SB Nation - Graham Gano

Florida State vs. Maryland: The Final Score and Why I Want To Go Bowling

FrankDNole — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 17:16:55 -0000

I thought this might be a good time to resurrect what was once a weekly series that I started at the beginning of this football season with an optimistic viewpoint, which was known as "THE FINAL SCORE," probably for the last time this year. This was the weekly prediction column that I mercifully killed due to the fact that everyone pretty much knew what was going to happen after the ball was kicked off on any given Saturday.

Since this upcoming game should be our easiest challenge this season, I thought I would give our self-proclaimed expert staff here at Tomahawk Nation, probably their last opportunity to match our thorough and in-depth understanding of the game, our analytical skills, our wisdom, and our football knowledge, against the wild guesses of you, the TN members.

This game against Maryland, while it may be our easiest challenge this year, IMO may very well be the most important must-win for the Seminole's in decade's, for the following reasons.

A) A win will keep alive our nation leading streak of 27 consecutive bowl appearances. This is very important to me, and I think it should be important to every Seminole, despite some differences of opinions on this subject which I will address shortly.

2) It will be Senior Day and the last home game for the 17 seniors who endured less than desirable coaching for their entire time in Tallahassee on the defensive side of the ball, and for all but the last 2.8 years on the offensive side. These are the seniors who will be playing their last game on Saturday;

Zach Aronson, Louis Givens, Richard Goodman, Korey Mangum, Kevin McNeil, Justin Mincey, Daniel Parvin, Caz Piurowski, Jamie Robinson, Patrick Robinson, Kendrick Stewart, Jeff Taccetta, Budd Thacker, Jeremiah Thompson and Recardo Wright.

D) It will be the last home game for one of the greatest defensive coaches of all time, Mickey Andrews, after a 26 year career building one defensive juggernaut after another. Since we, as well as all the other media, have already written at length about MA, I would just like to add the following:

Thank you Mickey for your loyalty to our program. I truly believe without you and your terrific defenses, we may still be seeking our first NC. And especially thank you for coming back these last 2 years, even though you did not really want to, to save us from the alternative.

I only hope that the FSU administration and athletic department do Mickey right in his finale, and not put on a half-assed dog and pony show similar to the joke of a presentation they recently put on to honor the 1999 National Championship FSU team.

VII) While the consensus has changed dramatically during the past week or so, this could possibly also be Bobby Bowden's last game as coach at Doak. This is not the forum to discuss Bowden and the pro's and con's of his tenure, but even if it is his last home game, I am sure there will be tributes to him next year, and I would like to thank him for dedicating the majority of his life to helping shape FSU's legacy.

Green) While this may truly be a stretch, a win on Saturday would also move the Seminoles another step closer to extending their nation-leading streak of consecutive winning seasons to 33.

On Saturday, our Noles will be playing the last home game of the season against the Maryland Terrapins. (Terrapin defined: any of various edible North American web-footed turtles living in fresh or brackish water).

As always, I expect our Nole's to give a relentless, non-stop, fast and furious, three hour pounding, to the turtles from Maryland, which will undoubtedly leave them with a surprised look on their faces, which can probably be best demonstrated as:

(Another attempt on my part to bring culture, class, and to educate the readers of this site with topical works of art)

Before getting to the predictions, I would like to take this opportunity to discuss my reasons for wanting to go to a bowl game once again this year, which we will be eligible for after we molest the turtles. I am only bringing this up because several authors and members, up until our win over Wake Forest it seems, had expressed their opinions and reasons why it would be in FSU's best interest if we did not go to a bowl game this year. Make no mistake, there is some logic to the reasons they give, which by now we all know ad-nauseum.

So I am going to reprint a comment I made recently in response to the following statement. Keep in mind this statement was made before the Wake game, when the bowl possibility looked bleak, at which time most of the authors and members predicted we would lose the game, except for a handful of glass half-full, kool-aid drinkers, myself included, who went on record as predicting a FSU win over Wake.

Does FSU really want to make a bowl game? Personally, I don’t give a damn about bowl games. I want to compete for championships. Caring about silly stuff like wins records and bowl streaks got FSU to where it currently is. Rooting for your team to miss a bowl game can be seeing the forest from the trees.

Here was my reply to that statement at the time, which I think best expresses my strong belief in the importance of us continuing our bowl streak.

I agree that we should be competing for championships. No debate there. However,

A) Wins, records, and streaks are what made FSU a national powerhouse and helped us achieve our 14 year dynasty, but I don’t think that has anything to do with where our program currently is. The only common denominator is Bowden wanting 400 wins and the most wins records, but his hiring decisions are what caused us to be where we are today. I would be OK leaving him in Tally while the rest of the team travels, but that is not a option.
Therefore, no negatives, IMO.

2) A bowl, no matter how insignificant, is a reward for the players who have been working their asses off for the past 9 months trying to bring FSU back into prominence. It is a thank you to the players for the effort. F*ck the coaches. I want a bowl to thank the players for their contributions to our program despite the fact that our season sucked. I want a bowl so that the younger players know what they need to do to go to a better bowl next year. IMO, they deserve to go to a bowl and play, instead of watching teams that we should have been better than, and that we should have beaten, on TV over the holidays. There is no down side to going to a bowl and it will probably not cost us any money when you subtract the expenses from the payout. The extra practice time, while it may not do anything for the D, will not hurt either side of the ball and can only help.
Therefore, no negatives, IMO.

D) Most of the Defensive coaches we are considering hiring will be playing in bowls. While there is a month where we can interview and negotiate behind closed doors with their agents, MOST of these coaches would not be able to step foot on campus until after the first week in Jan at the earliest due to their bowls and the holidays.
Therefore, no negatives, IMO.

VII) While it may not mean much to you and others, I want to keep the bowl streak alive and going on 28 because that is really all we have at this time, and probably just as important, I don’t want the f*cking gaturds to have any chance of getting it. I think we will continue going to bowls every year in the future under Jimbo and with the relative ease it is to get into a bowl nowadays, there is no reason we can’t maintain this streak for a long time to come.
Therefore, no negatives, IMO.

玖) I don’t want a losing season. Again, screw Bowden. I don’t want FSU to have a losing season on the books, as a alumni and as one that bleeds G & G.

Obviously a win over the Maryland will make all of this a moot point. Nevertheless, I just wanted to share my thoughts on why a bowl game this year should be important to all of us who love the Noles, and from my personal POV.

***PLEASE HIT THE JUMP TO CONTINUE READING***

Here are some fun facts about this weeks match-up against the Maryland Turtles.

-FSU leads the series 17-2.

-Florida State enters the game ranked second in the ACC in total offense at 437.8 yards per game (294.1 yards
passing and 143.7 yards rushing).

-The 2009 FSU offense is gaining more yards per game than Florida State’s 1999 National Championship team that finished with a perfect 12-0 record.

-The 2009 Seminoles offense is the fourth most prolific in terms of total offense since the 1995 season.

-FSU's offense has gained at least 400 yards of total offense in eight of 10 games and surpassed the 500-yard mark three times this season.

-Jermaine Thomas is the first Seminole runner since former great Greg Jones (during the 2001 and 2002
seasons) to rush for 100 yards or more in three consecutive games.

-Bert Reed has caught 51 passes for 565 yards.

-Senior Rod Owens has caught 48 passes for 600 yards.

-Reed and Owens are looking to become only the second pair of receivers in school history to both catch at least 60 passes in the same season. They are looking to join the duo of Andre Cooper (71receptions) and E.G. Green (60 receptions) who both caught at least 60 passes during the 1995 season.

-Five of Florida State’s wide receivers – Bert Reed (51), Rod Owens(48), Jarmon Fortson (32), Taiwan Easterling (29) and Richard Goodman (27) – all have at least 20 receptions through the first 10 games. It marks the first time since the 1992 season that five FSU wide receivers have had 20 or more receptions in one season.

-FSU's tight ends, Caz and Beau, have caught four touchdown passes in the first nine games. They have more touchdown catches this season than our tight ends have had in the past five seasons combined (three).

-The FSU defense has 13 picks this season. The Nole's have more interceptions this season (13) than they did last season (nine) and Ochuko Jenije leads the team with four int's. FSU’s defense has at least one interception in each of the last four games and in seven of its 10 games this season.

-Greg Reid's punt return for a touchdown was the first since Tony Carter's against W. Carolina on Sept. 6, 2008, and the first time since the 1995 season that a true freshman had returned a punt for a touchdown.

-Shawn Powell is doing an outstanding job punting, while averaging 41.1 yards on 18 punts.

-Dustin Hopkins has booted 36 percent (21 of 59) kickoffs into the end zone for touchbacks. He has kicked at least one touchback in nine of 10 games and leads his nearest competitor in the ACC by eight. He has also made 26 consecutive PATs and is 10-of-12 on field goal attempts, including five-of seven from 40+ yards.

-In what was expected to be a year of regression for the special team's kicking unit, these 2 have done a spectacular job replacing Graham Gano(matic). If Hopkins is able to stay healthy, I see no reason why he won't be our next Groza winner in the next few years.

OK enough of the fluff, let's get on to the predictions of our illustrious staff that you have been clamoring for.

So far this week it is almost a unanimous decision that FSU will win from those staffers that have already replied. Almost all of us authors are officially kool-aid drinking, glass is half-full, homers, who we will call the GOOD GUYS.

Then we have on delusional author who is apparently trying to use reverse psychology as a means to an end, who we will call a BAD GUY.

And finally, there is MattDNole, with his, how can I say this delicately and with all the respect he truly deserves, a "different" perspective of reality, who we will call "DERANGED AND POSSIBLY IMPAIRED."

-The K-Man= FSU 38 - Turtles 27

-Ricobert1= FSU 37 - Turtles 17

-oline0175= M.I.A. and will be added when he snap's out of his self induced coma due to Hudson's injury.

-nolesblogger= FSU 38 - Turtles 24

-Fsued= M.I.A. and will be added when he leaves his other job at the National Weather Service.

-TrueCubbie= FSU 31 - Turtles 27

-pbysh= FSU 31 - Turtles 21

-NoleThruandThru= FSU 34 - Turtles 16

-Castauch= FSU 49 - Turtles 20

-DA2= FSU 37 - Turtles 24

-FSU44= FSU 41 - Turtles 35

-MissouriNole= FSU 41 - Turtles 21
-SWFLNole= FSU 60 - Turtles 3
-FSUSOM= FSU 83 - Turtles 73
-FrankDNole= FSU 41 - Turtles 24

Here we have the delusional author who is apparently trying to use reverse psychology

-Nattylite= Turtles 38 - FSU 35

And finally, there is the deranged and possibly impaired MattDNole with his "different" perspective of reality.
-MattDNole= FSU 387 to 80.

OK, I'll play along. Please Matt, enlighten us on why you picked this score.
"I was predicting Bobby's wins vs Bobby's age. The prediction article needs me more than I need the prediction article. You will have to print it, unless you have the guts not to."

Sounds like Matt has got the hots for Ann B. something fierce.

And FSUn= FSU 40 - Turtles 24 as per his Game Preview.

Looks like me and Bud are on the same page for this game. But then again, most of the scores are all in the same ballpark. We shall see who gets a shiny prize this time around. Will it be one of the authors, or one of the members?

Finally, to get you psyched for the game I will leave you with some more art to help you expand your horizons and to class up the joint. After all, nothing gets football fans more ready for a game than throwing babies, shaking off baby tacklers, and kicking field goals using babies.

Image removed due to NSFW complaints.

Click here to view image.

And a few different angles of the "surprised" Maryland Terrapin.

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

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

Florida State 37, Maryland 3. Post-Game React Updated FSU now 20th in BCS... highest ACC team

FSUncensored — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 03:55:22 -0000

UF @ FSU is a 3:30 game.

This is your recap. I try to combine your thoughts into one massive Tomahawk Nation reaction. Consider this the pulse of our website, edited by me.

This was a convincing beatdown. The defense stepped up and the offense did what it needed to do as well. Everyone is impressed with the resiliency this squad displays on a consistent basis.

Let's hear it. What did you like tonight? What still worries you? What do you want me to look for on film?

Team Statistics
	Seminoles	Terrapins
First Downs	21	15
Passing	8	9
Rushing	13	6
Penalty	0	0
Third Down Efficiency	7-13	5-13
Fourth Down Efficiency	0-0	0-1
TOTAL NET YARDS	335	253
Total Plays	68	60
Average Gain Per Play	4.9	4.2
NET YARDS RUSHING	175	104
Rushes	42	29
Average Per Rush	4.2	3.6
NET YARDS PASSING	160	149
Completions-Attempts	20-26	16-31
Yards Per Pass Play	6.2	4.8
Times Sacked	0	6
Yards Lost to Sacks	0	43
Had Intercepted	0	2
PUNTS	3	4
Average Punt	38.3	43.0
PENALTIES	5	1
Penalty Yards	40	5
FUMBLES	3	2
Fumbles Lost	0	2

Once again, the 2008 Noles bounced back from a loss with a convincing victory. This Noles team is averging a 22 point victory in games following a loss. The Noles won this game by dominating the line of scrimmage; both offensively and defensively. They were well coached and both units looked prepared. I don't think we will see any damaging quotes out of either side following this game. FSU needed to win this game in the worst way. Some progress is being made. No jeff Bowden era team ever beat a ranked team by this much-- and certainly not on the road. In fact, this is the largest win over a ranked team since Mark Richt.

Before we get to breakdowns, let's talk awards for a moment. Everette Brown is the best defensive end I have ever seen at FSU. Many disagree, but I'll have more on that later. Todd McShay rated him as the best available pass rusher for this draft. He leads the ACC in sacks. He had 3.5 more sacks tonight and forced the crucial fumble that turned the game on its head. He needs to be a 1st team All American. Grahan Gano is by far the best kicker in the nation and he continued to show why, tonight, hitting 2 field goals in frigid conditions. Last but definitely not least, Rick Trickett needs to with the Broyles Award, given to the best assistant in the nation. What he has done with the youngest offensive line in America is nothing short of remarkable. This offense leads the conference in points and that is an absolute testament to Trickett.

Full Screen Version

Let's first look at the offense.

