2014 FSU Football: Tease?

2014 FSU Football: Tease? discusses the possible identity of this year’s Florida State squad.

By this point, it’s been sufficiently drilled into your head: this is not last year’s FSU team. The familiar refrain is a favorite of Jimbo Fisher’s and has certainly caught on with the national media (for better or for worse). It’s also an incontrovertible truth, of course.

But that’s a statement of identity that merely negates, pointing out what Florida State is not: the thoroughly dominant squad that abjectly obliterated last year’s schedule, winning by an average margin of 39.5 points per game. The naturally pursuant question looms: what, then, is the identity of this FSU team?

It’s a query I’ve been wrestling with for some time now: how do we characterize these ‘Noles? What’s their collective modus operandi, and how does it serve to attribute an identity to this year’s team?

Certainly injuries have been more prevalent—so is this team star-crossed? That seems a bit of an overreaction, as 8-0 is hard to equate to a snake-bitten squad.

Are the ‘Noles overrated, as many nationally have suggested? Well, there are two P5 undefeated teams, and they’re ranked as the top two teams in the country, as they should be. I don’t see how you can over-rank a team when it’s deemed second out of a two-team subgroup.

And then it occurred to me.

Teases, of course, are born of possibility. Of what could be. A tease only exists if there’s a chance. Ultimately, teases are all about hope.

The 2014 FSU football team is a tease. It’s certainly not intentional, of course, nor is it necessarily a bad thing. Teases, of course, are born of possibility. Of what could be. A tease only exists if there’s a chance. Ultimately, teases are all about hope.

Last year’s team trailed for less than a quarter at Pittsburgh (before winning by 28), less than a half at Boston College (prior to pulling away by 14), and, of course, spotted Auburn an 18-point advantage before coming back to claim its third national title. That’s it. Three deficits. All year.

This year’s squad, by stark contrast, was looking up at Wake Forest after a period of play, was losing to NC State by two scores in the second half, and trailed Clemson, Notre Dame, and Louisville in the fourth quarter.

We’ve seen rough starts, and that’s stating it mildly. A 24-7 deficit in Raleigh. A 21-0 hole in Louisville. But FSU is still undefeated because it’s shown flashes – some fleeting, some more sustained – of absolute, sheer dominance.

The ‘Noles were toying with Oklahoma State in opening up a 17-0 advantage before defensive discipline fell apart. When the Seminoles simply needed a play late against Clemson, they got it, and utterly dictated the brief overtime. Jameis Winston was one pass away from second-half perfection against Notre Dame, making stellar reads and delivering on the largest stage. And, of course, in Louisville last Thursday, FSU popped 35 rather easy points on the board against the nation’s top defense. In the second half.

In addition to dangling the prospect of turning the corner and playing the football of which it’s capable in front of its own fans, Florida State has often teased opponents and their fans — along with the national media — as well. You can sense their growing optimism early in games. The ‘Noles are on the ropes. The streak is over. They’ve been exposed. But then FSU turns it on; and just that quickly, it’s over, and the Seminoles’ opponents and media pundits are left vanquished. Oh. FSU won. Again.

A large part of Florida State’s Thursday night turnaround was the four touchdowns it received from true freshmen Dalvin Cook, Travis Rudolph, and Ermon Lane, a feat never before accomplished in FSU history. And this may play a large part in these teases, these flashes of brilliance, becoming more commonplace.

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Fisher said yesterday that Cook should get between 15-18 touches vs. Virginia. He had 110 yards and two touchdowns on just nine carries vs. Louisville. And as Winston grows more and more comfortable with Rudolph and Lane, something only time, repetition, and exposure can foster, this offense feels like it’s prepared to burst from its cocoon. If teases are born of hope, then that hope may be turning to reality for FSU’s fans, and extinguished for rivals’ supporters and the national media.

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