FSU Football: 5 observations from ‘Noles win over Wake Forest
By Kelvin Hunt
The Defense Was Lights Out After First Quarter
Wake Forest is a team that runs a ton of tempo as evident of the 104 plays they ran in the game against FSU.
They were just hitting the Noles with 1,000 paper cuts and keeping manageable third downs the first couple of drives. They also are not afraid of going for it on fourth down after crossing midfield which came up a couple of times in the game.
Wake Forest averaged 3.54 ypp for the game and came into the game averaging 5.26 ypp. The Noles held them to 33.3 percent on third down conversions (8 of 24) and they came into the game converting third downs at a 42 percent clip.
Think about this, 36 percent of Wake Forest’s total yards(134 of 369) came on their first three drives and 185 of their total yards came in the first quarter.
Wake Forest had more total yards in the first quarter than they did the last three-quarters combined. Not to mention 106 of those yards came in essentially what was garbage time with the Noles up 38-10 with nine minutes remaining in the game.
Next. Which Games Can FSU Win On Rest Of Their Schedule?. dark
A lot of folk were giving Harlon Barnett a hard time after the first couple of drives, but he adjustments he made were apparent and obviously effective. He’s been a great hire for Willie Taggart.