the spring drills with a ruptured Achilles. He is apparently recovering nicely and ahead of schedule and may be ready by the first game. The first few weeks of practice will be very telling as to his recovery and his potential to play. Of the 174 passes caught by receivers in 2008, players responsible for 91 of those receptions are gone, and 30 (Easterling) are questionable.

2) Outside of Bert Reed’s 23 catches, not a single receiver on the roster caught more than 20 passes in 2008 and only one (Rod Owens) caught 10 or more.

D) FSU should get a boost with the return of redshirt senior Richard Goodman who caught 20 passes as a junior in 2007, and now has his legal problems behind him, but who must still serve his music suspension.

Last year the tight ends were once again not a factor in the passing game since they had to stay at home to help with the pass protection, thus eliminating another receiving threat and allowing the defense to either double up on a WR, or send another defender to rush and to pressure our QB. When this last scenario occurred the blocking TE, usually Caz, was very often cancelled out by the extra pass rusher and in many cases, the QB did not have time to look at his first, much less his second read.

Caz was basically playing as an extra lineman more than a receiver to help a young and inexperienced offensive line. On top of that, the Seminoles’ other two tight ends were both true freshmen. Despite his decent work as a blocker, Piurowski still established single-season career highs for catches (8), yards (83) and touchdowns (1). For the second time in the last three years, Piurowski averaged over 10 yards a reception in 2008. Bo Reliford and Ja’Baris Little combined for just one catch in their true freshman seasons. The bottom line though, our TE’s only caught a total of 9 passes all season.

Jimbo has said on several occasions during this off season that the tight end WILL be a factor in the passing game this year. If he keeps his word, Ponder will have two different 6'7" targets that can release a few moments after, or at the snap, find a seam in the secondary, and do what opposing teams have been doing to us for longer than I care to remember. Also, if Jimbo keeps his word, our defense will be forced to cover the TE during practices, and maybe this will teach them that the TE is indeed a eligible receiver in football (but I digress and this will be covered at a later date).

Once again just as in the previous story, we realize we lost some very good individual talent. I ask that you please remember that we want to try to look at the unit as a whole when you finally do vote, as to whether this collective unit has progressed, has remained stagnant, or has regressed, compared to last years unit.

OK now we will compare the two groups of Wide Receivers and Tight Ends.

2008 X WR=Greg Carr started 12 games and Jarmon Forston started 1 against Chattanooga. Carr is gone (Rec=39, Yds=542, Avg=13.9, TD=4, Avg/Gm=41.7).

2009 PROJECTED X WR=Bert Reed and Avis Commack

2008 Y WR (Slot)=Taiwan Easterling started 8 games, Ja’Baris Little (TE) started one, and Marcus Sims (FB) started 4 games.

2009 PROJECTED Y WR=Taiwan Easterling and Louis Givens

2008 Z WR=Preston Parker started 8 games, Rod Owens started 3, Corey Surrency started 1, and Bert Reed started 1 game. Parker (Rec=40, Yds=372, Avg=9.3, TD=2, Avg/Gm=37.2) and Surrency (Rec=12, Yds=237, Avg=19.8, TD=4, Avg/Gm=21.5) are both gone.

2009 PROJECTED Z WR=Jarmon Forston, Richard Goodman (Suspended first 3 or 4 games), and Rod Owens

2008 TIGHT END=Caz Piurowski started 9 games, Josh Dobbie started 2, Preston Parker (WR) started 1, and Corey Surrency (WR) started 1.

2009 PROJECTED TIGHT END=Caz Piurowski, Beau Reliford, and Ja’Baris Little.

OTHERS WHO CONTRIBUTED IN 2008 AND ARE NOW GONE=Corey Surrency (probably one of the best downfield blocking WR I have seen since Anquan Boldin).

OTHERS WHO MAY CONTRIBUTE IN 2009=Cameron Wade, Matt Dunham will play more of a H-Back role (think smaller pass catching tight end), Josh Gehres, Timothy Orange, Ashuwa Richardson, Willie Haulstead, Rodney Smith

Well there you have it. I guess the real question is not if Carr, Parker, and Surrency can be replaced, but whether their replacements will be able to make up the 10 TD’s, the 91 Rec’s, and the over 100 yards per game that left with them, and are no longer available to us. The question is whether any of the receivers will be able to provide the down field blocking that Surrency and Parker (sometimes) provided. The question is whether Easterling will return to close to 100% of his former self. The question is whether Fisher will keep his word and finally throw to one of the TE’s as promised, at least 3 or 4 times a game.

I believe these are a lot of obstacles to overcome. I also believe that we have heard the last of our WR "issues" and this will provide Ponder with the stability at WR which was so desperately missing last year. Things got so bad that we had TE’s and FB's starting games at WR, and WR's starting at TE, which I believe is something that is now behind us and in the past. I believe Easterling will be close to his old self. And finally, I believe Jimbo will make the TE’s a integral part of the offense like we have not seen in many years, because our OL should be much improved in their pass blocking to where Caz or Beau can finally be utilized as receivers.