I predicted 188 yards on 47 rushes and 22 passes for 160 yards. We finished with 42 rushes for 175 yards and 26 passes for...wait for it... 160 yards. Nailed it ;)
I predicted that we'd run 69 plays-- we ran 68.
I said that we would hold the ball for more than 33 minutes (we held it for just under 36).
I said that we'd have long drives-- we had a seven and an eight minute drive
I said we'd have 4.9 yards per play-- we had EXACTLY 4.9 yards per play.

Despite nailing those, I picked us to win by only 3 points. What happened? First, the defense really came to play. Second, we were sloppy at times. 335 total yards isn't worthy of 30 offensive points. We were set up in great field position all night-- starting at our own 38 yard line, on average. The Noles came in with a plan; run the ball, control the clock, and stay ahead of the chains. The result? The Seminoles faced only one 3rd down of five or more yards in the first half. The Noles won the line of scrimmage and seemed to gain at least 3 yards on every play. They picked their spots in the passing game. Maryland's front 7 never got a chance to pin their ears back and tee off. Fisher called a great game.

Maybe the 2 biggest changes in the offense tonight were the return to the run game and the return of the wideouts. The wideouts spread the field and the run game kept the defense fresh and the MD offnse out of rythm.

The bad? 3 fumbles and none lost is luck. It's not skill. It is luck. Ponder and D'Vo were cloppy handling the snap and it could have been disasterous. Further, the Noles were poor in the Red Zone, scoring TD's only three of 5 opportunities. A lack of execution also led to two three and outs. Ponder was 19-24, with a TD and no turnovers, posting his highest QB rating of the season against an ACC opponent. He mixed a few excellent throws with some off target tosses. This offense has the potential to become a lot better. he also did a great job with his legs; running for 80 yards and 5 first downs. I thought the game was done midway through the 2nd quarter. Still, I do not think this offense is maxed out. Hopefully that is a good thing. We will need 5 or 6 offensive scored to beat UF, and Jimbo cannot afford to settle for any field goals. I was pleased with tonight's offensive performance, but I tend to think it was 24 point good-- not 30.

Florida St. Drives
1st Quarter
Start Time	Time Poss	Drive Began	# of Plays	Yards Gained	Result
11:41	1:52	FLSt 20	3	2	Punt
6:53	7:02	FLSt 27	16	73	TD

2nd Quarter
Start Time	Time Poss	Drive Began	# of Plays	Yards Gained	Result
13:36	3:24	FLSt 20	7	26	Punt
8:42	1:32	FLSt 42	3	7	Punt
2:38	1:03	Md 38	4	38	TD
0:40	0:40	FLSt 12	1	-2	End Half


3rd Quarter
Start Time	Time Poss	Drive Began	# of Plays	Yards Gained	Result
14:54	8:13	FLSt 35	13	61	FG
3:40	4:10	FLSt 32	9	52	FG

4th Quarter
Start Time	Time Poss	Drive Began	# of Plays	Yards Gained	Result
13:15	4:26	Md 43	8	43	TD
7:18	1:59	Md 48	5	18	FG
1:02	1:02	FLSt 9	2	6	End Reg

After a week of ripping Mickey Andrews and company for blowing the BC game, I was extremely happy to see him come up with an excellent gameplan. Our corners played press coverage all night and we stayed in 2 deep for a good portion of the game. This is what we've been begging for. The defensive line wrecked havoc all night. I have no idea why Maryland didn't attempt to follow the gameplan set out by NC State, VT pre-injury, or Boston College. They tried to pass protect with 5 or 6, and paid dearly.

The defense came to hit. They played assignment football. Andrews turned them loose and didn't ask them to do things they couldn't do. What did he do? He played 2- deep coverage and at times I thought I was watching a Miami defense from the early part of this decade. Florida State defended the middle of the field first while forcing a college QB to make difficult throws to the outside. We played a lot of man coverage, but it wasn't this blitz 6, cover with 5, all or nothing type scheme we had seen in the past. That's not to say we didn't blitz at all. Andrews blitzed, but he picked his spots. He waited to see whether the DLine could get pressure without blitzing (check). When he brought the blitz, our guys didn't try to time the snap count, rather they relied on their speed to come from a farther distance. The startegy worked. Applaud Mickey Andrews for putting his players in the best possible position to succeed.

Patrick Robinson turned in a simply amazing performance-- holding surefire first round wide receiver Darius Heyward-Bey to 22 yards on 3 catches. He pressed the living you know what out of Bey and made several NF- quality plays. Andrews moved Everette Brown around, frequently using the 3 defensive end and Kendrick Stewart alignment in passing downs. The defense produced 5 sacks and 4 turnovers. How much of that was Maryland being incredibly stubborn, and how much was Andrews-- I do not know. I do know that Andrews dominated the offense that Maryland put on the field.

Still, just as I don't think the offense was good enough to produce 30 points, I don't think this defensive performance was as good as the final score indicated. It was darn close, however. We forced MD into difficult plays, but at times they did hit them. They works against average teams. Against elite teams we will need to mix the looks even more. The tackling angles from the linebackers were often poor. That's mostly on Amato-- who I still think will be gone one way or another after this year; whather Mickey gets the axe or not. Their offense had 4 drives of 7 plays and 40+ yards. That must be fixed.

Florida State needed this. Mickey Andrews needed this. Credit Mickey Andrews for getting through to a group of immensly talented guys. Maryland had averaged 23 points at home. They scored 3 against the Noles. They had averaged 5.4 per play at home in ACC competition-- the Nole D held them to 4.2, almost 30% under their season average.

Finally, I'll end with this: over half of Maryland's 250 yards came when they were down by 24 or more!

Maryland Drives
1st Quarter
Start Time	Time Poss	Drive Began	# of Plays	Yards Gained	Result
15:00	3:19	Md 20	7	41	Punt
9:49	2:56	Md 39	7	34	FG Miss

2nd Quarter
Start Time	Time Poss	Drive Began	# of Plays	Yards Gained	Result
14:44	1:08	Md 37	3	-1	Punt
10:12	0:29	Md 21	2	6	Fumble
9:13	0:31	Md 42	3	5	Int
7:10	4:32	Md 10	10	53	Int
1:30	0:50	Md 35	5	3	Punt

3rd Quarter
Start Time	Time Poss	Drive Began	# of Plays	Yards Gained	Result
6:35	2:49	Md 38	6	45	FG


4th Quarter
Start Time	Time Poss	Drive Began	# of Plays	Yards Gained	Result
14:23	1:08	Md 23	3	16	Fumble
8:42	1:24	Md 26	3	4	Punt
5:14	4:12	Md 25	13	66	Downs

We had over 500 posts in our 2 game threads. A special thanks to everyone who participated and contributed. I am not going to name 65 commenters here, but you know who you are. The commenters and not myself are what really make this site.

Remember that coin flipping exercise? Grab it one more time. I wrote: We need

BC to beat Wake, FSU to beat Maryland, and for Maryland to beat BC.

We are 1 step away from Tampa. Chris Crane broke his collarbone for BC today. Their other QB is basically a running back. The game is in Chestnutt Hill. Maryland is very capable of winning.

Oh yeah, and it's UF week. Get ready for more analysis tomorrow.

Inside the Seminole Film Room: FSU 41, Clemson 27 Part 2 & Daily update

FSUncensored — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 23:50:35 -0000

My post was so long that this space couldn't handle it (that's what she said). Seriously though, I guess there are formatting limits.

The first part is here.

Get your questions in for the BC Expert.

Clemson's 8th Drive

Dwn	Yard	Situation	Label	Formation	Play Description	Success?
					Gano, G kickoff 69 yards to the CU1, Ford, J return 21 yards to the CU22 (Owens, R).
Gano mis-hit this, I think.
1-10	at Cu22				CLEMSON drive start at 01:19.
1-10	at Cu22				Harper, C sacked for loss of 7 yards to the CU15 (White, M.,), fumble by Harper, C recovered by CU Harper, C at CU15.	NO
Great to see Markus White coming on strong. If he comes on like a mad man, that'll soften the blow of Losing Everette. He literally outquicked the RB who was assigned to him. Note to CU: singleblocking our DE's with RB's is a poor idea.
2-17	at Cu15				Timeout Florida State, clock 01:01.
I love this coaching staff. We had all 3 timeouts left. Would that happen in 2006? No way.						NO
2-17	at Cu15	PD			Harper, C sacked for loss of 3 yards to the CU12 (Brown, E).
This was Brown's best sack of the day. Doubleteam? No problem! Spin it big man. Can I mancrush on EB? Yes I can.
3-20	at Cu12				Timeout Florida State, clock 00:55.
I love this coaching staff. We had all 3 timeouts left. Would that happen in 2006? No way.
3-20	at Cu12	PD			Spiller, C rush over right guard for 3 yards to the CU15 (Watson, D).	NO
This was a straight run and Watson (who played great) is just too quick. Well done guys.
4-17	at Cu15				Timeout Florida State, clock 00:48.
I love this coaching staff. We had all 3 timeouts left. Would that happen in 2006? No way.
4-17	at Cu15				Maners, J punt 45 yards to the FS40, Parker, P return 3 yards to the FS43 (Maxwell, B), PENALTY CU illegal formation declined, PENALTY FS illegal block (Lawson, R) 10 yards to the FS33, 1st and 10, FS ball on FS33.
					Drive: 3 plays, minus 7 yards, TOP 00:41
Look at CU's last 2 drives. This was disgustingly good defense. 6 successes, no fails. 3 sacks and 2 incompletes are you kidding me? Wow.

FSU's 6th Drive

Dwn	Yard	Situation	Label	Formation	Play Description	Success?
					FLORIDA STATE drive start at 00:38.
Unfair here. The refs screwed FSU several times in this game but that was ridiculous. No way Jimbo wanted this.
1-10	at Fs33			4WR GUN	Thomas, J. rush left for 12 yards to the FS45, 1ST DOWN FS (Chambers, S).	YES
Zone left, Great blocking by Datko and Carr.
1-10	at Fs45			4WR GUN	Ponder, C deep pass incomplete to Easterling, T (Clemons, C).	NO
Quickly to the line, we look well coached. I like how we didn't spike the ball. Remind me to link an article here on the fallacy of the spike. Someone ran the wrong route, however, as Parker and Easterling were in the same spot.
2-10	at Fs45			4WR GUN	Ponder, C deep pass incomplete to Surrency, C. (Chancellor, C), PENALTY CU offside defense (Sapp, R) 5 yards to the 50 yardline, NO PLAY.
The DB played this well, maybe Ponder could have thrown it a bit shorter. Surrency got high but maybe mistimed his jump a tad.
2-5	at Fs50	NPD		4WR GUN	Ponder, C sideline pass complete to Parker, P for 6 yards to the CU44, 1ST DOWN FS, out-of-bounds (Butler, C;Conner, K).	YES
I CAN'T GET OVER HOW SMOOTH AND WELL COACHED WE LOOK. Quick pace w/o desperation. Quick out past the marker. Play took only 4 seconds.
1-10	at Cu44				Ponder, C sideline pass complete to Parker, P for 3 yards to the CU41 (Maxwell, B).	NO
I'm not sure what he was doing here. Carr doesn't sell his route at all and his defender comes off him. Maybe Ponder expected Carr to run his route hard and for Parker to turn this upfield? In either case, if the refs don't screw us, we're at the 31 and Gano is kicking a FG after a jumpball attempt. The throw on this play was an out.
2-7	at Cu41	NPD			End of half, clock 00:00.
Dumb refs.
					Drive: 4 plays, 26 yards, TOP 00:38
					Florida State 20, Clemson 17
Not a horrible half, all-told.

The 2nd half will be up later.

Injury Note: I heard that everyone was AT practice today. No word on whether they actually did participated. I'd say a lack of major injuries and favorable attrition rates are the number one reason the Noles have improved this season. Many don't think about this, but it is relevant.

Brent Musgamlerberger and Kirk "No Erin I'm married" Herbstriet have the call for the Noles game. No coverage map yet, but unless you're in Oklahoma or Colorado, you should get our contest.

Rodney Hudson (3rd time), Graham Gano (2nd time), and Neefy Moffett were named ACC players of the week.

We really need to make a push for some All American status and post season Awards. I watch a lot of football and Gano, Hudson, and Everette Brown all merit All American consideration. Rick Trickett needs to win the assistant coach of the year award (or the position coach of the year).

If Antwane Greenlee (Left Tackle) is back and ready to resume his pursuit of playing to the potential he had coming in... we could have a dominant offensive line next year. This is no slap on Zebrie, but everyone agreed that Greenlee was an amazing talent before his neck injury.

Practice Report from FSU Sports Information: Most of practice was spent with both the offense and defense working versus scout teams.

· 1-on-1 began at midfield and the only break-up was turned in by Michael Ray Garvin. E.J. Manuel connected on passes to Cameron Wade, Bert Reed, Taiwan Easterling and Preston Parker. D'Vontrey Richardson also hooked up with Parker and Rod Owens.

· When 1-on-1 moved inside the 20 Garvin and Dionte Allen broke up potential TD passes. Drew Weatherford found Reed, Jarmon Fortson, Corey Surrency and Louis Givens. The biggest play of the drill was turned in by Parker who pulled in a one-handed grab from Manuel in the back corner of the endzone where he managed to get one foot in bounds.

· In pass rush Moses McCray was the big winner with four sacks. Everette Brown, Markus White, Kendrick Stewart and Neefy Moffett got to the QB twice and Justin Mincey got into the backfield as well. Rodney Hudson and Ryan McMahon were the only multiple winners for the offense. Antwane Greenlee, Joe Tonga, A.J. Ganguzza and Brandon Davis also had wins.

· In skeleton, Christian Ponder found Surrency once and then had two completions to Greg Carr, Easterling and Parker. One of the completions to Parker was on a deep ball. Weatherford hit Surrency, Ja'Baris Little, Wade and Givens once each. He also hit Rod Owens twice and one completion featured a great run after the catch. Tony Carter and Patrick Robinson broke up passes.

· Pass break-ups were the bi story in 11-on-11. Patrick Robinson had two, Jamie Robinson and Korey Mangum each had one as well. Neefy Moffett had a sack and a QB pressure. There were only two highlights for the offense and one was a completion from Ponder to Surrency and the other was Weatherford going to Owens.

