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FSU Football: Why Willie Taggart is absolutely right about 2018 season

By Kelvin Hunt

SYRACUSE, NY - SEPTEMBER 15: Head coach Willie Taggart of the Florida State Seminoles speaks with officials during the second quarter against the Syracuse Orange at the Carrier Dome on September 15, 2018 in Syracuse, New York. (Photo by Brett Carlsen/Getty Images)
SYRACUSE, NY - SEPTEMBER 15: Head coach Willie Taggart of the Florida State Seminoles speaks with officials during the second quarter against the Syracuse Orange at the Carrier Dome on September 15, 2018 in Syracuse, New York. (Photo by Brett Carlsen/Getty Images) /
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FSU football had a lot of bad moments in 2018. The good thing is they are all fixable because they were self-inflicted wounds.

FSU football head coach Willie Taggart met with us at the Miami booster stop to discuss the progress of the team and outlook. A lot of topics were covered but one of the things that stuck out the most was Willie Taggart admitting the team beat itself last season.

Taggart said, “You’re either getting better or getting worse no one stays the same and our guys are committed to getting better. I think they’re taking those little steps of understanding what it’s gonna take to get better. Ya know, those little things. We go back and look at the things we did bad and it was discipline…staying onside. A lot of things we did last year we beat ourselves. Our players understand that and one thing I appreciate about all of them is not one time did they blame anyone..we blamed ourselves.”

One of the things I’ve been consistent about(and even during the season last year) was the propensity for the Noles to beat themselves.

Whether it was a ridiculous amount of penalties or poor decisions on special teams or ridiculous turnovers.

The Noles experienced them all and it resulted in the worst season in most of our lifetimes. The Noles were likely closer to 3-9 than 6-6 if we’re being honest.

However, there were still moments in at least three of those losses where FSU football had an opportunity to be in or win the game in the second half.

The Syracuse game was 6-0 at halftime. FSU should have won the Miami game no question. The Florida game was 13-7 at halftime.

All three of those losses were a result of this:

  • Six turnovers
  • 28 Penalties for 230 yards

That’s an average of two turnovers and nine penalties for 77 yards per game. It’s tough for really good teams to overcome those types of obstacles, much less one with a terrible offensive line and bad QB play.

I’m not saying FSU is going to beat Syracuse, Miami and Florida in 2019. However, what I am saying is they’ll have a legit shot at beating all three teams IF they don’t beat themselves as they did last season.

Next. 2018 Recruiting Class Superlatives After Year One. dark

FSU still had a great deal of talent on the roster and if they can play cohesively, should make a good bit of noise in 2019.

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