FSU Football: Assessing every third down play for 'Noles defense

FSU Football: Assessing every third down play for ‘Noles defense

By Kelvin Hunt | Nov 5, 2017

TALLAHASSEE, FL - OCTOBER 21: Linebacker Matthew Thomas #6 of the Florida State Seminoles runs the ball downfield after recovering a fumble during their game against the Louisville Cardinals at Doak Campbell Stadium on October 21, 2017 in Tallahassee, Florida. (Photo by Michael Chang/Getty Images) /

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(Photo by Michael Chang/Getty Images) /

Louisville

The FSU defense actually played decent in this game considering who they were going up against in Lamar Jackson. If you said FSU would hold Louisville to 31 points pre-game, I would have said FSU takes it.

They allowed Louisville to convert (5-10) third downs (50 percent) during the game, and allowed four plays (23, 25, 21, 15) over 10 yards on third down. In other words, 80 percent of their third down conversions went for 10 yards or more.

Louisville had 95 yards on 10 plays averaging 9.5 yards per play and averaged 5.7 yards to go on third downs for the game.

The Cardinals are one of the best offenses in college football and are averaging 7.23 ypp going into week 10. They are also converting third downs at a 44.88 percent clip including the FSU football game.

So they too outperformed their third down conversion season average against FSU football. One thing to point out is Louisville had a lot of success on first and second down which made third downs more manageable and not as many opportunities to convert.

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