Thoughts From the Morning After: FSU 38 Syracuse 20

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Oct 11, 2014; Syracuse, NY, USA; Florida State Seminoles tight end Nick O’Leary (35) runs with the ball after a catch against the Syracuse Orange during the fourth quarter at the Carrier Dome. Florida State defeated Syracuse 38-20. Mandatory Credit: Rich Barnes-USA TODAY Sports

Yesterday’s final score was FSU 38 Syracuse 20, here are ChopChat editor Patrik Nohe’s thoughts from the morning after.

When the final gun sounded yesterday and the teams left the field — the scoreboard reading FSU 38 Syracuse 20 — Florida State had picked up its 22nd straight win.

FSU is now 6-0, halfway through its regular season, with arguably its biggest test on the horizon.

But as the season continues to unfold, and more and more top teams take losses and fall by the wayside– the style argument made against FSU is going to become less and less relevant.

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Fans may not be thrilled with how everything looks for the Seminoles right now. The defense is still struggling to replace Nile Lawrence-Stample and find a pass rush. The offense is looking for consistency. The special teams — Roberto Aguayo excluded — have room to improve.

But, truth be told, all FSU really has to do is keep winning. Just keep moving forward, keep getting better and stop apologizing for everything else.

Jimbo Fisher knows this, he’s been saying it all season.

Yesterday, against a better-than-advertised Syracuse team, FSU passed yet another test. Once again the Jameis Winston investigation dumped a load of distractions on this Seminoles team at the end of the week. And that came coupled with a long road trip to New York to play Syracuse in the Carrier Dome.

But, in its very business-like way, this team compartmentalized everything, showed up to work on Saturday and handled the Orange.

It wasn’t FSU’s best — FSU still hasn’t played up to its potential — but it was still a very business-like performance. The Seminoles bent but didn’t break, making plays when they were most needed on defense. It wasn’t overwhelming on offense, the rout was never on, but the game was never in doubt either.

It wasn’t a blowout, it was just FSU handling its business.

Chances are, that’s not going to impress everyone. And frankly, right now FSU is so polarizing nationally that a lot of people are just looking for an excuse to take shots at the program.

But really, that’s all irrelevant. FSU controls its own destiny as long as it keeps winning. The “experts” might not want to call Florida State a playoff team. They may say it doesn’t deserve to be number one. But if FSU wins out — if FSU ends the year unblemished — none of that matters. The committee won’t leave an unbeaten defending national championship out of the picture– especially not in year one.

Is FSU the nation’s best team? Who knows, maybe not.

Does that conversation matter right now? No.

So stop paying attention to it.

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