MY BOTTOM LINE FOR THE WIDE RECEIVERS AND TIGHT END=PROGRESSION.

What is your bottom line? Please vote now.

Now with the defensive line, receivers and tight ends out of the way, please stay tuned for the linebackers, secondary, backfield, offensive line, and special teams.

Poll

2009 FSU WIDE RECEIVERS AND TIGHT END-PROGRESSION, STAGNATION, OR REGRESSION? Please read the story before voting. Poll closes Sunday August 2 at 7:00 PM

PROGRESSION

181 votes

STAGNATION

73 votes

REGRESSION

52 votes

306 votes | Poll has closed

Monday Morning Tomahawks 06.03.09

FSUncensored — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 13:25:37 -0000

Good Morning and Go Noles! Here's the news that will probably interest you:

First up is Boston College losing their quarterback. As you learned yesterday, he was suspended for academics and has decided to transfer. Domonique Davis christens BC's great quarterback adventure - Dr. Saturday (some background on the situation), and here's some VIDEO on the possible replacements: Eagle in Atlanta -- : Before they were Eagles: Boek and Tuggle addition Boek apparently leads.

More football now, as we have Phil Steele's Offensive Line Experience Chart-- FSU ranks 22nd Nationally (close 3rd in ACC to VT), w/ 89 Combined Starts That represents a huge change from last season, when we had 21, making us one of the three least experienced offensive lines in the country.

In baseball news, Arkansas Razorbacks Names To Watch · ScalpEm.com and then Steve Ellis of the Tallahassee Democrat asks: Who would you pick for am All-Mike Martin Era Team Steve also chats with Mike about the upcoming Arkansas series.

Back to football, with two non-FSU items. First, Chantrant catches up with North Alabama, a new football program that might have as many as 6 ex-FSU players on its roster, including Preston Parker and Will Furlong.

Also, remember the piece on scheduling? I wrote:

Another message here is to avoid 1-AA teams. Voters seem to be averse to those who play the lower division schools. The key is to shell out the extra $300K payment that it takes to secure a garbage 1A school over a 1AA school. There's a good chance that the 1A school is actually worse than the 1AA school, and the name recognition value it totally worth it.

Well now we find this article UGA to pay nearly $1 million to play lesser Division I-A opponent | ajc.com

General Athletics administration: Section Six: The Columbus Dispatch: Secrecy 101 The Family Eductational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) Not a FUPA, mind you, which was created to protect the privacy of students' academic records, has come to be interpreted broadly and inconsistently by the NCAA's various member institutions. Here's a scoreboard of how every D1 team did (FSU did quite well).

And once again, remember to listen to the great interview at Garnet and Great with FSU legend James Colzie.

We have some great stuff in the works for the coming weeks, with the ulitmate goal of getting you totally prepped for what should be an awesome season of Seminole Football.

Rivalry stuff: ScalpEm.com Reader Mailbag (Sorta) Volume 1 · ScalpEm.com Saclpem answers the question: Nole CC, off subject but would you agree that Gator Envy is out of control? Warchant is flooded with threads hoping they lose the WCWS and last weekend praying Miami would beat their baseball team. I wish we could focus on our team, on a Seminole site, all those threads just make Seminole Nation as a whole look bad. Just my 2 cents. Get over there and let him know your thoughts. He makes sone quality points.

Florida State struggling with injuries to their wide receivers

FSUncensored — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 18:52:52 -0000

Preston Parker is not practicing with the team. He has an ankle injury. "It's a lot of watching, but when you're watching it's better than just sitting there. When you're coming out and helping you feel like you're still practicing a little bit and it makes you feel good. I just go in [the training room] and work hard, because [my teammates] are our here working hard trying to get better." I consider him doubtful for the Champs Sports Bowl. At least this confirms that FSU doesn't blatantly lie on their practice reports. Remember back when Ponder didn't practice all week? They didn't list him in the "highlights" because he wasn't making any. Like Ponder, Parker is absent from the recent practice reports as well. If he doesn't play, it will probably not be a big deal. It is not as if the entire team is distracted over a fight or something. Receiver is the deepest position for the Noles. Taiwan Easterling has an ankle injury and Row Owens has a groin injury-- I expect those two to play.
Andrew Carter reports that Parker will return to school unless he is projected as a 2nd round draft pick or better. He won't be-- at least not by any reputable source. An agent might trick him. Parker is a good but not great college player whose physical skills and checkered past (he has at least one kid and multiple arrests) should keep him out of the first 2 rounds even if he has a big campaign next year.
An issue nobody wants to talk about: Academic Ineligibility. Grades were available online yesterday. Who screwed around this semester? Who flunked out? Who didn't take care of business? We want to know, but we want to do this in an orderly fashion. This is just a fact of life in college athletics and some academic attrition should be expected. If you hear something about a player being ineligible for the bowl game, e-mail us at FSUncensored@gmail.com
Also inside... Rick Trickett, a note on Bowden's possible retirement, a bowl game note, and thoughts about Miami