Inside the Seminole Film Room: FSU 41, Clemson 27 Part 1

FSUncensored — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 19:51:00 -0000

The 1st half is done. I'll do the 2nd half when I get time. Busy day today. This is really rough right now, so enjoy. Please excuse the typos; I'll clean them up later.

A quick note on Formations

"Chollie" is shotgun, 3 wide, 2 backs, like Charlie Ward ran.
CHOLLIETE= 2 Back Gun with a TE
TE1B is Standard singleback with 1 TE, 1 RB, and TE (under center).
"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"

Clemson's 1st Drive

Dwn	Yard	Situation	Label	Formation	Play Description	Success?
					Stat crew for today's game: Woody Hayes, Tommy Sabourin, Pat Campbell,
					Stat crew for today's game: Andrew Brady, Steve Heil, Brian Taylor
					FSU Captains: #49-Lampkin, #6-Smith, #4-Carter
					CU Captains: #55-Hutchinson, #22-Clemons, #24-Alexander, #28-Spiller
					Coin toss: FSU wins the toss and defers to the second half.
					Coin toss: FSU will kick and defend the south goal.
1-10	at Cu30				FS ball on FS30.
					Gano, G kickoff 70 yards to the CU0, touchback.
Touchback… sounds so nice.
1-10	at Cu20		CR1	4-3	Davis, J rush right for 5 yards to the CU25, out-of-bounds (Robinson, P.).	NO
Played it okay, Neefy had contain, spun inside to get to Davis as Davis spun outside.
2-5	at Cu25	NPD	CP1	4-3	Harper, C sideline pass complete to Grisham, T for 13 yards to the CU38, 1ST DOWN CU, out-of-bounds.	NO
Neefy does a great job to hold the runner releasing into the route. I am starting to think we teach this technique... and I really like it. Harper runs to the sideline and makes a great play. This isn't on the defense. Every defensive scheme gives the opponent something. We will allow your pocket QB can roll and make a throw while stepping out of bounds. That's a high% play for the Seminole defense.
1-10	at Cu38		CP2	4-3	Harper, C post pass complete to Ford, J for 17 yards to the FS45, 1ST DOWN CU.	NO
We're in 4-3 while Clemson is in 4WR (Spiller split wide). No back. We play zone, as CU checks with bench. Cover 2 Zone. They motion Davis into backfield, block our 4 with 6, and Harper makes a great throw behind the LB.
1-10	at Fs45		CR2	4-3	Davis, J rush over left tackle for 1 yard to the FS44 (Stewart, K).	YES
Run from wildcat formation. QB was #28-Spiller. We're initially confused, but great indiviual plays by Stewart and Moffett.
2-9	at Fs44	PD	CP3	4-3	Harper, C screen pass complete to Spiller, C for 44 yards to the FS0, 1ST DOWN CU, TOUCHDOWN, clock 12:52.	NO
We play their 4WR Gun look with 4-3 base. The play is a fake bubble right, RB screen left. The problem here is that they catch us in a twist and our guys don't see it. Myron does force him inside (Good call UNFNOLE). Verdell gets blown up. Good play by Clemson. Unlucky playcall by us. NOTE: we ran the same play on the Pick-6... so maybe not so unlucky? Also, PRob might have been held, and Nicholson did not diagnose this very well. He's really not a great player in space. I wanted to see some Nickel.
					Buchholz, M kick attempt good.
					Clemson 7, Florida State 0
					Drive: 5 plays, 80 yards, TOP 02:08
Well, a 20% defensive success rate isn't going to cut it. We did get a bit unlucky here on the TD, but sometimes Mickey throws rock and the other guy throws paper. Honestly though, I thought we played well on the the first 1 plays and the Davis 1 yard run. An old chinese proverb goes "Good luck, bad luck, who is to say?" Sometimes you execute a great spin and the other guy spins as well.

FSU's 1st Drive

Dwn	Yard	Situation	Label	Formation	Play Description	Success?
					Buchholz, M kickoff 36 yards to the FS34, downed.
EXCELLENT job of not turning to run before the ball was kicked.
1-10	at Fs34				FLORIDA STATE drive start at 12:52.
1-10	at Fs34		FP1	KGUN	Ponder, C sideline pass complete to Parker, P for 6 yards to the FS40, out-of-bounds.	YES
Rollout right, Antone GREAT block on the edge blitzer. This play should have been dead. Great block. Ponder gets the ball to Parker on the out and he taps his feet.
2-4	at Fs40	NPD	FP2 SACK	Hawaii	Ponder, C sacked for loss of 6 yards to the FS34 (Sapp, R).	NO
I love this formation. Surrency and Carr opposite sides, Parker and Easterling inside. Clemson shows blitz, then backs out. We're blocking 4 with 6. Antone helps on Spurlock's man, which is fine, but… Zebrie gets housed. Ponder steps up in pocket, never sees it coming, gets Sacked. Nobody open (4 against 7 defenders). CU did a nice job of showing 1 thing and doing another.
3-10	at Fs34	PD	FP3 Throwaway	KGUN	Ponder, C sideline pass incomplete to Piurowski, C, QB hurry by Bowers, D.	NO
Clemson gets tricky. They put a linebacker at DT, and run a twist. Ponder drops, but is flushed almost immediately as both Hudson and Datko looked foolish. Throwaway
4-10	at Fs34				Gano, G punt 51 yards to the CU15, Ford, J return 10 yards to the CU25 (Smith, K).
Greta punt from the man who should win the Groza.
					Drive: 3 plays, 0 yards, TOP 01:33
Jimbo thought Clemson would sell out against the run. They didn't. We opened with 3 pass plays with minimal protection. The young tackles got worked.

Clemson's 2nd Drive

Dwn	Yard	Situation	Label	Formation	Play Description	Success?
1-10	at Cu25				CLEMSON drive start at 11:19.
1-10	at Cu25		CR3	4-3	Davis, J rush over left end for 12 yards to the CU37, 1ST DOWN CU (Robinson, P.;Watson, D).	NO
We were aligned pinched, CU runs off tackle, Brown gets too far inside, Verdell and Nicholson don't react well.
1-10	at Cu37		CR4		Ford, J rush EL for 11 yards to the CU48, 1ST DOWN CU, out-of-bounds (Verdell, T).	NO
End around with good action. Markus White Crashes too flat.
1-10	at Cu48		CP4	4-3	Harper, C deep pass incomplete to Kelly, A.	YES
Same action as above play, but Harper launches deep. Good coverage by Carter. Not in blitz.
2-10	at Cu48	PD	CP5	4-3	Harper, C SS pass complete to Kelly, A for 7 yards to the FS45 (Verdell, T).	NO
5WR. Fake screen right, screen left. Excellent read by Verdell.
3-3	at Fs45	NPD	CP6	4-3	Harper, C sideline pass complete to Ford, J for 18 yards to the FS27, 1ST DOWN CU (Jenije, O;Watson, D).	NO
We struggle with trips formations. Pre-snap confusion. They run an out underneath 2 posts. I think Jenjie fell down. Mangum missed tackle.
1-10	at Fs27		CR5	4-3	Spiller, C rush right for 1 yard to the FS26 (Verdell, T).	YES
Previous play was run from wildcat formation. #28 lined up as QB. Well played by Moffett and Verdell who use good angles and defeat their blockers.
2-9	at Fs26	PD	CP7	4-3	Harper, C crossing pass complete to Grisham, T for 3 yards to the FS23 (Watson, D).	YES
Clemson quickly to the line in trips, no huddle. We defend 4WR wih 4-3. Amazing. What other team has the speed to do that at the linebacker position? Watson is all over their slot guy. Good pressure.
3-6	at Fs23	PD	CP8	Dime.	Harper, C sideline pass incomplete to Davis, J.	YES
We use a 3DE, 1Dt (stewart and Moffett on inside) look here. This is borrowed from the New York Giants. Everette misses the sack but immediate pressure. Watson is disgustingly good in coverage. Excellent play.
4-6	at Fs23				Buchholz, M field goal attempt from 41 GOOD, clock 07:43.
					Clemson 10, Florida State 0
					Drive: 9 plays, 52 yards, TOP 03:36
Well, Clemson finally ran out of perfect playcalls and we tightened up a bit. I don’t think we changed anything though…

FSU's 2nd Drive

Dwn	Yard	Situation	Label	Formation	Play Description	Success?
					Buchholz, M kickoff 64 yards to the FS6, Parker, P return 22 yards to the FS28 (Chancellor, C).
Nigel and Holloway doubleteam a man while the other guy makes the tackle…
1-10	at Fs28				FLORIDA STATE drive start at 07:38.
1-10	at Fs28		FR1	ChollieTE	Parker, P rush reverse for 40 yards to the CU32, 1ST DOWN FS (Butler, C).	YES
Reverse. Clemson overpursues like crazy. Zebrie blocks wrong guy. If Zebrie blocks the right guy I think Parker cuts this upfield tighter and it is gone. Also of note… Hudson is RUNNING STEP FOR STEP WITH PARKER 30 YARDS DOWNFIELD! SO IS PONDER!
1-10	at Cu32		FP4	Hawaii.	Ponder, C middle pass incomplete to Easterling, T (Thompson, B).	NO
What a cool play!! We fake the bubble to Givens. CU pays no attention to Givens. Off the fake bubble, we run a middle screen to Easterling. Only problem? It gets batted down. This is a sick playcall and one that we will hit against someone. Maybe some team with lots of speed?...
2-10	at Cu32	PD	FR2	TESB	Smith, A rush over right end for 3 yards to the CU29 (Bowers, D).	NO
No hole opens up here really. This would be Zebrie's last series for a while…
3-7	at Cu29	PD		TEMPTY	PENALTY FS false start (Datko, A.) 5 yards to the CU34.
3-12	at Cu34	PD	FP5	TEMPTY	Ponder, C deep in pass incomplete to Carr, G (Conner, K).	NO
Zebrie gets beat again and Ponder has to rush the throw. Not a good day for Zebrie. Tough to tell if this was the right read. Trickett pulled Zebs after this. Ponde rmaybe should have thrown this even a bit quicker. Couldn't tell on the read… bad Camera angle.
4-12	at Cu34				Gano, G field goal attempt from 52 GOOD, clock 05:56.
					Clemson 10, Florida State 3
					Field Goal attempt bounced off right upright and through.
					Drive: 5 plays, 38 yards, TOP 01:42
5 passes 2 runs in the first 2 series… After this, Jimbo adjusted.

Clemson's 3rd Drive

Dwn	Yard	Situation	Label	Formation	Play Description	Success?
					Gano, G kickoff 70 yards to the CU0, touchback.
1-10	at Cu20			4-3	CLEMSON drive start at 05:56.
1-10	at Cu20				Spiller, C rush over right end for loss of 1 yard to the CU19 (Watson, D).	YES
How in the heck did we get Broderick Bunkley back in the… oh, wait, that's Marcus McCray. McCray and Moffett being pure beasts.
2-11	at Cu19	PD		4-3	Harper, C screen pass complete to Grisham, T for 7 yards to the CU26 (Mangum, K).	YES
Very creative lil screen pass. Almost an overhand lateral shovel…
3-4	at Cu26	NPD		4-3	Harper, C pass intercepted by Moffett, N at the CU18, Moffett, N return 18 yards to the CU0, TOUCHDOWN, clock 04:16.	YES
We're in that Speed look again (3 DE's.) Press coverage across the board. Everette and Moffett run a twist/ stunt. Nobody touches Everette who screws up the timing of the screen. Moffett loops around, reads the ball, picks it, and rumbles 18 yards for the score. GREAT JOB MICKEY. Note: we also ran a twist/ stunt on the Spiller TD.
					Drive: 3 plays, 6 yards, TOP 01:40
					Gano, G kick attempt good.
					Clemson 10, Florida State 10
Not much to say here… we killed them on this series. I like to see Everette Brown changing spots.

Clemson's 4th Drive

Dwn	Yard	Situation	Label	Formation	Play Description	Success?
					Gano, G kickoff 70 yards to the CU0, touchback.
1-10	at Cu20				CLEMSON drive start at 04:16.
					QB for CU is #3-Korn.
1-10	at Cu20			4-3	Korn, W deep pass incomplete, PENALTY FS personal foul (Watson, D) 15 yards to the CU35, 1ST DOWN CU, NO PLAY.	NO
Since Harper was knocked out by Brown on the previous play, Watson went for a killshot on the backup. Korn hadn't stepped OOB yet and this was a marginal call.
1-10	at Cu35			4-3	Ford, J rush EL for loss of 10 yards to the CU25, out-of-bounds (McClure, D).	YES
Previous play was run from wildcat formation. #28 was lined up as QB. Play was a reverse. Harper tries for a questionable cutblock on Everette Brown… and misses. Great pursuit by everyone, Kendrick Stewart +1
2-20	at Cu25	PD		Nickel	Korn, W screen pass complete to Grisham, T for loss of 3 yards to the CU22 (Mangum, K).	YES
We are so athletic. Kenny Ingram comes out and covers the far receiver. Great job by Mangum to fight through the block and make the tackle. Crazy pressure from the DE's.
3-23	at Cu22	PD		Nickel	Korn, W deep pass incomplete to Ford, J, QB hurry by White, M.,.	YES
3 Man line. Roll left. Nobody open.
4-23	at Cu22				Maners, J punt 53 yards to the FS25, Carter, T return 0 yards to the FS25, out-of-bounds.
					Drive: 3 plays, 2 yards, TOP 01:48
This was one of the most physically dominant series of plays I've seen any unit have in a while. Way too much speed. You know you're fast when you almost sack a screen play!

