Mario Edwards: “I felt like they were playing a little dirty”

Florida State beat Citadel 37-12 last night, but the major story coming out of the game is the health of Florida State’s defensive line.

The Bulldogs utilize a triple-option offense — one that employs a lot of cut-blocking — and Florida State lost three defensive linemen over the course of the first three series. Eddie Goldman left the game after a fourth down stand on Citadel’s first offensive possession. Justin Shanks went down a drive later and then Nile Lawrence-Stample had to be helped off on the third series.

“It’s just a part of the game, we practiced on it all week, it comes with the territory when you play a triple option, everybody just had to be disciplined,” said DL Derrick Mitchell after the game. “Unfortunately we had three injuries but I’ve got some good words that they’ll be alright.”

That would be good news for FSU– who can ill-afford to lose both of its starting defensive tackles for any protracted period of time.

“It’s tough, but those guys are going to rehab and get ready and get better. It’s a good thing we’ve got a bye week so they have time to heal up and get all the treatment they need,” said LB Reggie Northrup. “Those are some good guys though, they’ll be alright.”

Stopping the option is a difficult proposition for a defense. There are lots of keys, it requires a ton of discipline and it gets even harder when you’re worrying about someone flying at your knees.

“You have to really be able to control your eyes, your eye speed and be able to see if it’s going to be a dive or if they’re going to pitch it out and you have to see who’s coming to cut block you,” Northrup said.

Added Mitchell: “You can’t go out there and change what you’ve practiced all week but it makes you play a little more cautious, you watch your knees and stuff.”

A lot of fans will be quick to point out that going after a player’s knees is cheap, but most of the Seminoles weren’t willing to go that far last night. Northrup said it’s part of the game, Mitchell said he was trying to avoid playing timid.

“When you play these kind of teams, they’re constantly cutting the knees and ankles. Got to see where [those three] are at injury-wise,” said head coach Jimbo Fisher. “[But there was] nothing illegal about it. That’s just football.”

Junior DE Mario Edwards Jr. didn’t agree though. While he admitted that cutting is a part of football, he felt the Bulldogs got away with too much.

“I kind of took it personal. I felt like they were playing a little dirty, taking cheap shots and high-lows and things like that,” said Edwards. “I feel like every option team does [cut-block]. They love to cut. I mean they do cut work just like a quarterback practices his five-step drops, so that’s what they were taught to do. I don’t necessarily think they were taught to do high-lows, but in the heat of the game they’re supposed to try to get their guy or they get messed up and they try to do a high-low play like that.

“They did it numerous times and I didn’t feel like the ref was calling them.”

One thing every FSU player did agree on after the game was that they’re glad that defending the triple-option is behind them.

“YES!” said Northrup when asked if he was glad he wouldn’t have to see it again. “It was real tedious.”