As for the Rick Trickett situation... I think this is mostly nothing. My take on what might have happened (I am making this up. This is hypothetical. I am not asserting this as fact) : Trickett wants a new deal, approaches hardheaded athletic director Randy Spetman about a new contract (Trickett is in year 2 of a 3 year deal running through the 2009 season), Spetman tells him to get in line, Trickett gets annoyed, as he is one of the best in the business, yet being treated like any other coach on the staff (despite being far superior to some of the defensive guys in talent and work ethic). Spetman tries to show who is boss and play the "he's under contract right now" card. Bottom Line: Trickett is the 3rd most important coach to this program (Fisher & Coley), and should be shown more respect than he is getting. If the administration wants to play games, play them with coaches who don't work hard or are constantly entertaining pipe dreams that they might get another head coaching job despite being 60+ years old and widely considered a joke in the coaching community. That said, he should expect to get his new deal and I don't think he wants to keep moving his family around the country. Feathers ruffled, but nobody is flying the coop; some even feel an agreement has been reached.
I apologize for relaying the rumor about Patrick Nix and Guz Malzahn. I should have done a better job of independently checking sources and asking the original source about the origin of the rumor. Hopefully Nix is still in Miami when the Noles host the Canes in primetime on ESPN, September 5th! Have no fear, Florida State fans... these opening day games favor the team with the more experienced offense, and that is the Noles. If possible, I'd want to play Miami in June.
On the other hand... Miami QB Robert Marve will not play in the bowl game and will return to Tampa, FL, his hometown. Rumors of his imminent transfer run rampant.
Yahoo sports reports that From all indications, Bowden will return for another season. But whenever he retires, look for it to happen suddenly. Bowden has said in the past he does not want to announce his retirement before a season or before a game. He wishes to walk away without any fanfare during a game.
I've heard the Champs Sports Bowl will have to open the upper deck as the 50,000 tickets have been sold.

Sunday Running PostGame Reactions and Observations: Clemson 27, FSU 41

FSUncensored — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 00:29:53 -0000

Post your thoughts here.

Here are your 5 Questions:

1. What was the most encouraging thing you saw tonight?

2. Who was the best player on the field?

3. What was the most discouraging aspect of this win?

4. What is your most lingering concern after this victory?

5. What player or aspect of this team do you most want to see re-emerge?

Bonus: what do you want me to look for in "Inside the Seminole Film Room"?

Quotes:

"It was exciting. We talked about it all week about how other teams weren’t able to run on them. We just stuck with our blocking schemes and we just felt like they hadn’t played a team like us."_ Jermaine Thomas

Early Observations:

Continued 3rd down dominance: Clemson ran 15 3rd down plays and converted only 2. It's safe to say that the Noles will continue to lead the nation in this category. Clemson ran 12 3rd down pass plays. The results? 3 Sacks, 1 Interception, 5 incompletions, 2 completions that were tackled 5 and 2 yards short of the first down, and only ONE conversion. 1-12 on 3rd downs passing. Think about that. That is sheer dominance.
Running for points; not maintenance. FSU had 10 runs of 10+ yards. 7 runs of 20+ yards. No player with over 100 yards. Few teams actually use the running game as a weapon instead of a "stay out of 3rd and long" method. This is good from an explosion standpoint, but I'll need to review some more stuff before I make up my mind RE: are we too boom or bust in the run game. Another positive of this is that teams must really respect the run on 2nd and 3rd Passing Downs

The importance of winning 1st down.

... it is not necessarily how many big defensive plays you make that determines how well you do; it is more about leveraging the offense into uncomfortable situations -- in other words, Passing Downs. The reverse is true for offensive success

I've preached this all year, but we are finally beginning to understand why. No matter how good you are throwing the ball, you won't have sustained success in 3rd and 5+. In fact, we discussed our propensity to convert 3rd and long last week. Several commentators (including myself) commented that we probably cannot keep that up. As you will see, it was finally time for the Noles to pay the proverbial piper, as they converted on only 2 of 7 3rd and 5+ situations. A detailed breakdown follows. See what you can do with this while I crunch other stuff.

Leverage: FSU faced 51% passing downs (16/31) Of those, 16 were passing downs (passing downs defined as 2-8+, or 3rd/4th- 5+). Some new school thinking indicates that staying out of passing downs is hugely correlated to winning.
Leverage: FSU forced Clemson into 75% passing downs (30/40)
Read the explanation of Success Rate. This is similar to the leverage idea, but instead of measuring the ability to stay out of / put your opponent in a bad position; Success Rate measures the chance of success. Let's go to the Chart!