FSU's 3rd Drive

Dwn	Yard	Situation	Label	Formation	Play Description	Success?
1-10	at Fs25				FLORIDA STATE drive start at 02:28.
1-10	at Fs25		FR3	4WRGUN	Ponder, C rush quarterback draw for 11 yards to the FS36, 1ST DOWN FS (Alexander, K;Hamlin, M).	YES
This is QB off tackle. 10 blockers. Greenlee subbed in for Zebrie and played very well. On the OLine Trickett Said (from Seminoles.com): "On the Clemson game: “We looked pretty good. I took 77 (Zebrie Sanders) out and went with an older kid, a redshirt freshman, over a true freshman. Antwane [Greenlee] really did a good job. I was proud of him. He went in there and had six knock-downs and did a good job on pass-run stuff. So we’ve got a pretty good battle going over there right now to see if Zebrie wants to try to get that spot back. Rodney Hudson again had another great day; he was the ACC lineman of the week for the third time.” Spurlock looked bad on the 1st 2 drives but he looked okay here. Oh, and OH MY GOSH. Watch the block Rodney Hudson throws about 8 yards downfield! ACC linemen of the week for the 3rd time and should be an All American.
1-10	at Fs36		FR4	2TEGUN	Parker, P rush EL for 9 yards to the FS45 (Hamlin, M).	YES
Sweep right/ end around. Great blocking by Hudson and decent block by Caz. Good commit step from Datko. These linemen are quick.
2-1	at Fs45	NPD	FR5	EYE	Thomas, J. rush left for 22 yards to the CU33, 1ST DOWN FS (Clemons, C).	YES
Great end around motion and the backside handoff is sweet. Cutback running? Yes please. Great job by Marcus Simms. Greg Carr loafed this.
1-10	at Cu33		FR6	CHOLLIETE	Sims, M rush right for 7 yards to the CU26 (McDaniel, D).	YES
Hell of a job by Greenlee to stick with his block. If he is back from this neck surgery… oh man we could be special.
2-3	at Cu26	NPD	FR7	4WRGUN	Ponder, C rush left for loss of 1 yard to the CU27 (Hamlin, M).	NO
Wouldn't believe me if I told you, but… designed QB sweep, we run into a slant, Hudson and Datko don't hold their blocks. Lucky playcall for Clemson.
					Drive: 5 plays, 48 yards, TOP 04:25
					Clemson 10, Florida State 10
					Start of 2nd quarter, clock 15:00.
3-4	at Cu27	NPD	FP6	CHOLLIETE	Ponder, C slant pass complete to Parker, P for 7 yards to the CU20, 1ST DOWN FS (Maye, B).	YES
Damn camera angle sucks here. This is a simple slant and sit. Ponder didn't read this fast enough, but it did get there.
1-10	at Cu20		FR8	PISTOL	Thomas, J. rush over right tackle for loss of 1 yard to the CU21 (Sapp, R;Jenkins, J).	NO
For as good as Greenlee played… he really whiffed here. Lose on 1st down. (Greenlee had head down).
2-11	at Cu21	PD	FP7	TEMPTYGUN	Ponder, C sideline pass incomplete to Carr, G, QB hurry by Scott, D.	NO
No idea what the routes were, but… Datko beaten badly inside, Greenlee beaten, McMahon beaten, Spurlock questionable. Ponder drifts and throws it away. Also on this: delayed blitz. Again, can't tell if he had an open man b/c Doak's camera's are so close.
3-11	at Cu21	PD	FP8	TEMPTYGUN	Ponder, C screen pass complete to Piurowski, C for 2 yards to the CU19 (McDaniel, D).	NO
A TE screen. Maybe this worked in practice, but Clemson killed it. Maybe Caz needed to cut hard inside immediately?
4-9	at Cu19				Gano, G field goal attempt from 37 GOOD, clock 13:03.
					Florida State 13, Clemson 10
					Drive: 10 plays, 56 yards, TOP 04:25
At this point, we had 8 pass plays and 8 runs. The run game was working much better. The passing would improve, but it was clear Clemson was playing pass first. Also, we stayed in favorable leverage downs until the 7th play of the drive.

Clemson's 5th Drive

Dwn	Yard	Situation	Label	Formation	Play Description	Success?
					Gano, G kickoff 67 yards to the CU3, Spiller, C return 16 yards to the CU19 (Givens, L.;Smith, K).
Very high kick… our guys reached the 20 before Spiller caught it.
1-10	at Cu19				CLEMSON drive start at 12:58.
QB for CU is #10-Harper.
1-10	at Cu19				Davis, J rush up middle for 24 yards to the CU43, 1ST DOWN CU, out-of-bounds (Robinson, P.).	NO
Moses McCray got off balanced and pancakes, Neefy got turned around, and our defense got gashed. Good use of end around fake action by Clemson.
1-10	at Cu43				Spiller, C rush up middle for 3 yards to the CU46 (Robinson, J).	YES
Neefy Redeems himself with a great play as he blows up the tackle and kills their angle.
2-7	at Cu46	NPD			Spiller, C rush left for 4 yards to the 50 yardline, out-of-bounds (Robinson, P.).	YES
We don't line up correctly, too bunched up in the middle, and as a result, we get pinned. WILDCAT.
3-3	at Cu50	NPD			Spiller, C rush right for 7 yards to the FS43, 1ST DOWN CU, out-of-bounds (Lawson, R).	NO
Chop block on Marcus McNiel not called.
1-10	at Fs43				Davis, J rush over left guard for 6 yards to the FS37 (Lawson, R;Nicholson, D).	NO
Mincey got pancaked here… nice hole… wonder if he is 100% healthy?
2-4	at Fs37	NPD			Davis, J rush TL for no gain to the FS37 (Nicholson, D).	YES
Amazing individual play by Nicholson to fight through traffic and find the ballcarrier.
3-4	at Fs37	NPD			Davis, J rush TR for loss of 6 yards to the FS43 (Moffett, N).	YES
Neefy Moffett with an incredible individual effort here to destroy the tackle and make the tackle. He often seems hit or miss but today he was hit.
4-10	at Fs43				Maners, J punt 32 yards to the FS11, Carter, T return 0 yards to the FS11, fumble by Carter, T recovered by CU Roediger, C at FS9.
					Drive: 7 plays, 38 yards, TOP 04:03
					Punt was muffed by receiving team.
Insert obligatory "why the heck is a starting corner returning punts when we have no depth at the position" argument [here]. Carter's techinque is horrible. Anytime you fall to the ground while trying to catch the football, you change your eye level. Stand and catch the ball. Bend your knees if you must. I have separated the following 2 plays into their own drive because FSU's DEFENSE did obtain a stop. Funny that our 2 biggest mental errors arguably came on special teams.

Clemson's 6th Drive

Dwn	Yard	Situation	Label	Formation	Play Description	Success?
1-G	at Fs09				CLEMSON drive start at 08:55.
1-G	at Fs09			4-3	Davis, J rush up middle for no gain to the FS9 (Stewart, K).	YES
Stewart and Griffin at DT. Both do a nice job to quickly shed their blockers and make the stop.
2-G	at Fs09	PD			Harper, C TR pass complete to Palmer, M for 9 yards to the FS0, TOUCHDOWN, clock 08:17.	NO
Watson and Ingram at LB. We get pressure on the rollout throwback and I am not going to blame the defense on this. Great throw. We give him this if he can hit it, and he happened to hit the throw. Ingram on the coverage, which wasn't bad.
					Buchholz, M kick attempt good.
					Clemson 17, Florida State 13
					Drive: 2 plays, 9 yards, TOP 00:38
This TD is on Tony Carter for the bigtime special teams Gaffe.

FSU's 4th Drive

Dwn	Yard	Situation	Label	Formation	Play Description	Success?
					Buchholz, M kickoff 59 yards to the FS11, Parker, P return 19 yards to the FS30 (Chancellor, C).
					FLORIDA STATE drive start at 08:12.
1-10	at Fs30			CHOLLITTE	Smith, A rush over right tackle for 3 yards to the FS33 (Scott, D).	NO
Zone right. Greenlee good 2nd level block, but maybe needs to doubleteam with Spurlock here? Caz okay, Spurlock gets beat.
2-7	at Fs33			I form	Smith, A rush over left guard for loss of 3 yards to the FS30 (Jenkins, J).	NO
Both safetys 12 yards off the ball. Spurlock gets crushed, which causes McMahon to miss his. TFL.
3-10	at Fs30			5GUN	Ponder, C deep in pass incomplete to Owens, R (Hamlin, M).	NO
The middle of the field won't be open. CU in a cover 5 zone shell. Ponder stays in the pocket and makes a really good throw over the linebackers. The throw is a bit high for Easterling, who couldn't hold onto it. It WAS high, but there isn't another place to put this ball. 3-10 is tough and sometimes the D calls the right coverage.
4-10	at Fs30				Gano, G punt 33 yards to the CU37, fair catch by Spiller, C.
Gano with the rare short one, but this was close to being blocked.
					Drive: 3 plays, 0 yards, TOP 01:19
We started this drive with 7:45 in possession time compared to 22 minutes for Clemson.

Clemson's 7th Drive

Dwn	Yard	Situation	Label	Formation	Play Description	Success?
					CLEMSON drive start at 06:53.
1-10	at Cu37			4-3	Harper, C sideline pass incomplete to Kelly, A, PENALTY FS pass interference (Robinson, P.) 13 yards to the 50 yardline, 1ST DOWN CU, NO PLAY.
This was complete garbage. Patrick Robinson had great coverage. Kelly pushed off if anything. Andrews was still griping about this in Monday's presser.
1-10	at Cu50			4-3	Harper, C screen pass incomplete to Davis, J.	YES
Play Action on the screen. Watson is all over Davis. He'd be sent home from the 8th grade dance for being in his pocket so much. Great coverage.
2-10	at Cu50	PD		4-3	Davis, J rush over left guard for 3 yards to the FS47 (Watson, D).	YES
3DE line with Kstew. Very quick formation. Watson makes this tackle but Kstew and others was blowing up the center of the LOS. Great hit by Watson. Total beast who we need to stay another year.
3-7	at Fs47	PD		4-3	Harper, C sacked for loss of 11 yards to the CU42 (Brown, E).	YES
"I knew I could beat those guys with speed," Brown said. "And speed kills." Everette Brown with incredible balance here.
4-18	at Cu42				Maners, J punt 28 yards to the FS30, out-of-bounds.
					Drive: 3 plays, 5 yards, TOP 01:38
We played perfectly on this drive. Perfect.

FSU's 5th Drive

Dwn	Yard	Situation	Label	Formation	Play Description	Success?
					FLORIDA STATE drive start at 05:15.
1-10	at Fs30			KGUN	Ponder, C pass incomplete to Parker, P (McDaniel, D).	NO
Batted Down. Rollout. Blitzer comes, nice Playcall from CU, blitzer jumps and bats it down. Parker was open on the 7 yard stop.
2-10	at Fs30	PD		Hawaii	Thomas, J. rush left for 11 yards to the FS41, 1ST DOWN FS (Cooper, S).	YES
This is classic FSU. Bubble action right, Zone read left. Datko and McMahon good joob, Hudson is so quick he actually doesn't block anyone! This seems to be a base tri-set of ours (bubble, zone read give, zone read keep, both wit bubble action).
1-10	at Fs41			Hawaii	Ponder, C rush QX for 8 yards to the FS49 (Bowers, D).	YES
We always look comfortable from this set. This is a fake bubble, and we try to go deep off it. CU playing press, rushes 5. I was so pissed here. We had them if we could block it. We didn't get it blocked. Ponder literally is sandwiched by 3 defenders, jukes out of it, then jukes a DT, and gets out of the grasp of a LB, then SPINS to have 2 CU defenders hit each other while he falls forward for 8. Why do we use CP7? This right here. Last year, we're in 2nd and 20.
2-2	at Fs49	NPD		Singleback	Thomas, J. rush up middle for 3 yards to the CU48, 1ST DOWN FS (Conner, K).	YES
This is a chanegup play. We do a straight hand to the tailback and man-block it. Interesting.
1-10	at Cu48			KGUN	Ponder, C sideline pass complete to Parker, P for 3 yards to the CU45 (McDaniel, D;Chancellor, C).	NO
Draw Action, clemson doesn't buy it. Greenlee beaten, Ponder is flushed and somehow gets it to Parker all the way across the field. Nice moves by Parker. NOTE: With the draw action and the Clemson great coverage at first, Greenlee had to hold his block forever. Can't fault him too bad, except he was beaten INSIDE (and Ponder was trying to step-up.) In 2007, we would have had 2 sacks in 3 plays. In 2008, we have an 8 yard run and a 3 yard pass.
2-7	at Cu45	NPD		KGUN	Ponder, C deep pass incomplete to Easterling, T (Hamlin, M).	NO
Rollout. Hudson misses the blitzer. CP7 good job to dodge him, square his shoulders running full speed to sideline and launch downfield for Easterling. Jump ball battle is a draw. I didn't love the IDEA of the throw, but it wasn't a crippling decision. If this is Carr, it's a 40 yard gainer. I think we had something big if Hudson picks up the blitzer. Not sure how he missed him. Ponder's houdini act on this drive was astonishing. He literally just sidestepped a blitzer who had a great angle.
3-7	at Cu45	PD		Hawaii.	Ponder, C sideline pass complete to Easterling, T for 14 yards to the CU31, 1ST DOWN FS (Conner, K).	YES
GREAT PLAY. SPECIAL PLAY. Moving inside the pocket, going through the progressions. We were 1/5 on 3rd downa t this point. We'd go 4/5 the rest of the game. CU in Dime. Zone coverage. We run a zone buster with Parker on the curl and Eatserling on the in. Parker falls down as Ponder goes to throw. He pulls it down and somehow resets. Oline capably handles 4 rushers with 6 blockers. Ponder re-scans the field, knows his progressions, and hits Easterling (the other part of the zone buster) on the shallow IN (call if a cross if you like). Easterling picks up 7 more. Really nice job there. Not sure how he pulled it down when Parker slips.
1-10	at Cu31				Ponder, C screen pass complete to Givens, L. for 3 yards to the CU28 (Hamlin, M).	NO
Bubble screen. DE ignores the run action and almost tips this ball. Surrency with the rare missed block (he played great). Givens gets 3. Credit: Givens' effort and Ponder's quick release and McMahon's good snap.
2-7	at Cu28				Timeout Clemson, clock 01:54.
2-7	at Cu28	NPD			Givens, L. rush reverse for 27 yards to the CU1, 1ST DOWN FS (Clemons, C).	YES
Who in their right mind would call a reverse to a walk on out of a timeout? Jimbo. Rodney Hudson runs 30 yards in this play and Ponder blocks 2 men. Greenlee nice block. Givens shows great speed.
1-G	at Cu01				Ponder, C rush quarterback sneak for 1 yard to the CU0, TOUCHDOWN, clock 01:25.	YES
					Gano, G kick attempt good.
					Florida State 20, Clemson 17
					Drive: 10 plays, 70 yards, TOP 03:50
Great drive here, and we only faced 3rd down one time.

