FSU Football: It Is (Almost) Time To Move On From Charles Kelly

After another defensive outing to forget this past weekend against South Florida, FSU Football should be getting closer to moving on from Charles Kelly.

Stop me if you’ve heard this story before: FSU football, in their win on Saturday, gave up over 30 points in the game – this time, surrendering 35 points to the USF Bulls. For those scoring at home, that’s the ninth time that has happen since the 2014 season started.

Nine times in the last 31 games. Nearly a third of the time.

What is the one common denominator in the last 31 games? The defense surrendering those points has been led by their coordinator since the 2014 season, Charles Kelly.

Kelly arrived in Tallahassee before the national championship season of 2013 as the linebackers coach before moving to the coordinator spot and moving to coach the defensive backs individually.  After going from Mark Stoops the first three years of Jimbo Fisher’s tenure to Jeremy Pruitt for the title winning season, it was Kelly’s turn to lead a group that has produced several All-Americans and NFL stars.

What the Seminoles got was a defensive coordinator in the first year that “led” the team to a ranking of 77th in total defense – behind such power schools as Rice, Toledo, UAB, South Alabama, UConn, UTEP, FIU, Buffalo and so many more.

2015 saw Kelly’s unit jump up to 16th nationally and there was a sentiment from many in FSU football nation that the man in charge may have finally figured out what is going on. Then, 2016 started.

The opening half of football against Ole Miss was some of the worst in FSU football history. While the second half saw the ‘Noles wake up and get sacks and turnovers (with five and four each in the game respectively), the writing should have been on the wall.

Then came Louisville…

The most points given up in the history of FSU football (63)…530 yards given up, including over 300 on the ground. Yes, Louisville is a good team and Lamar Jackson is a great player. Kelly’s effort and game plan made them look legendary and the men in garnet and gold look pathetic.

Entering Saturday’s game against USF, the Seminoles’ defense was ranked back where they were during Kelly’s first season – ranked in the bottom part of the standings nationally. This time, FSU sat in the 80th spot.

They will likely stay there after giving up 450 yards in the game (higher than their 401 YPG average giving up) and 35 points (same as their season average) against the Bulls. If not for the offense finally waking up in the first half of a game and running the ball for over 475 yards total, the Seminoles could easily be 2-2 right now.

I know that Kelly is not the one out there playing the game and I know that teams like Ole Miss, Louisville and even USF all have great offenses this season (both the Cardinals and Bulls ranked in the top 20), but the regression of the defense this season is a something that should be the final straw when it comes to Kelly’s tenure.

I’m not calling for him to be fired this week heading into the North Carolina game, as I am hoping the eventual return of players like Josh Sweat and Derwin James will improve things – in spite of the fact both played in the opener and the ‘Noles gave up nearly 400 yards and 34 points.

What I’m calling for is Fisher and the rest of the those involved in the hiring process for assistants to start putting together a couple resumes for future evaluation. If there is no improvement from this point on, it’s time to move on.