Situation	Success Rate	Successes	Failures
Overall Offense	50%	31	31
Rushing Offense	58%	19	14
Passing Offense	41%	12	17
Non-Passing Downs	69%	11	5
Passing Downs	33%	5	10
Running in Non-Passing Downs	80%	8	2
Passing in Non-Passing Downs	60%	3	2
Running in Passing Downs	50%	3	3
Passing in Passing Downs	22%	2	7
1st Down Offense	48%	15	16
1st Down Rushing Offense	50%	8	8
1st Down Passing Offense	47%	7	8
2nd Down Offense	52%	11	10
2nd Down Offense in Non- Passing Downs	62%	8	5
2nd Down Offense in Passing Downs	38%	3	5
2nd Down Rushing Offense	67%	10	5
2nd Down Running in Non-Passing Downs	78%	7	2
2nd Down Running in Passing Downs	50%	3	3
2nd Down Passing Offense	20%	1	4
2nd Down Passing in Non-Passing Downs	33%	1	2
2nd Down Passing in Passing Downs	0%	0	2
3rd Down Offense	50%	5	5
3rd Down Offense in Non- Passing Downs	100%	3	0
3rd Down Offense in Passing Downs	29%	2	5
3rd Down Rushing Offense	100%	1	0
3rd Down Running in Non-Passing Downs	100%	1	0
3rd Down Running in Passing Downs	NO Draws?
3rd Down Passing Offense	44%	4	5
3rd Down Passing in Non-Passing Downs	100%	2	0
3rd Down Passing in Passing Downs	29%	2	5

As We've discussed at length, our offensive line is not good enough to execute a bunch of straight dropback pass plays. Our numbers reflect that. Also, because of the more hit or miss explosive nature of the passing game, Success rate will almost always be higher for rushing than passing. More explanations on this tomorrow.

We did an excellent job of staying committed to the run on 2nd and 8+, running 6 times and getting into 3rd and 4 or better 3 of the 6 times.

I'll enter the Defensive Data into Table form soon.

Defensive Success Rate: 63% (45/71). 50% on non-passing downs (5/10). 73% on passing downs (22/30).
1st Down Offensive Success Rate 64% (18/31).
2nd Down Defensive Success Rate 59% (13/22). 50% on non-passing downs (3/6). 63% on passing downs (10/16).
3rd Down Defensive Success Rate 87% (13/15). 50% on non-passing downs (2/4, including a turnover). ONE HUNDRED % on passing downs (11/11). That's incredible. Believe in the concept of leverage now?
4th Down Defensive Success Rate 33% (1/3, all passing downs)

What were certain non-scoring plays really worth?

How costly was roughing the passer?

How would we even go about figuring this out? Let's use a field position point expectancy chart.

via www.rockmnation.com

This chart shows how many points they can expect to score then they have the ball at a specific part of the field. The punt was fair caught at the FS 28 by Preston Parker. Having the ball at your own 28 on 1st down is worth exactly 2.00 points. The penalty not only wiped out our expectancy of 2.00 points, but it also gave Clemson a 1st down at their own 46. Having the ball at your own 46 is worth about 2.9 points.

So, 2.00 + 2.90= 4.90. The roughing the passer penalty cost the Noles 4.90 points. Intuitively, you know that penalty really hurt us. Now you know mathematically.

How costly was Tony Carter's muffed punt?

via www.rockmnation.com

The punt went from the Florida State 43 to the Florida State 11, where Tony Carter tried to fair catch it.

Having a 1st down at your own 11 is worth roughly 1.8 points. That's not all that special. The real killer in this play came from the turnaround. Clemson recovered the fumble at the Florida State 9. A first down at your opponent's 9 yard line is worth about 5.3 points. All in all, Carter's muffed punt was a 7.1 point swing. What a huge play. Again I ask: why is a starting cornerback returning punts? Let's hope this is the last we see of Tony Carter returning punts.

Other key non-scoring plays:

Harper's pass to Ford on 3rd down from the FSU 45 (1.5 expected pts) to the FSU 23 (4.25) was worth an expected 2.75 points. Credit the defense here for holding CU to a field goal.
Ponde'rs toss to Parker on 3-3 from the CU 44 to the CU 32 was deceptively important. It was worth 2.5 expectancy points (4.00-1.50).
Spiller's 8 yard rush on 4th-6 from the FSU 38 to the FSU 30 was worth 2.5 points (4.00-2.50)
Surrency's 38 yard grab on 2-7 from the 50 to the CU 12 was worth 2.50 expectancy points as well. (Jumping from 1.50 for the 2-7 @ the 50 (1.50 pts), to a first down @ the CU 12 (4.00pts) )

Truer Drive Charts

I don't think that Clemson should be credit for one drive because FSU roughed their punter. I also don't think that Neefy's interception or Tony's muff were offensive drives. It's a pet peeve, but I think this gives a better sense of how each offense (and defense) really played.

