Thoughts From the Morning After: FSU 31 Notre Dame 27
By Patrik Nohe
Oct 18, 2014; Tallahassee, FL, USA; The Notre Dame Fighting Irish Leprechaun waves a flag after a touchdown in the third quarter against the Florida State Seminoles at Doak Campbell Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Matt Cashore-USA TODAY Sports
Noles Take the Irish’s Best Shot
Once again Florida State took another opponent’s best shot on Saturday. Aside from a handful of plays the Irish would probably like back, Notre Dame played a very good game in Tallahassee. The Irish stayed on schedule all night, they kept their offense in third-and-manageable situations all night, they kept FSU’s offense on the sideline and they were in position to win the game in the final seconds.
In many ways, Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly out-schemed his counterpart, Jimbo Fisher. Notre Dame knew what its strengths and weaknesses were heading into this game and the Irish did a great job of masking those weaknesses and playing to those strengths.
Make no mistake about it, Notre Dame was the inferior team on Saturday night. Florida State has a loaded roster, more NFL talent and a greater level of potential than Notre Dame could hope to ascribe to this season. But on Saturday, Notre Dame played better and at times they were coached better. The Irish took the Seminoles to the brink
But once again — without being at their best — FSU was still better.
Each week this Florida State team tries to put it together — and at this point, who knows if the Seminoles will at any point this season — but ultimately it may not matter. Florida State’s ho-hum is better than most team’s best.
Not that you should want them to, but as a fan it’s probably comforting that your team can essentially sleep-walk through P5 football games and still come away with wins. FSU still has a lot of things to iron out, but anyone who doesn’t think Florida State is a playoff team just needs to remember this: the Seminoles have yet to play their best, but they still have two wins over ranked opponents and are one of just three unbeaten P-5 schools left.