FSU football: Top 10 bold predictions for 2019 season
By Kelvin Hunt
FSU defense will hold opposing offenses to 4.8 yards per play or lower
The FSU defense caught a lot of flack for its performance last season, but I’m here to tell you they were nowhere near as bad as the numbers said.
In fact, advanced metrics placed them as the No. 37 ranked defense in the nation. Sure, that’s not close to FSU standards, but it wasn’t terrible considering what they had to face last season.
The FSU offense was non-existent and kept the defense on the field by turning the ball over 26 times usually resulting in really short fields for opposing offenses.
When the offense wasn’t turning the ball over, they were usually going three and out resulting in a gassed defense.
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There’s no question there were hole like a lack of pass rush outside of Brian Burns and getting gashed through the air(those two are somewhat related).
They were not great at stopping the run at times either.
The ‘Noles allowed opposing offenses to average 5.24 yards per play last season, and I expect that to drop in 2019.
The linebacker group should be improved and the secondary is more talented than last season.
The defensive line starters should be stout, but there’s not a lot of experience behind those starters.
It’ll be year two in Harlon Barnett’s defense and he’s shown the ability to have big improvements as players get more acclimated to his system.