Clemson (split the roughing the punter drive in two)

	Drive Start				Drive End				Consumed
Team	Qtr	Spot	Time	Obtained	Spot	Time		How Lost	Pl-Yds	TOP	RZ
CU	1st	C20	15:00	Kickoff	F00	12:52	*	TOUCHDOWN	5-80	2:08
CU	1st	C25	11:19	Punt	F23	7:43	*	FIELD GOAL	9-52	3:36
CU	1st	C20	5:56	Kickoff	C26	4:16		Interception	3-6	1:40
CU	1st	C20	4:16	Kickoff	C22	2:28		Punt	3-2	1:48
CU	2nd	C19	12:58	Kickoff	F43	8:55		Punt	7-38	4:03
CU	2nd	F09	8:55	Fumble	F00	8:17	*	TOUCHDOWN	2-9	0:38	#
CU	2nd	C37	6:53	Punt	C42	5:15		Punt	3-5	1:38
CU	2nd	C22	1:19	Kickoff	C15	0:38		Punt	3--7	0:41
CU	3rd	C09	10:52	Kickoff	C31	7:15		Punt	5-22	3:37
CU	3rd	C46	7:15	Penalty	F02	3:43	*	FIELD GOAL	10-52	3:32	#
CU	3rd	C20	0:38	Interception	C11	13:44		Punt	3--9	1:54
CU	4th	C09	10:24	Kickoff	C14	8:30		Punt	3-5	1:54
CU	4th	C03	5:04	Punt	F00	2:00	*	TOUCHDOWN	11-97	3:04	#
CU	4th	C36	1:42	Kickoff	C41	0:44		Fumble	6-5	0:58

We really need to start better. Clemson's first 2 drives went 5-80 and 9-52. Mickey said that he didn't make a scheme adjustment, but rather, an attitude adjustment.

After Mickey laid into his crew, Clemson ran 42 plays for 141 yards (3.4 per play-- absurdly good defense). CU was completely shut down.

Then, we went into a prevent and allowed a 11 play, 97yd drive. However, that drive did last 3:04 and cost Clemson all of their timeouts.

Florida State (removed the Neefy Score and the Punt Muff)

	Drive Start				Drive End				Consumed
Team	Qtr	Spot	Time	Obtained	Spot	Time		How Lost	Pl-Yds	TOP	RZ
FS	1st	F34	12:52	Kickoff	F34	11:19		Punt	3-0	1:33
FS	1st	F28	7:38	Kickoff	C34	5:56	*	FIELD GOAL	5-38	1:42
FS	1st	F25	2:28	Punt	C19	13:03	*	FIELD GOAL	10-56	4:25	#
FS	2nd	F30	8:12	Kickoff	F30	6:53		Punt	3-0	1:19
FS	2nd	F30	5:15	Punt	C00	1:25	*	TOUCHDOWN	10-70	3:50	#
FS	2nd	F33	0:38	Punt	C41	0:00		End of half	4-26	0:38
FS	3rd	F37	14:52	Kickoff	C00	11:01	*	TOUCHDOWN	9-63	3:51	#
FS	3rd	F38	3:35	Kickoff	C11	0:38		Interception	7-51	2:57	#
FS	4th	F32	13:44	Punt	C00	10:31	*	TOUCHDOWN	7-68	3:13	#
FS	4th	F49	8:30	Punt	C43	5:04		Punt	5-8	3:26
FS	4th	C41	1:58	Kickoff	C00	1:49	*	TOUCHDOWN	1-41	0:09
FS	4th	C41	0:44	Fumble	C43	0:00		End of half	1--2	0:44

I don't like how most of the sites are reporting Clemson's drives. To me, the drive when we roughed their punter was really 2 separate offensive drives.

I really like the 5 drives of 7+ plays and 50+ yards. That's very good.

Thanks to Seminoles.com and Woody Hayes, Tommy Sabourin, Pat Campbell, Andrew Brady, Steve Heil, and Brian Taylor for compiling this.

More to come...

Wow Notes

Wow!, on the 2nd drive, we faked bubble screen action and ran a middle screen off of it. Unfortunately, Clemson didn't respect givens on the bubble and batted the middle screen pass down. Still though... Wow! That's creative. I think we will see this again.
Wow! We were trying to go deep. 3 or more times we ran a design short pass fake to try to get deep, but alas, the pressure was too much. Maybe someday?
Wow! Moses McCray is an absolute beast! I wonder what the battles between him and Freshman Guard David Spurlock are like? Watch the 1st down run @ 2:28 of the first quarter. Moses drives Clemson's Senior Center 3 yards into the backfield, hits the CJ spiller with his arm, and slows him up enough to have our defender converge. Moses IS the next Brodrick Bunkley. Mark that down. He plays with such great leverage.
Wow! I forgot just how much faster a healthy Dekoda Watson makes out defense. His constant intensity level doesn't hurt either.

Have something that needs to be in the Wow! notes? Lemme know.

Photos (Courtesy of Tallahassee.com)

Last week, I told you that we played much worse than the score indicated.

This week, we played much better than the score indicated.

The Media's Take

Chantrant has their 'Nole Nuggets
Scalpem has a great photo gallery and a recap.
Andrew Carter has a really good grading piece. We agree on pretty much everything. I also posted twice over there.
Dinnich gives the 'Noles Defensive Ends a Helmet Sticker.
Doc Saturday takes Notice of our run game!
Nolesports.com has a bunch of articles.
Lemme know if I missed any.
ESPN has highlights

Check back throughout the day as I add more thoughts. I'd really like to hear yours, however, so don't be shy!

Poll

Who was the MVP of the Clemson Beatdown?