Here is Part 2

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

Noles by the numbers: Putting the Georgia Tech loss in perspective

FSUncensored — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 02:43:06 -0000

Miscellaneous and Housekeeping

Jeff Cameron had a lot to say about the defense today. (free and no registration). This is worth a listen.

Post your questions for the Clempzon expert by tomorrow at 8PM Eastern!

I need a guy to write about basketball. You don't have to do it every day, but a post or 2 a week could suffice. If I start doing basketball, the quality of football coverage will drop. I'll help with the basketball stuff, but you should know something about it. For that matter, if you ever have an article that you've gone really in-depth about, talk to me about putting it on the front page. FSUncensored@gmail.com My opinions on FSU basketball are going to be this (until further notice):

Leonard Hamilton is a poor game coach. He is an excellent recruiter and a decent disciplinarian. He will take your program from bad to average. He will take your program from average, and well... um... keep it there. It is his track record. He improves the talent level immensely, which creates wins, but he doesn't have the on-court coaching ability or teaching ability to take your program to the next level. I'd love to be proven wrong on this, but I'm pretty sure that this is his M.O.

We had 16,951 unique visitors in October, up from 12K in September! 71 People have signed up since Oct 1. I'm glad we're welcome more people each and every week. I encourage everyone to join in and participate. Joining is free and they do not send you any emails. I'm sure you have something interesting to contribute! The participation this week had been exceptional! I'm particularly impressed with the comment sections. 50 comments today alone! We're starting to resemble a place like www.BurntOrangeNation.com (The Texas Site), and that's a good thing. The more voices the better. We are getting fewer visitors in the last 3 days, however, and I'm not sure what's going on with that. The casual fan stays away from negativity, but I know that I will continue to talk about FSU in the most honest way possible. If you're a regular reader, you probably have other die-hard Nole Fan Friends. Encourage them to voice their opinions as well.

Note on Criticism

I feel I need to talk about this. I don't want to fire Mickey Andrews. I do want to see Jody Allen gone. What is the difference? One has done a good job for a long time, and one has consistently done a bad job. Some people believe that Mickey (and to a greater extent Bobby) were good coaches because they realized they had freakish athletes and didn't get in the way. We do see this an extent with Mickey, as his predominantly man schemes sometimes appear stale and we often struggle with gimmick offenses, or anything that isn't the I-Formation. My best guess is that Mickey has 1 more year, and nobody expects him to stay after Bobby leaves. Is it too late for him to conquer the spread? I'm not sure at this point. What do you think? I do know that the Noles are lucky that the spread hasn't spread all over the ACC like it has to other conferences. Mickey has been more imaginative this year than in previous years, and I'm going to give him the benefit of the doubt. He failed in THIS game, but that doesn't mean he hasn't been a big time success throughout his stay at FSU.

Noles by the Numbers

In addition to reviewing the goals, I included some opponent adjusted perspective statistics in this edition of Noles by the Numbers. I want to take a look at why we lost this ballgame. Hmm, where to start... defense you say? Okay.

A member of ours brought up the idea that nobody had really stopped tech, but rather, Tech had fumbled some drives (and games) away.

		Rushing							Passing					Total Off.
Date	Opponent	No	Gain	Loss	Net	AVG.	Fumbles Lost	TD	Att	Comp	Int	Yds	TD	Plays	Yds
9/6/2008	At BC(19-16)	40	200	38	162	4.1	3	2	13	6	0	73	0	53	235	4.4
9/13/2008	At Va Tech(17-20)	50	289	11	278	5.6	2	1	9	5	1	109	1	59	387	6.6
9/20/2008	Mississippi St.(38-7)	54	460	22	438	8.1	0	4	9	4	0	62	1	63	500	7.9
10/18/2008	At Clemson(21-17)	52	229	22	207	4.0	2	1	12	5	0	91	1	64	298	4.7
10/25/2008	Virginia(17-24)	41	196	40	156	3.8	2	2	15	7	1	103	0	56	259	4.6
11/1/2008	Florida St.(31-28)	45	298	10	288	6.4	1	4	6	4	1	55	0	51	343	6.7

First, some notes. I edited out the games where Nesbitt did not play.

The 31 points are the 2nd most put up by GTech against a D1 opponent, and the very most against an ACC foe. I think the greater concern, however, is the complete domination in the running game. Tech rushed for 6.4 per carry. They were quite silly to ever pass the ball, though they were effective in doing so with Nesbitt. The bottom line is that other teams also had trouble stopping Tech. 3 teams held them under 4.5 per carry, but only one held them UNDER 3 yards per carry. That team is UVA, and Al Groh is a well respected scheme guy. UVA runs the 3-4 and they are arguably better equipped than us to defend the option, despite not having the defensive talent we possess. While forcing (or lucking into?) more turnovers would have helped, other teams did have much more success than we did stopping the option.

More concerning, however, might be that the Noles only had 10 total yards in tackles for loss. The key to stopping the option is to put them in 3rd and unmanagable. We did not do that at all.

Mickey's quotes from Today's press conference concern me. He seems to think his schemes were fine and that our lack of success was squarely on the players. I disagree with this; many teams with lesser talent had more success against this scheme, and they face it no more often than the Noles. More to come on this in "Inside The Seminole Film Room". Also, I'll POST VIDEO this week of the specific plays I want to highlight!

Here are the goals we laid out in the preview.

The Goals for the Seminole Rushing Defense:

* Keep GT in 2nd and long: 33% of First Down Rushes for 1 or fewer yards. (The STUFFED %)

Fail, but with a caveat: The Noles held GTech to 1 or fewer yards 4 of 20 times, BUT the Noles held them to 2 or less yards (Mickey's Goal) 7 of 20 times, which is decent I guess.

* Use penetration to get stops: 40% Win Rate on 3rd+ 4th n short rushing

0 for 3 is a big time mega-fail

* Tackle Well: Less than 15 missed tackles (A Mickey Andrews Goal-- adjusted for GT)

Andrews said we had less than 10. Whatever. I guess you can't "miss" the tackle if you aren't anywhere near the ball carrier.

* Don't have your good work go for naught: 2 or fewer runs of 3rd and 8 or Longer for first downs.

Well, Tech only faced 3rd and 6+ TWICE, so this is a pass.

* No rushing TD's in the red zone. Make GT throw the ball in the red zone.

FAIL. FAIL. That's not a typo. Tech had 2 rushing TD's within the red zone.

* Take good angles to the football: No more than 6 runs over 15 yards, and no runs over 40 yards.

Tech had runs of: 17, 20, 66, 29, 23, 36, and 13 yards. You be the judge. I guess I'll give the PASS for the "15 yarders" goal (though I am re-thinking that), and a FAIL for the "40 yards" goal.

The benchmarks for the FSU Pass Defense

* Bad Day: Nesbitt under a QB Rating of 100.

Hmm, no. 172 rating is the best posted against us by far to date.

* Capitalize on 3rd and long. Keep Nesbitt under a QB rating of 75 on 3rd and long.

1-2 for 10 yards is a rating of 92, but this sample set isn't very big.

* Limit Big Plays: no more than 5 passes of 15+ yards

Incomplete. Not enough passing plays to judge this.

* Selective Pass Interference: do not give up the deep ball! If they do throw it, interfere like crazy.

Again, probably incomplete here, except for the first play for GTech.

* Trust your assignment: don't leave your assignment and fall for play action.

Incomplete, until I evaluate the film, but this wasn't that bad.

* Hit Nesbitt: Play to the echo of the whistle. Have a sack rate (sacks / (pass plays + sacks)) of 8% or more. As Mickey said... "you never want to hurt anybody, but our kids understand that if a guy wants to take himself out of a ballgame that is his business. You have got to hit him, you have got to inflict some pressure on him with contact for that to happen...."

No sacks on Nesbitt. His injury wasn't something we did.

* Be studs on 3rd down: make the tackle when they throw underneath and don't allow them to get the 3rd down. Limit Nesbitt to double digit QB rating on 3rd down.

PASS. 3/9 isn't bad to be honest. 3rd down was not our problem.

* Do not fall for play action on short yardage downs!: DB's rarely make these plays but are usually the ones burned for trying to help out too much.

PASS. Excellent. Again though, small sample set.

* Confuse Nesbitt. Mix the coverages enough to confuse Willson. I'm annoyed that we give away our blitz too early. Let's wait to walk down, and at other times walk down and then back out.

FAIL. Nesbitt was 4/5. We didn't show good looks. I'll have more on this later, but I doubt my opinion will change a bunch from watching film.

Final Goals For FSU's defense

* LESS THAN 4.25 YPP

FAIL. 8.2 with Nesbitt in the game? Pathetic.

* No Plays of 50+ Yards. I doubt GT can repeatedly drive on this team. Let's make them try.

FAIL. I'm in law school and I'm not a math expert, but 66> 50 in my book.

* Create 2 turnovers

Pass. Forcing turnovers didn't seem to be the problem, though I question whether we would have had success

* 10 "Stops" Mickey defines a stop as a turnover, punt, or a surrender on downs. That's fine by me.

FAIL. Under Nesbitt... Mickey's crew forced ONE stop on 6 drives. That is not what we're looking for.

* Less than 50% Red Zone TD Scoring

FAIL. Consistent with everything else we did on defensive end, we allowed GT to score TD's on 2 of 3 red zone trips.

* No scores off sudden change (make GT get a first down off a turnover. Do not allow the home run after a turnover). They LOVE to throw deep off of a turnover.

I can't hold this against them. The turnover put GT at the 4 yard line.

* Hold GT under 280 yards. Mickey's goal is 300, and that is generous. This team has been way lucky so far to get their yards and wins.

FAIL. No explanation needed.

More numbers on the Nole's defense:

Tech gained 12 of their 13 first downs before QB Nesbitt left.
FSU forced 9 3rd downs... but 4 of them came in the limited action after Tech's QB left the game.
GT had more yards in penalties than the Noles. For more on why penalties are not a bad thing, see Here and Here.

Continue inside for some offensive evaluation...

Offensive Goals

So, the goals for the FSU running game?

* 55% of carries by FSU RB's on First down go for 3 or more yards (win first down). This seems like a strange goal, but it is all about staying out of 3rd and long. I know this number seems low, but I'm trying to set realistic goals here.

PASS X 13! 9 of our 13 1st down RB rushes went for 3+ yards! That's 70%! Jermaine Thomas' 1st down carries: 62, 13, 7, 12, 7. Stud. This was by far our best first down effort of the season when you consider the opponent.

* 60% conversions running on 3rd/ 4th & 2 or less

PASS. 2 of 3 running on 3rd and 3 or less.

* 1 or fewer fumbles (Not fumbles lost, but Fumbles)

FAIL. Obviously. I don't want to talk about this.

* 40 yards rushing from Christian. This does not count sacks. I will parse our the sacks.

FAIL, but maybe in a good way... Ponder had 8 rushing yards. Jimbo said that he is 100% healthy, but I don't believe that for a second. Anyone who follows this team knows to be weary of injury information.

The goals for the Passing Game?

* Less than .33 drops per 5 throws (works out to 2 or less per 35 throws)

I'll wait to evaluate this goal. Remind me to do this tomorrow night.

* QB Rating of 105+ Clearly, we're not a high completion % pass game, but Jimbo has stated that he doesn't care about that. Low completion % but big plays are fine by me.

PASS. 110.43. 16-27, 149, 1TD 1INT. Was this goal set a bit low? Maybe.

Stepping up, but iffy on the form here...

* No careless throws into the flat. This is big, since these almost always go for a Pick-6.

Pass, but more on this later...

* Special Sack Rate (sacks + Holdings on dropbacks / sacks + pass attempts + holding on dropbacks) of less than 20%. Yes, 20%. That isn't a typo. If we have 30 pass plays, we must not allow more than 6 combined holding penalties and sacks. Obviously, I would prefer 6 holdings and zero sacks, as we don't risk injury or fumbles with the holding, and as we all know, the team that commits more penalties usually wins the game. it's true.

PASS. 5 Sacks, 1 holding penalty accepted, and another declined. 29 Throws. So, that is... 7 majors over 36 pass plays for 19%, or if you take out the declined holding call, 6 majors over 35 pass plays for 17%. While those numbers are horrific, they are within the goals we set. Still, we need to start holding more. The refs will NOT call it all the time. One of the sacks caused a fumble.

* 7 Yards per Attempt.

FAIL. It didn't happen. 5.5 per. How much of that is on PONDER/ JIMBO/ OLine/ WR'S... I'll decide after watching the film.

* 3 plays with 15+ YAC

Again, remind me to do this after watching the film.

* No more than 1 BadReadBadThrow (BRBT) per 10 passes. This is very important if they play zone.

PASS, but I am going to change this goal in the future to 1/15, not 1/10.

* No more than 1 bad blitz pickup miss per 15 attempts (Marcus Sims, this is you). Tech doesn't blitz much, and I doubt they bring 6+ guys more than once or twice, because of their inexperienced back 7.

This is a film goal.

General Offensive Goals

* 4.6 YPP(Yards Per Play). 66 Plays at 4.5 YPP = 304 yards.

PASS. Huge Pass. 5.9 YPP is excellent for this game and the Noles far exceeded my expectations on offense.

* No Personal Fouls (except clipping, I'm fine with that here). I know that the team committing more penalties usually wins the game, but these are non-aggression penalties.

PASS, but I hope all the beat hacks (Except Andrew Carter who has laid off the penalties crusading) are happy. The team who is called for the most penalty yards usually WINS the game. We should have committed more penalties

* Less than 2 turnovers

FAIL, and all of them hurt.

* 60%+ Red Zone Touchdowns (Kicking is losing). We've done a decent job of this this year.

FAIL. With the Simms fumble, this was the most obvious fail to the casual observer. Had we punched it in, we'd be looking at 75% red zone TD's on the day!

All Photo's courtesy of the Democrat.

In keeping with our community feel, if you have any comments, questions, or suggestions, please do share them.

GO NOLES!

Inside The Seminole Film Room: Virginia Tech Hokies 20, Florida State Seminoles 30 (Second Half, with Pictures)

FSUncensored — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 16:41:00 -0000

The 1st half is here.

