FSU Football: ‘Noles team may not be as bad as stats imply
By Kelvin Hunt
FSU football isn’t a great football team, but they’re likely not as bad as team stats imply.
I know you’re reading this saying this is the worst FSU football team you can remember, or at least during the Jimbo Fisher era.
You would be correct in saying that. Those of you familiar with my work know I like to reference S&P advanced metrics when dealing with numbers instead of things like total offense and defense.
FSU football is the No. 79 team in the country according to S&P Overall ratings, the No. 112 offense and the No. 45 defense.
Yep, all rankings that are the lowest in the Jimbo Fisher era, but are they 100 percent accurate? I say that because FSU has not been able to play any of the FCS or other weak out of conference teams on their schedule unlike most other teams.
For example:
Miami is the No. 9 team in the country according to S&P Overall rankings, but they played inferior teams like Bethune Cookman and Toledo that have boosted their overall stats. Alabama played Fresno State and Colorado State. Oklahoma played UTEP and Tulane and Wisconsin played Florida Atlantic and Utah State.
Most teams have two or three “cupcakes” on their schedule that have helped pad their overall stats. FSU football has not had that luxury because the Louisiana-Monroe game was canceled and the Delaware State game is Saturday.
The Skinny
Those are two games FSU will win easily and should be able to put up some strong stats overall as a team.
Aside from Louisiana-Monroe and Delaware State, FSU will play rival Florida in the season finale and they have looked more of a dumpster fire than FSU this season. There’s a good chance FSU can improve their overall stats in that game too!
The FSU offense should finally crack the 30 point barrier at least twice, and shouldn’t give up many points in the remaining games.
Next: 5 Reasons FSU Fans Should Step Away From The Ledge
No, it will not change this team from being .500 at best at the end of the regular season, but playing these games will be more of apples to apples comparison to other teams in the country who’ve already played their “cupcakes” so to speak.