Louis Givens

31 votes

31 votes | Poll has closed

Inside the Seminole Film Room: Florida State 28, Georgia Tech 31

FSUncensored — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 09:11:26 -0000

I won't have a play-by-play review this week, as I've had a lot of stuff come up.

As always, we use these terms to denote formations:

"Chollie" is shotgun, 3 wide, 2 backs, like Charlie Ward ran.
"KGun" is what the Jim Kelly bills teams ran, with 3 WR, a TE, and back.
"BAMA" is Singleback, Twins WR, Twins TE (we sometimes line up in this with the FB acting as an HBack or second TE)
Hawaii is a 4WR GUN Trips Overload look out of Hawaii's playbook. It's Shotgun, with 3 WR and a rb all on the same side. This is great for forcing defenses to show their hand early.
Wendy's is 4 WR, or 4 Standing players, stacked behind each other in groups of 2, on each side of the offensive line. This is usually run with a tight alignment. I named it Wendy's because it's effectively a "DoubleStack"

Let's look directly at the video:

Florida State vs Georgia Tech Highlights (via FSUTalent)

I wanted to focus mostly on the strides the offense made in lieu of looking at our defense get gashed by a modern day gimmick offense.

Video Time0:00	1/10	at Fs32	3WRSB	Ponder, C pass complete to Parker, P for 9 yards to the FS41 (Jackson, K.).
Double slants as Ponder hits the trail guy. This is an obvious zone buster play. Throw to back shoulder might not have been intentional, but was effective. Throw good.
0:10	2/1	at Fs41	Pistol Chollie	Smith, A rush for 12 yards to the GT47, 1ST DOWN FS, out-of-bounds (Butler, M.).
Triple option, but we actually pitch it. My guess is this is double option with a dummy fake.
0:20	1/10	at Gt47	Twin I	Ponder, C pass complete to Carr, G for 14 yards to the GT33, 1ST DOWN FS (Butler, M.).
No PA. 3 step drop, excellent throw. Good job to attempt to cut the Dlinemen.
0:30	2/8	at Gt31	5WR Gun	Ponder, C pass complete to Carr, G for 20 yards to the GT11, 1ST DOWN FS (Jackson, K.).
########
1:07	2/7	at Fs13		Nesbitt, J. rush for loss of 1 yard to the FS14 (Nicholson, D).
The rare example of the double A-Gap submarine formation working.
1:17	3/7	at Gt30	4WR GUN	Ponder, C pass complete to Carr, G for 12 yards to the GT18, 1ST DOWN FS (Taylor, C.).
Again, double slants against zone. Inside guy draws the LB in, Ponder throws a strike to the outside man. 8 men in coverage.
1:30	1/10	at Fs32	Pistol Trips	Thomas, J. rush for 62 yards to the GT6, 1ST DOWN FS (Peterson, M.).
Zone blocking in all its glory. Watch the double-team from Zebrie and Spurlock. Beautiful. Note also that Gtech looked to be worried about the bubble here, and they don't think we can run to the right.
2:17	2-G	at Gt04	Twin I	Ponder, C pass complete to Holloway, S for 4 yards to the GT0, TOUCHDOWN, clock 08:05.
Notice how Ponder waits with patience and poise, clears the rusher, finds his throwing lane and throws the ball the only place he could put it, and Holloway made the nice catch.
2:47	2/8	at Gt34		Jones, R. rush for no gain to the GT34 (Verdell, T;Rolle, M).
2:57	1/10	at Fs17	Pistol Trips.	Thomas, J. rush for 13 yards to the FS30, 1ST DOWN FS (Morgan, D.).
Same exact play we ran on the 62 yard run. Same play. Now, while the 62 yard run was all blocking, this run was all Thomas. I'm more impressed with Thomas on this run than the 62 yarder. Spurlock needed to hold his double longer here.
3:08	2/15	at Fs25	Hawaii	Richardson, D rush for 39 yards to the GT36, 1ST DOWN FS, out-of-bounds (Taylor, C.).
10 blockers is better than 9 and I like this play. Good job by D'Vo to hurdle towards the end. Great zone principles, and great individual efforts by the skill guys including Caz.
3:43	2/15	at Gt41	4WR GUN	Ponder, C pass complete to Carr, G for 14 yards to the GT27 (Peterson, M.).
Very good throw on the slant, but we need to get that DE cut better so that he can't get his hands up. Nitpicking? I hope not.
3:53	2/10	at Fs33	Chollie w/ a TE?	Smith, A rush for 10 yards to the FS43, 1ST DOWN FS (Burnett, M.).
Datko and Caz make this play. Great first steps.
4:06	2/17	at Fs36	Chollie	Ponder, C pass complete to Parker, P for 13 yards to the FS49 (Griffin, S.).
Hey! The middle screen! I love our linemen. Look @ Datko down field.
4:18	3/3	at Fs36		Shaw, J. rush for loss of 7 yards to the FS43, fumble forced by Brown, E, fumble by Shaw, J. recovered by FS Stewart, K at FS43.
Well, one way to stop GT is to have them lose their QB to a fluke injury.
4:48	2/12	at Fs41	Chollie w/ a TE?	Thomas, J. rush for 11 yards to the GT48 (Taylor, C.).
Spurlock! Hell yes! Pancaking a DT! I think this guy might be my favorite player. Also w/ great blocks: Zebrie, Caz, and believe it or not, Marcus Sims. Make no mistake though, this play is made because Spurlock is quick off the ball and dominates his guy. Now... the pass pro... um... next year?
5:05	3/8	at Fs03	4WR GUN	Ponder, C pass complete to Owens, R for 10 yards to the FS13, 1ST DOWN FS, out-of-bounds (Butler, M.).