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"

Fs	1/10	at Fs44	Start of 3rd quarter, clock 15:00, VT ball on VT30.
			Virginia Tech will kick and defend the south goal.
			Myer, J kickoff 57 yards to the FS13, Parker, P return 19 yards to the FS32 (Whitley, E), PENALTY FS holding (Carr, N.) 10 yards to the FS22, 1st and 10, FS ball on FS22.
Fs	1/10	at Fs22	FLORIDA STATE drive start at 14:56.
Fs	1/10	at Fs22	Ponder, C rush left for 2 yards to the FS24 (Porch, D;Warren, Br).
Hawaii. QB Off Tackle. Designed run. Takes a big shot.
Fs	2/8	at Fs24	Ponder, C crossing pass complete to Parker, P for 13 yards to the FS37, 1ST DOWN FS, out-of-bounds (Porch, D).
For everyone who says he doesn't step up or stay in the pocket… watch thus clip at 14:18. 5 Step Drop, steps up, throws a strike. Good protection.
Fs	1/10	at Fs37	Timeout Florida State, clock 13:46.
I don't think Ponder called this play correctly. Jimbo was livid.
Fs	1/10	at Fs37	Ponder, C screen pass complete to Smith, A for 12 yards to the FS49, 1ST DOWN FS (Porch, D).
Play Action. Zebrie beat badly inside. Great play by Ponder. Stiff arms the DE, backs up, jumps, throws to Antone. Normally I am against this, but nobody was around Antone, so it wasn't dangerous. Athleticism helps.
Fs	1/10	at Fs49	Thomas, J. rush left for no gain to the FS49 (Sturdivant, P).
			Injured player for FSU is #38-Thomas.
Youth. Thomas doesn't read this sweep left well, we don't block it well, Thomas gets knocked out, fumbles, FSU recovers. Craziness.
Fs	2/10	at Fs49	Ponder, C middle pass complete to Parker, P for 2 yards to the VT49 (Grimm, C).
Quick out from the slot. Line holds quickblocks. Ponder sets and throws nicely.
Fs	3/8	at Vt49	Ponder, C sacked for loss of 11 yards to the FS40 (Grimm, C).
JUMBO CHOLLIE (Caz and Sims as upbacks). Marcus Sims is terrible in blitz pickup, he blocks the wrong man, and the outside LB gets a free shot on Ponder. An encouraging opening drive ends in a bad sack.
Fs	4/19	at Fs40	Gano, G punt 53 yards to the VT7, Harris, V return 15 yards to the VT22, out-of-bounds (Bradham, N.).
Jody Allen should update his resume. Horrible kick coverage.
			Drive: 6 plays, 18 yards, TOP 03:47

11 First half passing plays netted 8 yards. 3-7, 15 yards (3 throwaways), 2 runs for 9 yards, and 2 sacks for -16 yards.
16 pass Plays netted 130 yards , 8-12 for 148, 1 TD, 1 run for 2, 1 Pass Interference for 4 yards, and 2 sacks for -20 yards.

We weren't nearly as unbalanced as unbalanced as people might think.

Vt	1/10	at Vt22	VIRGINIA TECH drive start at 11:09.
Vt	1/10	at Vt22	Evans, D rush over left guard for 4 yards to the VT26 (Thacker, B).
Vt	2/6	at Vt26	Evans, D rush over left guard for 2 yards to the VT28 (Brown, E).
Vt	3/4	at Vt28	Glennon, S pass incomplete to Boone, G, QB hurry by Nicholson, D.
Vt	4/4	at Vt28	Bowden, B punt 43 yards to the FS29, fair catch by Carter, T.
			Drive: 3 plays, 6 yards, TOP 01:35
What adjustments did we make? Press coverage, something we should have done from the start. Good adjustment. VT tried to singblock Brown on 3rd down, foolishly.

Fs	1/10	at Fs29	FLORIDA STATE drive start at 09:34.
Fs	1/10	at Fs29	Ponder, C crossing pass incomplete to Easterling, T, dropped pass.
The only "bad" drop all day. Though, we only threw 19 passes. Also, decent pass protection, and Ponder STEPS UP. Shocking.
Fs	2/10	at Fs29	Smith, A rush over left end for 8 yards to the FS37 (Sturdivant, P).
Pistol. Zone left, short side, Hudson pushed his man all the way out of bounds.
Fs	3/2	at Fs37	Ponder, C crossing pass incomplete to Easterling, T, PENALTY VT pass interference (Warren, Br) 4 yards to the FS41, 1ST DOWN FS, NO PLAY.
I'll take it. Right read, right throw, wrapped up.
Fs	1/10	at Fs41	Ponder, C sacked for loss of 9 yards to the FS32 (Worilds, J).
4 Wide. We're in a quick pass. They drop back, rush 4, nobody open, Greenlee (not Zebrie) misses his cut block, defender jumps up, Ponder can't throw (lane blocked/ nobody open), Antone can't block DE that Greenlee whiffed on. Ponder looks left (hey, going through a progression! Couch commentators, did you see this one?) goes to throw, but is engulfed.
Fs	2/19	at Fs32	Ponder, C screen pass incomplete to Easterling, T.
Defender jumped the bubble screen, still, Easterling should have caught.
Fs	3/19	at Fs32	Smith, A rush over left guard for loss of 1 yard to the FS31 (Porch, D).
Fs	4/20	at Fs31	Gano, G punt 43 yards to the VT26, downed, PENALTY VT roughing the kicker (Whitley, E) 15 yards to the FS46, 1ST DOWN FS, NO PLAY.
Huge play in this game.
Fs	1/10	at Fs46	Ponder, C FY pass complete to Carr, G for 48 yards to the VT6, 1ST DOWN FS (Harris, V).
HAWAII LEFT. Carr Right. VT plays off, they're in cover 3. Carr runs a takeoff. Ponder drops, and fires, not too much loft. Ball traveled 45 yards in the air, perfect placement, only Carr could catch it.
Fs	1-G	at Vt06	Smith, A rush over right tackle for 2 yards to the VT4 (Warren, Br).
Fs	2-G	at Vt04	Ponder, C post pass complete to Easterling, T for 4 yards to the VT0, TOUCHDOWN, clock 06:05.
Photo Credit: Sears, Democrat Insanely good catch, and ball is thrown only where Easterling could catch it. It was also maybe the best catch I've ever seen from an FSU player. Ridiculous. Awesome.
			Gano, G kick attempt good.
			Florida State 17, Virginia Tech 13
			Drive: 8 plays, 71 yards, TOP 03:29

			Esco, J kickoff 68 yards to the VT2, Hill, C return 11 yards to the VT13 (Givens, L.).
Vt	1/10	at Vt13	VIRGINIA TECH drive start at 05:59.
Vt	1/10	at Vt13	Glennon, S sacked for loss of 6 yards to the VT7 (Watson, D), PENALTY FS holding (Robinson, J) 10 yards to the VT23, 1ST DOWN VT, NO PLAY.
			Injured player for VT is #7-Glennon.
			QB for VT is #12-Holt.
Vt	1/10	at Vt23	Evans, D rush over left tackle for loss of 1 yard to the VT22 (Stewart, K;Watson, D).
Vt	2/11	at Vt22	Holt, C rush right for 1 yard to the VT23, out-of-bounds (Nicholson, D).
Vt	3/10	at Vt23	Holt, C rush up middle for loss of 4 yards to the VT19 (Brown, E).
Vt	4/14	at Vt19	Bowden, B punt 38 yards to the FS43, Carter, T return 12 yards to the VT45 (Drager, C).
			Drive: 3 plays, 6 yards, TOP 02:18
At this point, the game was over for VT. They would gain only 46 more yards.

Fs	1/10	at Vt45	FLORIDA STATE drive start at 03:41.
Fs	1/10	at Vt45	Smith, A rush left for no gain to the VT45 (Worilds, J), PENALTY FS FL (Datko, A.) 5 yards to the 50 yard line, NO PLAY.
Fs	1/15	at Fs50	Ponder, C TA pass incomplete to Parker, P, QB hurry by Worilds, J.
WENDYS. Greenlee gets absolutely destroyed here, and Ponder has to try to escape and throws it away.
Fs	2/15	at Fs50	Easterling, T rush ER for loss of 5 yards to the FS45.
I think we miss Reed here as Easterling slipped down. . Awesomely designed play. This DE Worilds was a monster today.
Fs	3/20	at Fs45	Ponder, C deep pass complete to Carr, G for 39 yards to the VT16, 1ST DOWN FS.
HAWAII LEFT. Carr Right. VT plays off, they're in cover 3. Carr runs a takeoff. Ponder drops, and fires, not too much loft. Ball traveled 45 yards in the air, perfect placement, only Carr could catch it. 6 men rush. 3 come free. They're in cover 1. Ponder stays in, and launches. He gets totally rocked. Carr goes up and makes a phenomenal catch. Ponder got killed, wow.
Fs	1/10	at Vt16	Sims, M rush over left tackle for 15 yards to the VT1, 1ST DOWN FS (Porch, D).
Pistol. Fast moving. Nice blocks by McMahon, Hudson, and Datko.
Fs	1-G	at Vt01	Sims, M rush up middle for 1 yard to the VT0, TOUCHDOWN, clock 01:09.
Fs	1-G	at Vt03	Timeout Virginia Tech, clock 01:09.
			Gano, G kick attempt good.
			Florida State 24, Virginia Tech 13
			Drive: 5 plays, 45 yards, TOP 02:40

4th Quarter

			Esco, J kickoff 69 yards to the VT1, Roberts, D return 25 yards to the VT26, fumble forced by Lampkin, B., fumble by Roberts, D recovered by FS Bradham, N. at VT26.
Bradham recovered the fumble, but it was his blow up of the wedge that really screwed up this play for VT.
Fs	1/10	at Vt26	FLORIDA STATE drive start at 01:01.
			QB for FSU is #10-Richardson.
Fs	1/10	at Vt26	Richardson, D rush over left guard for 5 yards to the VT21 (Martin, O;Warren, Br).
Fs	2/5	at Vt21	Richardson, D rush over right end for 7 yards to the VT14, 1ST DOWN FS (Worilds, J).
			Drive: 2 plays, 12 yards, TOP 02:35
			Florida State 24, Virginia Tech 13
Nice running by D'Vo. He will be dangerous for us. Must hold the ball more tightly.
Fs	1/10	at Vt14	Start of 4th quarter, clock 15:00.
			QB for FSU is #7-Ponder.
Fs	1/10	at Vt14	Ponder, C rush over left end for 1 yard to the VT13 (Grimm, C).
Fs	2/9	at Vt13	Ponder, C TR pass incomplete to Surrency, C..
			Previous play is under review.
			Play call is overturned, incomplete pass.
Fs	3/9	at Vt13	Ponder, C rush left for 2 yards to the VT11 (Warren, Br).
Fs	4/7	at Vt11	Gano, G field goal attempt from 29 GOOD, clock 13:26.
			Florida State 27, Virginia Tech 13
			Drive: 6 plays, 15 yards, TOP 02:35
A few notes here: Surrency is very close to breaking out. Ponder made some great throws in this game. I was very surprised that Jimbo would call a Ponder run on this drive with the hits he was taking, and he actually called 2. If Christian gets hurt, and we have to play Drew, we probably lose 4 of our last 5 ballgames. Christian is that big of a difference.

			Esco, J kickoff 70 yards to the VT0, Roberts, D return 54 yards to the FS46 (Garvin, M).
Jody Allen. Your unit has tons of athletes and is clearly slacking.
Vt	1/10	at Fs46	VIRGINIA TECH drive start at 13:16.
Vt	1/10	at Fs46	Oglesby, J rush TL for 5 yards to the FS41 (Smith, K).
Vt	2/5	at Fs41	PENALTY VT false start 5 yards to the FS46.
Vt	2/10	at Fs46	Holt, C sideline pass complete to Boone, G for 11 yards to the FS35, 1ST DOWN VT, out-of-bounds (Robinson, J).
Vt	1/10	at Fs35	Oglesby, J rush up middle for 4 yards to the FS31 (Thacker, B).
Vt	2/6	at Fs31	Holt, C deep out pass incomplete to Boone, G (Rolle, M), PENALTY FS roughing passer (Griffin, P) 15 yards to the FS16, 1ST DOWN VT, NO PLAY.
Vt	1/10	at Fs16	Holt, C sacked for loss of 11 yards to the FS27 (Smith, K).
Vt	2/21	at Fs27	Evans, D rush for 7 yards to the FS20 (Smith, K).
Vt	3/14	at Fs20	Holt, C crossing pass complete to Boone, G for 13 yards to the FS7 (Robinson, J).
Vt	4/1	at Fs07	Timeout Virginia Tech, clock 09:00.
Vt	4/1	at Fs07	Holt, C rush left for 3 yards to the FS4, 1ST DOWN VT (Smith, K).
Vt	1-G	at Fs04	Holt, C TR pass complete to Smith, A for 4 yards to the FS0, TOUCHDOWN, clock 08:26.
			Keys, D kick attempt good.
			Florida State 27, Virginia Tech 20
			Drive: 8 plays, 46 yards, TOP 04:50
Let's pretend that this drive never happened, okay?

