Thoughts From the Morning After: FSU 37 Citadel 12

Each Sunday morning after a Florida State game, ChopChat editor Patrik Nohe gives his thoughts from the morning after.

Florida State came away with a 37-12 win over Citadel last night, but the Seminoles lost three defensive linemen — including both of their starting D-Tackles — and had the ball just nine times total.

As far as scheduling goes, this was not a good decision by Florida State.

The reason you play a cupcake is two-fold. For one, you’re looking to pad an otherwise difficult schedule with an easily winnable game. Everybody knows that part. The other side is that it represents an excellent opportunity to get younger players into game situations and get them experience that will, hopefully, be useful in the future.

That’s why scheduling a non-conference game against a triple-option team is, at best, a bad decision and, at worst, an abject waste of time and money.

We’ve already covered the potentially disastrous ramifications of the injuries FSU suffered last night. But looking at the other side of the ball, on offense, FSU had just nine possessions. The Seminoles actually scored on seven of those (four TD’s, three FG’s), but all in all that’s an incredibly low number opportunities to get work for an offense. At the point FSU’s starters checked out, they’d had the ball just six times. The backups got just three.

When you’re facing a team that grinds clock, takes plenty of time between plays and doesn’t turn the ball over– this is what happens.

Last night was ideally supposed to let the starters work through some issues while also getting a lot of the younger players on the two-deep depth some playing time. And that was partially true– at least at defensive tackle.

But overall, FSU paid a school 440,000 dollars and all it got out of the game were three injured defensive tackles and nine offensive series. Last night was potentially far more detrimental than beneficial.

Granted, this was supposed to be competition, nobody is pretending the Bulldogs should have just rolled over for the Seminoles. But this was not what you’re looking for when you play a game like this.

Practice Still an Issue?

Last week one of the story-lines that came out after FSU’s 37-31 win over Oklahoma State was that the team’s practice habits were not up to snuff. A year ago, FSU’s practices were hyper-competitive and there was a lot of senior leadership to keep players accountable.

On the defense guys like Telvin Smith and Terrence Brooks stayed on top of the younger players and kept them working. Bryan Stork used to haul off and punch players who got out of line in the huddle. Stuff like that helped the Seminoles stay locked in during practice. It ensured they did extra work after practice. And it meant FSU was poised to play well come gameday.

This year, that doesn’t seem to have materialized.

The party-line out of FSU this week was that the practice habits had improved. But after the game last night, a couple of players gave indications otherwise.

After telling reporters he was irritated with players not doing their jobs, Mario Edwards added, “It was faster tempo in the game than it was in practice.”

Reggie Northrup also mentioned that the team needed to focus on making sure the younger guys get better in practice.

Last year, the scout team was credited as being one of the biggest reasons for FSU’s success. This year, it sounds like the younger players are having a tough time adjusting to what’s expected of them in that role. And without an abundance of seniors to offer guidance (sometimes forcibly), there’s no telling when — or even if — that problem is going to resolve itself.

Dalvin Cook

Cook finally made it into a game after being left out of the rotation in Dallas and the early returns were excellent.

On Cook’s very first carry he found a seam and was just a shoe-string tackle away from taking it to the house.

“He was about a half a centimeter,” said LT Cam Erving. “He is really a fast guy and a great back and they got him by his shoestrings. It’s always that way with all of our backs to be honest. It was good to just see Dalvin out there running tonight because he is a really good back, he is a good guy, he listens and it is good to see him get rewarded.”

The true freshman finished with 67 yards and a touchdown on 13 carries.

Jesus “Bobo” Wilson Returns

Perhaps nobody was more happy to see Bobo Wilson back than Jameis Winston.

“I mean, we missed Bobo,” Winston said. “He’s such a dynamic player. It’s good to have a guy like him and Kermit out on the field. You can give them the ball, and they can make something happen. We were very glad to have him back.”

Winston found Wilson on a 12-yard touchdown in the first half and the sophomore receiver finished with 35 yards on three receptions.

It wasn’t all good for Wilson though, he nearly turned the ball over when he fumbled on a punt return. When asked about his play after the game, that was the first thing Jimbo Fisher commented on.

“Good except for the fumble on the punt. I don’t like that,” he said. “Bobo’s got some talent. He can get vertical, run the ball. He’s quick with his hands. He and Kermit had good games today.”