Not going to sugarcoat this… we held here. Now, besides the holding, Ponder made a play that we haven't seen made here in a long time. Really nice.
5:22	2/10	at Fs30	KGUN	Ponder, C pass complete to Easterling, T for 9 yards to the FS39 (Reid, R.).
Why do we pay Jimbo so much? Passing concepts. This is a curl and an out. It's a zone buster; here being a orizontal stretch, with a vertical element (10 yard curl). The outside defended MUST commit to the out route, while the inside defended must make sure the slot guy doesn't get inside. Ponder throws a strike here, stepping up in the pocket. This is an easy read for a young QB, but not always an easy throw. Jimbo gave confidence with the easy read, and Ponder used his ability to put the ball on the money.
5:31	3/1	at Fs39	I	Thomas, J. rush for 9 yards to the FS48, 1ST DOWN FS (Reid, R.;Burnett, M.), PENALTY GT offside declined.
Keep in mind that Gtech was consistently playing us to run left, but even so, Spurlock and Sanders run blocked out of their minds! Look at this blocking. Good scheme too, as the WR blocks the DE, but isn't required to hold the block long at all.
5:50	4/3	at Gt45	5WR Gun	Ponder, C pass complete to Reed, B for 6 yards to the GT39, 1ST DOWN FS (Taylor, C.).
Gong for this is the right call and we are very lucky to have a guy who will fist it to the media if they don't understand the principles of expected point value relative to field position. Anyways, the play… Reed shows good maturity running this route to the perfect spot, the line doesn't fall down, and Ponder makes the right choice, throwing a strike. Memo to ACC: we will average 31 points in ACC play next year, book it.
5:59	1/10	at Gt39	KGUN Trips Weak	Richardson, D pass complete to Parker, P for 39 yards to the GT0, 1ST DOWN FS, TOUCHDOWN, clock 06:04.
Great play by Parker, and not a horrible throw by Mr. Richardson either. Line needs to sell run action better here.
6:55	1-G	at Gt03	KGUN	Ponder, C pass attempt to Carr, G good, PENALTY GT pass interference declined.
Weird coverage from Gtech. Nice by them to peel the LB to the corner. Carr's arms are just too long. PI could have been called on either player here.
7:35	1/10	at Gt25		Shaw, J. pass intercepted by Robinson, P. at the FS41, Robinson, P. return 0 yards to the FS41.
We really, really need Patrick Robinson to stay next year. Badly. By any mean$ possible. Please. Someone help us out here, haha.
8:29	4/6	at Fs45	SB TRIP WR	Ponder, C pass complete to Reed, B for 9 yards to the GT46, 1ST DOWN FS (Taylor, C.).
Playcalling. Motioning Parker here lets Christian get a pre-snap read. Notice how we use the entire clock (scary, huh? Good teams use the whole thing, analyzing every second). Ponder can see that with the middle vacated by the defender following Parker, it will be up to this corner to beat lightning quick Bert Reed, since the CB is playing with outside leverage. That was fine before, but with no inside help, or the illusion of inside help, GT was screwed pre-snap. College corners are not beating Bert Reed to the spot; he's too damn quick. Great route by Bert. The line understands it's q quick 3 step drop and they block it well. Huge play. This IS Jimbo putting these young players in positions of confidence and leverage.
8:56	1/10	at Gt46	I	Ponder, C pass complete to Parker, P for 11 yards to the GT35, 1ST DOWN FS.
First, GT is holding Caz badly. 2nd, this is a really, really tough throw. My guess is that Ponder wanted to go to Caz, saw the route not developing because of the holding, and his 2nd progression was Parker. This isn’t a great throw, but it's very difficult to make. We couldn't throw this with Drew. Great catch by Preston and great job to get it to him.
9:09	2/3	at Gt28	I	Thomas, J. rush for 10 yards to the GT18, 1ST DOWN FS (Jackson, K.).
What do you think? Designed cutback? I doubt it. The 62 yard jaunt will get the accolades, but his 2nd scamper of the day and this run to daylight were much better from a running perspective. Some backs just see the lane. Some never do. Clinton Portis did this really well for Denver several years ago.
9:26	1/10	at Gt18	Chollie w/ a TE?	Thomas, J. rush for 12 yards to the GT6, 1ST DOWN FS, out-of-bounds (Burnett, M.).
Zone blocking! Effort! Conditioning! Coaching! Commitment to the run game! This play works because we're in better shape than the other teams (thanks coach Stroud), we play harder (not sure how), we're very well coached with an emphasis on footwork, and because we have a true commitment to run blocking within our zone scheme. Thomas appears to understand these principles. Holloway's block is great, no doubt, but watch how Caz, Datko, & Hudson block 2, then slide to seal while Caz climbs to the 2nd level. That is all about footwork and the commit step at the snap and nobody teaches that zone principle like Coach Rick Trickett. I'd post his e-mail and ask that we all give him thanks, but I doubt he wants to read through all that. THANK YOU COACH TRICKETT!! Beautiful. This team displays a ton of patience and confidence; a marked difference from the Wake game.

