Editor’s Roundtable: FSU vs. Clemson

Aug 30, 2014; Arlington, TX, USA; Florida State Seminoles guard Tre’ Jackson (54) in action against the Oklahoma State Cowboys at AT&T Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Matthew Emmons-USA TODAY Sports

Dan Kelley: I have to admit, I only watched bits and pieces of Florida State’s opener against Oklahoma State. I assumed FSU would cruise and figured other games would be more interesting. So what happened there? How did that game end up being so close?

Patrik Nohe: I think you saw two things. First of all Auburn’s performance against FSU in the BCS Title game last year kind of presented other teams with a blueprint on how to attack this Florida State defense. Keep in mind, it was 17-0 FSU early on, but then Oklahoma State was able to start running its no-huddle, using a lot of motion and snapping the ball quickly.

FSU’s defense requires its players to make a number of pre-snap reads and judgments in order to succeed. Oklahoma State was able to push tempo while also making FSU account for lateral motion and that in turn opened up a lot of its offense.

The second thing was that Florida State’s offense is still in a state of transition after being an absolute juggernaut last season. You don’t just replace 4,000+ offensive yards and 46 touchdowns without a hiccup. Jameis Winston still has his tight end and Rashad Greene, but it’s a new cast of characters at the skill positions and those relationships are still evolving.

David Visser: I also think that Oklahoma State is a talented P5 football program that has become a consistent power—and yet they were still terribly underrated going into the game.

But to return to the ‘Noles, they’re also quite young on defense and are still learning to play with each other, particularly up front. Defensive back Jalen Ramsey has started more games than any player on the FSU defense (16); he’s a true sophomore.

Winston also pressed, making two uncharacteristic mistakes on his interceptions, one of which was in the red zone. He forced the ball to Greene too often, but he also looked much more comfortable spreading it around in week two against The Citadel, completing passes to 10 different receivers.

That’s not all on Winston, though. Head Coach Jimbo Fisher admitted that so many balls went to Greene because he’s the most trusted receiver. Similarly, senior Karlos Williams dominated the RB carries. Fisher now has more trust in other WRs, just as he does in dynamic running backs Mario Pender and Dalvin Cook.