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FSU Football: How ‘Noles can beat Lamar Jackson and Louisville

By Kelvin Hunt

DURHAM, NC - OCTOBER 14: A detailed view of a helmet worn by the Florida State Seminoles during their game against the Duke Blue Devils at Wallace Wade Stadium on October 14, 2017 in Durham, North Carolina. (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images)
DURHAM, NC - OCTOBER 14: A detailed view of a helmet worn by the Florida State Seminoles during their game against the Duke Blue Devils at Wallace Wade Stadium on October 14, 2017 in Durham, North Carolina. (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images) /
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FSU football has a tall task in slowing down Louisville’s offense with Lamar Jackson.

Much to the surprise of many, FSU football opened as touchdown favorites against Louisville this week. After all, the ‘Noles could only muster 17 points against Duke and Louisville is averaging 38 points a game.

This isn’t the same Louisville team that dropped 63 points on a young FSU team in 2016. Yes, Lamar Jackson is playing just as well as he did in his Heisman Trophy winning season a year ago.

However, he lost the majority of his supporting cast and the Louisville defense is surrendering right at 30 points per game.

The Cardinals lost to lowly Boston College last week and come to Tallahassee with a (4-3) record and back-to-back losses.

How does Louisville have three losses already if Lamar Jackson is playing as well as he did last year?

3 Things

  • Louisville offensive line is suspect
  • Louisville defense is suspect
  • Teams are forcing Jackson to throw the ball with accuracy instead of beating them with his legs

In all three losses the Cardinals have given up 47, 39 and 45 points. Also, in those three games Lamar Jackson has been sacked nine times and the defenses have gotten 14 tackles for loss.

The biggest thing is Lamar Jackson is only completing 51.3 percent of his passes with six touchdowns and three interceptions.

He was also held to less than 100 yards rushing in two of those three games. The outlier was last week when he blitzed Boston College for 180 rushing, but was held under 50 percent completion percentage.

FSU football HAS to stop the run game with Jackson at all cost. We mentioned their offensive line being suspect and it could be an opportunity for the FSU defensive line to impose its will.

They’ll need to collapse the pocket without losing contain or leaving running lanes open for Jackson to scamper. FSU defenders have to tackle well in space and they absolutely can’t allow third down and forever conversions as they have all season.

If the defense can accomplish those things, I feel confident the FSU offense will put up points against this Louisville defense.

FSU Offense Coming To Life

As we mentioned earlier this week:

"If we go back the last three drives FSU had against Miami, and combine them with the Duke game the offense is moving the ball at an elite level.That equates to 621 yards on 84 plays which is 7.39 yards per play. Also, that’s scoring points on six of the last 12 drives including four touchdowns."

Next: Top 3 Things To Lookout For Against Louisville

The FSU football offense should be able to run the ball on Louisville which keeps Lamar Jackson off the field too. All of these things combined are the perfect recipe for the ‘Noles to get revenge for last years loss.

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