For the play at 0:30, this is the note: This was a check. Zone. Strike to carr. Immediate and throw. Nice running. Jimbo did a good job exploiting the hard corner and deep safety. If this was supposed to be a slant, however, it wasn't a very good route, and this would hurt us later...(Carr should have been flatter on the interception).
The offensive line got away with a lot of holding during pass protection and still gave up 5 sacks. It's not a criticism, but a reality. We need to hold more and more, even to the point of absurdity, because the referees will not call this.
I was very impressed with the run blocking of this offensive line, particularly the right side, which Tech essentially dared Jimbo to run on.
Tech was smart to play off and outside leverage in the first half; we hadn't shown that we could consistently throw the slant and the sit down. I didn't understand going back to this later in the game though.
Ponder made 2 or 3 highly questionable throws. I'm okay with it for now, because they were DOWN THE FIELD. If he was making them short and wide, I'd be very worried.
Ponder did a great job staying in the Pocket, sliding, and moving WITHIN the pocket in an effort to find receivers. The TD throw to Holloway is a great example.
Passing concepts that were heavily featured: Modified Smash (Curl and Out, instead of Curl and Corner). We also ran all curls several times out of 5-wide.
Rick Trickett said that only 3 of the 5 sacks were on his line. Be aware in calling for Jermaine Thomas that he doesn't yet do a good job in blitz pickup. I don't expect him to as a freshman.
I am going to save most of my defensive comments. We've already talked about this a lot throughout the week. Instead, I've included 9 big plays that hurt FSU in video... After the jump...

GT vs Florida State Cox 1 yard TD Run (via fireballflig)

GT vs Florida State Roddy Jones to the 1 (via fireballflig)

GT vs. Florida State Greg Smith TD run (via fireballflig)

Georgia Tech Football - The Florida State Game (via RamblinWreckTube)

GEORGIA TECH vs fLORIDA sTATE UNIVERSITY (via BerriePhoto)

SB Nation - Preston Parker

Nitt Picks Can Taste It

Florida State's Receivers Embrace New Roles

Progression, Continuation, or Regression? Noles Special Teams

SPECIAL TEAMS

MY BOTTOM LINE FOR THE SPECIAL TEAMS=REGRESSION

What is your bottom line? Please vote now.

2009 FSU SPECIAL TEAMS-PROGRESSION, CONTINUATION, OR REGRESSION? Please read the story before voting. Poll closes Tuesday August 11, at 11:55 PM.

PROGRESSION

CONTINUATION

REGRESSION

Will the Florida State Offensive Line Pass Protect in 2009?

Progression, Continuation, or Regression? Noles Offensive Backfield

QUARTERBACKS, TAILBACKS & FULLBACKS

MY BOTTOM LINE FOR THE OFFENSIVE BACKFIELD=PROGRESSION

What is your bottom line? Please vote now.

2009 FSU OFFENSIVE BACKFIELD-PROGRESSION, CONTINUATION, OR REGRESSION? Please read the story before voting. Poll closes Thursday August 6 at 11:55 PM.

PROGRESSION

CONTINUATION

REGRESSION

Progression, Stagnation, or Regression? Wide Receivers and Tight End

MY BOTTOM LINE FOR THE WIDE RECEIVERS AND TIGHT END=PROGRESSION.

What is your bottom line? Please vote now.

2009 FSU WIDE RECEIVERS AND TIGHT END-PROGRESSION, STAGNATION, OR REGRESSION? Please read the story before voting. Poll closes Sunday August 2 at 7:00 PM

PROGRESSION

STAGNATION

REGRESSION

Monday Morning Tomahawks 06.03.09

Florida State struggling with injuries to their wide receivers

Sunday Running PostGame Reactions and Observations: Clemson 27, FSU 41

Post your thoughts here.

Here are your 5 Questions:

Quotes:

Early Observations:

The importance of winning 1st down.

What were certain non-scoring plays really worth?

How costly was roughing the passer?

How costly was Tony Carter's muffed punt?

Other key non-scoring plays:

Truer Drive Charts

More to come...

Wow Notes

Photos (Courtesy of Tallahassee.com)

The Media's Take

Check back throughout the day as I add more thoughts. I'd really like to hear yours, however, so don't be shy!

Who was the MVP of the Clemson Beatdown?

Louis Givens

Inside the Seminole Film Room: Florida State 28, Georgia Tech 31

I am going to save most of my defensive comments. We've already talked about this a lot throughout the week. Instead, I've included 9 big plays that hurt FSU in video... After the jump...