			Myer, J kickoff 55 yards to the FS15, Parker, P return 17 yards to the FS32 (Whitley, E).
Fs	1/10	at Fs32	FLORIDA STATE drive start at 08:20.
Fs	1/10	at Fs32	Ponder, C rush QX for 2 yards to the FS34.
Parker fell down. Smart by Ponder to just get 2 yards on the roll out.
Fs	2/8	at Fs34	Sims, M rush right for loss of 2 yards to the FS32 (Graves, J).
This can't happen. Spurlock and McMahon get absolutely killed, and Zebrie's block wasn't impressive either.
Fs	3/10	at Fs32	Ponder, C flag pass complete to Easterling, T for 21 yards to the VT47, 1ST DOWN FS.
I will point this out every single time we do it. Easterling made a great catch. Ponder rolled left on the designed rollout. Throw was to the right side, but too far out. In any case, last year, we can't throw a 20 yard out, and this year, we throw a damn 20 yard out while rolling to our LEFT! Zone killer for sure.
Fs	1/10	at Vt47	Ponder, C rush quarterback draw for 4 yards to the VT43 (Sturdivant, P).
Fs	2/6	at Vt43	Ponder, C rush over right tackle for 3 yards to the VT40 (Chancellor, K).
Fs	3/3	at Vt40	Ponder, C sideline pass complete to Sims, M for 5 yards to the VT35, 1ST DOWN FS (Warren, Br).
Great throw, as he put it right on the shoulder so he could turn up. Quick passing and quick reads are good when you can't consistently block folks.
Fs	1/10	at Vt35	Sims, M rush up middle for 5 yards to the VT30 (Warren, Br).
Fs	2/5	at Vt30	Sims, M rush left for 3 yards to the VT27 (Harris, V).
Fs	3/2	at Vt27	Jones, C. rush left for loss of 1 yard to the VT28 (Taylor, D).
Fs	4/3	at Vt28	Gano, G field goal attempt from 46 GOOD, clock 02:14.
			Florida State 30, Virginia Tech 20
			Drive: 10 plays, 40 yards, TOP 06:06
The most important stat on this drive? 6:06. We basically killed the clock.

			Esco, J kickoff 44 yards to the VT26, downed.
Vt	1/10	at Vt26	VIRGINIA TECH drive start at 02:14.
Vt	1/10	at Vt26	Holt, C sideline pass incomplete to Coale, D (Robinson, P.).
Vt	2/10	at Vt26	Holt, C deep pass incomplete to Coale, D (Robinson, P.).
Vt	3/10	at Vt26	Holt, C crossing pass incomplete to Coale, D.
Vt	4/10	at Vt26	Bowden, B punt 34 yards to the FS40, downed.
			Drive: 3 plays, 0 yards, TOP 00:32
Fs	1/10	at Fs40	FLORIDA STATE drive start at 01:42.
Fs	1/10	at Fs40	Sims, M rush over left tackle for 3 yards to the FS43 (Warren, Br).
Fs	2/7	at Fs43	Timeout Virginia Tech, clock 01:33.
Fs	2/7	at Fs43	Sims, M rush up middle for 2 yards to the FS45 (Chancellor, K;Brown, N).
Fs	3/5	at Fs45	Ponder, C rush right for loss of 2 yards to the FS43 (Martin, C).
Fs	4/7	at Fs43	End of game, clock 00:00.
			Drive: 3 plays, 3 yards, TOP 01:42
			FINAL SCORE
			Florida State 30, Virginia Tech 20

Inside The Seminole Film Room (1st Half, With Pictures): Virginia Tech Hokies 20, Florida State Seminoles 30

FSUncensored — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 04:59:53 -0000

Welcome to another edition of Inside The Seminole Film Room! I want to give a huge thanks to the official stat guys Woody Hayes, Tommy Sabourin, Pat Campbell, Andrew Brady, Steve Heil, and Brian Taylor. I've never met them, but if you know them, thank them. They make this weekly report possible.

Why do we pay big money for Jimbo and Co.? Adjustments

11 First half passing plays netted 8 yards. 3-7, 15 yards (3 throwaways), 2 runs for 9 yards, and 2 sacks for -16 yards.
16 pass Plays netted 130 yards , 8-12 for 148, 1 TD, 1 run for 2, 1 Pass Interference for 4 yards, and 2 sacks for -20 yards.

We weren't nearly as unbalanced as unbalanced as people might think.

Anyways, here we go:

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"

Vt	1/10	at Vt30	Esco, J kickoff 66 yards to the VT4, Roberts, D return 40 yards to the VT44, out-of-bounds (Esco, J;Wright, R).
Jody Allen needs to go. I've railed about this for too long, and nothing changes. Please bring back former DE Coach Jim Gladden. With our athletes, there is NO excuse for poor kick and punt coverage, for consistently outpunting your coverage, etc.
Vt	1/10	at Vt44	Taylor, T sacked for loss of 6 yards to the VT38 (Verdell, T). Taylor breaks his ankle (basically)
You never really want to see that, but I am glad FSU is back to hitting people. Know why Taylor really broke his leg? Neefy did a great job of recognizing the FB slipping out of the backfield, and rocked him, not allowing him to get into his route. Taylor had no open men, and Verdell went Mortal Kombat on him, with "Get Over Here" and "Finish Him." Photo Credit: Phil Sears, Democrat
Vt	2/16	at Vt38	Glennon, S deep pass incomplete to Harris, V.
Max Protect, no blitz, 2 man route, excellent coverage.
Vt	3/16	at Vt38	PENALTY VT false start (Boone, G) 5 yards to the VT33.
Vt	3/21	at Vt33	Evans, D rush over right end for 2 yards to the VT35 (Nicholson, D).
Zone Read, Mincey blew it up, changed angles, everyone else swarmed.
Not sure why we didn't just punk their receivers from the start (we later did), and instead started off in very loose coverage.
Vt	4/19	at Vt35	Bowden, B punt 51 yards to the FS14, Carter, T return 12 yards to the FS26 (Martin, O).
Think Mickey wants to punch Jody Allen for allowing Tony to return punts? How should we protest? Let's write e-mails! E-Mail Jody Allen at jdallen@fsu.edu, E-Mail Mickey at mandrews@fsu.edu, or E-Mail Jimbo at jjfisher@fsu.edu . Please do not abuse this, and if you do E-Mail, just express your concerns over using key defensive starters to return punts and kicks, remind them that there is a huge dropoff between our first string CB's and the backups, mention the Patrick Robinson injury resulting from a kickoff return against Colorado, and just ask that they stop discontinue the practice. Make sure to be respectful and thank them for considering your suggestion.
			Drive: 3 plays, minus 9 yards, TOP 01:31

Click "Continue Reading This Post" for the rest of the game.

Fs	1/10	at Fs26	FLORIDA STATE drive start at 13:29.
Fs	1/10	at Fs26	Smith, A rush right for loss of 5 yards to the FS21 (Worilds, J).
BAMA. Zebrie and Spurlock don't double correctly, which kills this from the beginning, and they follow their weak double team with poor 1-on-1 blocking. Freshmen. I think if they did get this correctly blocked, we would have had big yards, as they were heavily shaded to the opposite side. Losing first down doesn't work well.
Fs	2/15	at Fs21	Richardson, D rush right for 1 yard to the FS22 (Sturdivant, P).
CHOLLIE Random bad luck, as VT is in a perfect stunt right into our play, which was option right.
Fs	3/14	at Fs22	Ponder, C sacked for loss of 6 yards to the FS16 (Martin, O).
HAWAII (4wr Trips Overload). Rolll the pocket to the wide side (left). We're running a 20 Yardcomeback with the outside guy, the middle guy is running a pick. This is funny to watch on replay, and it pretty obvious. Easterling tries to pick Parker's defender (the 2 nickel corners were in bump, the outside corner was 15 yards off Surrency), but the defender plays it beautifully, nobody is open. VT Blitzed 5, and played cover 1. Hudson got beat here, amazingly, and sacked CP7. I'd prefer him to throw this away, but he didn't take a foolish chance, so that's good.
Fs	4/20	at Fs16	Powell, S. punt 45 yards to the VT39, Harris, V return 7 yards to the VT46 (Smith, K).
			Drive: 3 plays, minus 10 yards, TOP 02:04

Vt	1/10	at Vt46	VIRGINIA TECH drive start at 11:25.
Vt	1/10	at Vt46	Evans, D rush over right guard for loss of 1 yard to the VT45 (White, M.,).
Vt	2/11	at Vt45	PENALTY VT false start (Render, S) 5 yards to the VT40.
Vt	2/16	at Vt40	Glennon, S rush QX for 7 yards to the VT47, out-of-bounds.
Vt	3/9	at Vt47	Glennon, S crossing pass incomplete to Boykin, J, dropped pass.
Vt	4/9	at Vt47	Bowden, B punt 51 yards to the FS2, downed.
			Drive: 3 plays, 1 yards, TOP 01:50
GREAT DLine series. Moses McCray is back, and he looks huge. People don't need to worry about our defensive tackle depth in the coming years. He looks like his frame could hold 320 lbs. Nicholson took a bad angle chasing Glennon the run. The really damaging play was the punt, which pinned us. That 51 yard change in field position, accounting for the change in possession, is worth probably 3 points on field position point expectency alone! VT started off better than us because of the return yadrage advantage. Good defensive series.

Fs	1/10	at Fs02	FLORIDA STATE drive start at 09:35.
Fs	1/10	at Fs02	Sims, M rush up middle for 2 yards to the FS4 (Chancellor, K).
I-Form. I worry that we give this away since our tailback is 9 yards deep. Very little push, but good job of moving the pile by Marcus.
Fs	2/8	at Fs04	Ponder, C pass complete to Smith, A for 2 yards to the FS6, out-of-bounds.
I-Form. Wow! How did we escape disaster here? Zebrie and Spurlock BOTH forgot to block the DT. Ponder's wheels save us here, as he rolls out. Amazingly lucky. This play was setup for a first down if Ponder can set and throw on time, as nobody was close to Antone within the design of the play. Lucky.
Fs	3/6	at Fs06	Ponder, C deep pass incomplete to Carr, G (Harris, V).
4 wide. Vtech plays 7 evenly across the line of scrimmage. Brings 4, drops 3. Difficult look for offensive line, and pressure comes early from outside. Ponder steps up, nobody open, looks to run, pressure from inside, he spins, dances, and somehow gets away. Crazy escapability here. Then he fires to Greg Carr coming back. Very dangerous throw, could have been sacked, but honestly, we got screwed here as Harris was clearly holding Carr, though Carr didn't do a great job of selling it.
Fs	4/6	at Fs06	PENALTY FS false start (Lawson, R) 3 yards to the FS3.
Fs	4/9	at Fs03	Powell, S. punt 42 yards to the FS45, Harris, V return 16 yards to the FS29, out-of-bounds (Bradham, N.).
Go ahead and send those E-Mails RE: Jody Allen. FSU's punt coverage is atrocious, but here, it's probably a product of the protection first attitude due to the horrible field position.
			Drive: 3 plays, 1 yards, TOP 01:05

Vt	1/10	at Fs29	VIRGINIA TECH drive start at 08:30.
Vt	1/10	at Fs29	Glennon, S rush QX for 3 yards to the FS26 (Thacker, B), PENALTY VT holding (Render, S) 10 yards to the FS39, NO PLAY.
On second viewing, our Dline played really well. We had a great "7 flat backout" play here, and Mincey almost had the sack.
Vt	1/20	at Fs39	Oglesby, J rush over right tackle for 2 yards to the FS37 (Verdell, T;Nicholson, D).
Mincey was playing pretty well in this game.
Vt	2/18	at Fs37	Glennon, S rush QX for 3 yards to the FS34 (Verdell, T).
Mickey getting tricky! A LB and a Safety in zone? Nice.
Vt	3/15	at Fs34	Glennon, S crossing pass complete to Boykin, J for 11 yards to the FS23 (Garvin, M).
For the second time in 4 plays, the ref picks one of our linebackers. Ridiculous, and it allowed VT to pick up 5 more yards.
Vt	4/4	at Fs23	Keys, D field goal attempt from 41 GOOD, clock 05:51.
			Virginia Tech 3, Florida State 0
			Drive: 4 plays, 6 yards, TOP 02:39
Zero complaints about the defense here. 2nd viewing was pretty encouraging. We get screwed by the refs on 2 pick plays, and the 3-0 lead is almost entirely a result of Jody Allen's unit. In fact, at this point, VT had run 10 plays for -2 yards, and produced 3 points. I bet people won't realize how good this defense is until we lose them next year.

			Myer, J kickoff 62 yards to the FS8, Garvin, M return 19 yards to the FS27 (Pickle, D;Reidy, M).
Fs	1/10	at Fs27	FLORIDA STATE drive start at 05:43.
Fs	1/10	at Fs27	Smith, A rush right for loss of 2 yards to the FS25 (Grimm, C;Warren, Br). Backwards Lateral.
TIGHT BAMA. Strange play. Antone catches the ball way deep behind the line, unsure if this was his fault, an alignment problem, etc. VT had our number early. Ponder floated this ball too much, and it's a pass he hasn't throwm much in games. Protection was decent here. That's twice in the early going that Antone was open in space, and the ball didn't get to him properly (the first was when Zebrie/ Suprlock forgot to block the DT right in front of them, haha... nervous laughter... freshmen.) NOTE: This was probably the play he hurt his ribs.
Fs	2/12	at Fs25	Easterling, T rush ER for no gain to the FS25 (Worilds, J).
K Gun. Easterling motion, hand to him. VT played this well, but we ran it to the short side. Lots of people are annoyed with the short side WR runs. I haven't made up my mind.
Fs	3/12	at Fs25	Timeout Florida State, clock 04:21.
Disorganized, for the first time in a while.
Fs	3/12	at Fs25	Ponder, C sacked for loss of 10 yards to the FS15 (Grimm, C).
Great job of creating confusion by VT. Credit foster. Also, we seem to be trying out lots of new formations. This was "Caz as a wideout, Sims as a Tailback, nobody checks the corner blitz. Sack" Nobody was open here, and I don't realistically expect these guys to pick up this type of blitz at this point. The responsibility falls on Tone or Datko, and probably # 67 is at fault.
Fs	4/22	at Fs15	Gano, G punt 55 yards to the VT30, Harris, V return 6 yards to the VT36 (Wright, R).
			Drive: 3 plays, minus 12 yards, TOP 02:10
Hindsight is 20/20, but it looked like we were very close to doing some things, and VT had been very lucky/ perfect in playcalling at this point. Maybe it is because I know the final result. Gano is now punting, and he hits an amazing boomer. I favor shorter, higher punts, but that's because the alternative is usually long and low. Long and High is obviously the best. Smiles.

Vt	1/10	at Vt36	VIRGINIA TECH drive start at 03:33.
Vt	1/10	at Vt36	Evans, D rush up middle for 2 yards to the VT38 (White, M.,).
Vt	2/8	at Vt38	Glennon, S sideline pass complete to Harris, V for 9 yards to the VT47, 1ST DOWN VT, out-of-bounds.
Credit VT for putting Harriss at Fullback and motioning him out. Sprint out right and Nicholson can't cover him.
Vt	1/10	at Vt47	Evans, D rush up middle for 3 yards to the 50 yardline (Ingram, K).
Tight splits, we get block up here. Good job fighting down the line by Ingram.
Vt	2/7	at Vt50	Glennon, S BS pass complete to Boykin, J for 14 yards to the FS36, 1ST DOWN VT (Mangum, K), PENALTY FS face mask (Mangum, K) 15 yards to the FS21, 1ST DOWN VT.
They went 4-wide, with a standup TE. We played very loose man (Mickey blamed himself for this, and would adjust soon after.) Blitz Nicholson. Good pickup, quick throw. Personal foul was iffy but not terrible.
Vt	1/10	at Fs21	Evans, D rush over left end for 16 yards to the FS5, 1ST DOWN VT, out-of-bounds (Robinson, J;Verdell, T).
Weak option look. Average blocking, poor recognition, not shedding blocks. That sounds like a recipe for disaster against Gtech. The DT's played well for most of this game, but not on this series.
Vt	1-G	at Fs05	Evans, D rush over right guard for 4 yards to the FS1 (Verdell, T;Rolle, M).
We played this correctly, Ingram just whiffed the tackle.
Vt	2-G	at Fs01	Glennon, S rush quarterback sneak for 1 yard to the FS0, TOUCHDOWN, clock 00:00.
			Keys, D kick attempt good.
			Virginia Tech 10, Florida State 0
			Drive: 7 plays, 64 yards, TOP 03:33
Intelligently designed series of plays by VT. Credit them. They had our LB's moving around a ton, pre-snap, with all kinds of motion. This one goes to you, Stinespring.

2ND QUARTER

Vt	1-G	at Vt30	Start of 2nd quarter, clock 15:00.
			Myer, J kickoff 55 yards to the FS15, Garvin, M return 27 yards to the FS42 (Myer, J).
Fs	1/10	at Fs42	FLORIDA STATE drive start at 15:00.
Fs	1/10	at Fs42	Ponder, C rush QX for 11 yards to the VT47, 1ST DOWN FS (Chancellor, K).
I-Form. This was not a QB draw. VT brought 5, we blocked 1. 4 missed blocks. Datko held his, as he was the backside guy on the roll out. Nobody was open, but even if they were, McMahon, Spurlock, and Zebrie missed their blocks immediately, as in zero blocking time. I'm sure Jimbo loved that.
Fs	1/10	at Vt47	Ponder, C TA pass incomplete, PENALTY FS holding declined, PENALTY FS holding (Sanders, Z.) 10 yards to the FS43, NO PLAY.
I-Form. Play action. Simms doesn't get a great block. BOTH right side blockers (Zebrie and Spurlock called for holds. Also, Datko was holding.) Zero time once again. If we pull this act in Atlanta, we lose. One positive: Ponder didn't get hit. Holding is better than sacks. Ponder that. Why? No loss of down and hopefully no QB hit.
Fs	1/20	at Fs43	Smith, A rush up middle for 5 yards to the FS48 (Brown, N).
I-Form. I rip on McMahon a lot, because he played horribly as of late, but he and Spurlock blocked about as well as they can on this play. First down win.
Fs	2/15	at Fs48	Ponder, C sideline pass complete to Carr, G for 13 yards to the VT39 (Harris, V).
4WR Gun, Double Stack. I'm calling this formation "Wendy's" from now on. No blitz, average protection. Datko gets driven back into Ponder, and that causes the pass to be a little bit softer than it should have or would have been. Ponder definitely dinged his hand or wrist here, and that's something to watch. Nice route and adjustment by Carr.
Fs	3/2	at Vt39	Smith, A rush over left end for 39 yards to the VT0, 1ST DOWN FS, TOUCHDOWN, clock 12:40.
Goal Line set. Let's talk strategy. Why in the world to teams load up against 3rd and short at midfield? The benefit is that you might stop the team, who should then go for it on 4th (can't punt from the 40 or kick a field goal). The downside to loading up so heavily is that it kills your angles. 2 good blocks by Hudson and Sims (who is markedly better in run blocking than blitz pickup, and Antone is off to the races. Dumb by VT, but I will take it. Photo By Phil Sears (Democrat)
			Gano, G kick attempt good.
			Virginia Tech 10, Florida State 7
			Drive: 4 plays, 58 yards, TOP 02:20

			Esco, J kickoff 60 yards to the VT10, Roberts, D return 23 yards to the VT33 (Wright, R).
Vt	1/10	at Vt33	VIRGINIA TECH drive start at 12:33.
Vt	1/10	at Vt33	Harris, V rush ER for 13 yards to the VT46, 1ST DOWN VT (Mangum, K;Verdell, T).
			Injured player for FSU is #94-Mincey.
VT using motion to read our coverage. This was a misdirection end around. Mincy played really well until this point, and I hope he is okay.
Vt	1/10	at Vt46	Glennon, S screen pass incomplete to Oglesby, J (Thacker, B).
Vt	2/10	at Vt46	Oglesby, J rush over left end for no gain to the VT46, fumble forced by Nicholson, D, fumble by Oglesby, J recovered by FS Nicholson, D at VT46.
			Drive: 3 plays, 13 yards, TOP 00:31
Just a great play by a very good player. This was a team play too, as we handled the trap very nicely, Nicholson unblocked did what we want to see.

Fs	1/10	at Vt46	FLORIDA STATE drive start at 12:02.
Fs	1/10	at Vt46	Richardson, D rush over right end for 8 yards to the VT38, out-of-bounds (Worilds, J).
I-Form. Designed boot. I love this. 10 blockers instead of 9. D'Vo is a very special runner, and we need to get him several touches per game. Not only to showcase his talents and gain yards, but to give Ponder a break from the killshots, and to make the defense prep for it. If Marcus Sims doesn't trip, I think this goes for 20 yards. D'Vo must protect the ball better though, as his technique was downright reckless (loaf of bread).
			QB for FSU is #7-Ponder.
Fs	2/2	at Vt38	Smith, A rush over right guard for 8 yards to the VT30, 1ST DOWN FS (Porch, D;Chancellor, K).
I-Form. Hudson and Datko great job, McMahon held his as well. Antone running really hard. Smart.
Fs	1/10	at Vt30	Smith, A rush over left guard for 3 yards to the VT27 (Warren, Br).
Fs	2/7	at Vt27	Ponder, C screen pass complete to Sims, M for no gain to the VT27 (Virgil, S).
			Injured player for FSU is #35-Sims.
This was a quick PA, designed throw to Sims, and the WR was basically blocking downfield. Very well read by VT. They keyed on something, not sure what. Killshot on Sims.
Fs	3/7	at Vt27	Ponder, C TA pass incomplete to Smith, A, QB hurry by Martin, C.
Hawaii. Oh man. Instant pressure. Ponder quick sets, and we're lucky he did, otherwise he would have been killed. VT had 7 on the LOS, dropped the DE's into coverage beautifully on delay, and blitzed the trips side (zone blitz). Zebrie picks up the blitz, incredibly. VT did a great job here, having their DT stab upfield, before dropping back. LB blitzing, on a half second delay. Spurlock realizes too late, but I'm not sure that even a guy like Hudson would have played this effectively, and the LB is untouched.Sometimes you must tip your cap. Cap Tips here go to VT DC Bud Foster, our RT Zebrie Sanders, and Ponder, who saw what was happening, rolled, and did not take a sack, but rather, threw the ball away.
Fs	4/7	at Vt27	PENALTY FS false start (Hudson, R) 5 yards to the VT32.
Fs	4/12	at Vt32	Gano, G field goal attempt from 50 GOOD, clock 09:33.
			Virginia Tech 10, Florida State 10
			Drive: 6 plays, 14 yards, TOP 02:29

			Esco, J kickoff 70 yards to the VT0, touchback.
Vt	1/10	at Vt20	VIRGINIA TECH drive start at 09:33.
Vt	1/10	at Vt20	Glennon, S sacked for loss of 3 yards to the VT17 (Brown, E).
How in the world did VT think they could single block Everette? EB has superpowers, and on this play he chose to use "spin." Everette Brown, guys, get a good look, and hope he is on your NFL team next year. He deserves it.
Vt	2/13	at Vt17	Evans, D rush TR for 23 yards to the VT40, 1ST DOWN VT, out-of-bounds (Rolle, M).
Over half of VT's rushing yards came on this option play, which isn't an option, but a fake option with a designed pitch. Why didn't we get this blocked well? Probably because our DB's were way off the ball. Mickey adjusted in the 2h. I doubt he thought we would see option from Glennon.
Vt	1/10	at Vt40	Glennon, S sacked for loss of 6 yards to the VT34 (Brown, E).
This time, he chose the "club" superpower.
Vt	2/16	at Vt34	Evans, D rush right for 6 yards to the VT40 (Nicholson, D;White, M.,).
Vt	3/10	at Vt40	Glennon, S crossing pass complete to Boykin, J for 15 yards to the FS45 (Smith, K), PENALTY VT illegal formation (Wang, E) 5 yards to the VT35, NO PLAY.
In order to block Brown, the LT lined up at H-Back. That's illegal.
Vt	3/15	at Vt35	Glennon, S FY pass complete to Boykin, J for 41 yards to the FS24, 1ST DOWN VT.
Photo Credit: Phil Sears, Democrat This was easily the play that pissed me off the most. Micheal Ray Garvin is a decent return guy, and he's a great olympian. Garvin should not ever be left on an island. He is a poor cover guy. Tack speed does not equal coverage skills. Patrick Robinson and probably TC are fine doing this. VT was in KGUN. We're not a good blitz team. We blitz a lot, but we're not especially good at getting past blockers. Garvin gets burned here, and it takes a great throw from Glennon to burn him,a nd I'm sure Garvin neever expected to have to cover for that long, but I question the wisdom of this call. I'd like to see some help to that side of the field from a safety. This is maybe the one call that I'll take issue with on Mickey's side. Garvin really isn't a good defensive player.
Vt	1/10	at Fs24	Evans, D rush over right tackle for loss of 3 yards to the FS27 (Verdell, T).
Vt	2/13	at Fs27	Glennon, S screen pass complete to Jefferson, K for 8 yards to the FS19, out-of-bounds (Rolle, M).
Vt	3/5	at Fs19	Glennon, S sacked for loss of 7 yards to the FS26 (McNeil, K).
Good to see McNiel playing well, and this was a coverage sack.
Vt	4/12	at Fs26	Keys, D field goal attempt from 43 MISSED - wide right, spot at FS26, clock 04:21.
			Drive: 9 plays, 54 yards, TOP 05:12

Fs	1/10	at Fs26	FLORIDA STATE drive start at 04:21.
Fs	1/10	at Fs26	Ponder, C screen pass incomplete to Thomas, J..
Swing Screen to Thomas that VT is all over. Intentional throwaway, in my opinion. Datko didn’t cut his guy. That's a problem.
Fs	2/10	at Fs26	Thomas, J. rush TR for 1 yard to the FS27 (Sturdivant, P).
Sims must get better at blocking, and fast.
Fs	3/9	at Fs27	Ponder, C sideline pass incomplete to Parker, P.
Nifty Spin move to get around Zebrie's man. Not a great throw, could have definitely found him earlier. Parker needed to slow down instead of running full speed.
Fs	4/9	at Fs27	Gano, G punt 47 yards to the VT26, Harris, V return 5 yards to the VT31 (Aronson, Z.).
			Drive: 3 plays, 1 yards, TOP 01:09
11 First half passing plays netted 8 yards. 3-7, 15 yards (3 throwaways), 2 runs for 9 yards, and 2 sacks for -16 yards.

Vt	1/10	at Vt31	VIRGINIA TECH drive start at 03:12.
Vt	1/10	at Vt31	Glennon, S sideline pass incomplete to Porch, D, QB hurry by Nicholson, D.
Vt	2/10	at Vt31	Evans, D rush over left tackle for 13 yards to the VT44, 1ST DOWN VT (Robinson, P.).
Vt	1/10	at Vt44	Glennon, S deep out pass complete to Coale, D for 18 yards to the FS38, 1ST DOWN VT.
			Previous play is under review.
			Call on the field is confirmed.
Vt	1/10	at Fs38	Glennon, S sideline pass complete to Coale, D for 4 yards to the FS34, out-of-bounds (Robinson, P.).
Vt	2/6	at Fs34	Glennon, S HT pass complete to Harris, V for 5 yards to the FS29 (Rolle, M).
Vt	3/1	at Fs29	Timeout Virginia Tech, clock 01:32.
Vt	3/1	at Fs29	Evans, D rush over right guard for no gain to the FS29 (Nicholson, D).
Vt	4/1	at Fs29	Timeout Florida State, clock 01:19.
			Virginia Tech has challenged the ball spot.
			Spot on field is confirmed. VT is charged a timeout.
Vt	4/1	at Fs29	Timeout Virginia Tech, clock 01:19.
Vt	4/1	at Fs29	Glennon, S rush quarterback sneak for 1 yard to the FS28, 1ST DOWN VT.
Vt	1/10	at Fs28	Glennon, S sacked for loss of 2 yards to the FS30 (Brown, E).
Vt	2/12	at Fs30	Glennon, S flag pass complete to Boykin, J for 23 yards to the FS7, 1ST DOWN VT (Rolle, M).
Vt	1-G	at Fs07	Glennon, S TR pass incomplete to Coale, D.
Vt	2-G	at Fs07	Glennon, S rush QX for 4 yards to the FS3, out-of-bounds (Bradham, N.).
Vt	3-G	at Fs03	Glennon, S middle pass incomplete to Smith, A, QB hurry by Verdell, T.
Vt	4-G	at Fs03	Keys, D field goal attempt from 20 GOOD, clock 00:03.
			Virginia Tech 13, Florida State 10
			Drive: 13 plays, 66 yards, TOP 03:09
			Keys, D kickoff 45 yards to the FS25, Bradham, N. return 19 yards to the FS44 (Carmichael, R).
Fs	1/10	at Fs44	FLORIDA STATE drive start at 00:00.
Fs	1/10	at Fs44	End of half, clock 00:00.
			Virginia Tech 13, Florida State 10
Glennon played out of his mind in this half. He has a very big arm, and he was just perfect

I'll have the 2nd half up after a bit.

(This single post isn't big enough to hold me).