FSU football has looked lost on defense for two consecutive weeks. Here’s five reasons they need a change at defensive coordinator.
FSU football looked suspect on defense against Boise State last week. However, they did have a legit offensive line with a couple of projected NFL draft picks on the offensive line.
I believe they looked worse against Louisiana-Monroe after Willie Taggart and Harlon Barnett promised us they had everything fixed after one practice last week.
I knew that was hyperbole, but I didn’t expect them to get ran up and down the field Saturday against the Warhawks.
I was expecting them to look better, but probably still showing some deficiencies that could be exploited against Virginia and others on the schedule.
Well, Louisiana-Monroe was able to exploit those deficiencies much better than I thought which leads me to believe a change needs to be made at the defensive coordinator position.
One option could be FSU special teams coach Mark Snyder who has defensive coordinator experience. He was the defensive coordinator for Kevin Sumlin at Texas A&M from 2012-2014.
The FSU football defense isn’t performing anywhere close to how most thought they would be in 2019. Here’s five reasons why I believe a change needs to be made.
Regressed From Last Season
If you had to name one strength of the 2018 team you’d have to point to the defense right? I mean the offense was beyond terrible and put the defense in a ton of bad spots last season.
The defense finished the season No. 37 in the nation which doesn’t meet FSU football standards, However, I’d have to say it wasn’t terrible considering the schedule and how often they were on the field.
I think that’s why a lot of folk were somewhat bullish on the defense heading into the 2019 season. They lost a two players to the NFL Draft in Brian Burns and Demarcus Christmas.
Now, you can’t replace Brian Burns but the defensive line is stacked with former blue chip recruits.
The FSU secondary has more talent this year than it did last season and yet there’s still a ton of the same mistakes we saw last season.
In fact, the defense looks worse through two games than it did all of last season considering who they’ve played through two games.
The Noles allowed a true freshman making his first college start to throw for over 400 yards last week. They allowed Louisiana-Monroe to score 37 points(one of their scores was an interception returned for a TD).
I know they are trying to implement a new 3-4 scheme, but there’s no excuse to be this bad.
Third Down Conversions
One of the biggest problems for the FSU defense is their inability to get off the field on third down. They allowed teams to convert third downs 36.5 percent of the time in 2018.
Through two games in 2019 FSU has allowed team to convert third downs (16 of 34) at a 47 percent clip.
This has allowed teams to control the clock and keep the defense on the field. Boise State had the ball for 40 minutes and Louisiana-Monroe had the ball for 45 minutes(including overtime).
FSU defense has been on the field for 187 plays through two games. They were on the field for 954 plays all of 2018.
Have I mentioned they faced a true freshman in his first college game and a Sunbelt team in their first two games?
I thought FSU football giving up over 500 total yards against Samford last season was an anomaly but that doesn’t seem to be the case.
This is absolutely atrocious.
Can’t Stop The Run
Harlon Barnett’s defense is predicated on stopping the run. He’s said so in many interviews in how they want to stop the run and make opposing offenses one-dimensional.
Well, they haven’t been able to stop the run at all. Heck, when they do make teams predictable with third and long they can’t get off the field then either.
The FSU defense has given up 392 rushing yards through the first two games. Do you want to know what’s really concerning? The defense has had leads of 24-6 and 21-0 to work with in those two games.
You’d think they would be able to force teams to beat them with the pass at that point, but teams are having success in both phases.
They are allowing four yards per carry and have given up five rushing touchdowns. They only gave up 16 rushing touchdowns all last season.
I thought the defense was out on the field too long against Boise State and some of their success could have been attributed to that. However, it was clear FSU football was going to have problems stopping Louisiana-Monroe on the ground early on.
I hate to see what real power five teams on the schedule will put up against the Noles.
Where Are The Adjustments?
As I mentioned, the defense has been handed leads of multiple touchdowns and simply collapsed under the pressure.
Florida State Seminoles Football
Harlon Barnett opted to play mostly zone coverage against Boise State and it was ripped to shreds. One criticism Willie Taggart had last week was he felt they were not aggressive enough and played too soft on third and long.
Well, here are some stunning stats from the Louisiana-Monroe game. The FSU defense had ONE sack and just two tackles for loss against a Sunbelt team.
How is that possible when your entire defense is composed of blue chip caliber recruits?
What happened to stacking the box and making the quarterback beat you with his arm?
Louisiana-Monroe ran the ball whenever they wanted to and probably could have won the game had they gone for a fourth and three instead of kicking the game tying field goal in regulation.
If I could have bet on their converting that first town I would have because they had success all night.
Did I mention Louisiana-Monroe would have had ever better stats had some of their receivers not have bricks for hands? They dropped several passes and/or the QB just missed a wide open receiver several times in the game.
Those things are not going to happen against most of the teams left on the schedule.
Personnel Decisions
Why are certain players still on the field? Look, I love Derrick Brooks but his son DeCalon doesn’t need to be on the field unless it’s on special teams or a blowout or something.
Why is Dontavious Jackson still playing? He has played terrible the first two games, failing to fall on a fumble against Boise State and then commits a stupid personal foul penalty Saturday that could have cost the Noles the game.
I don’t get why these two are regularly on the field. There are some other players that have not played well either who are consistently on the field.
Kyle Meyers and Stanford Samuels III haven’t played well to be such experienced players either. I thought the best players were going to play?
If they are the best option then he hasn’t done a great job of preparing these players to perform at a high level.
It’s their second year in his defense and they look completely lost out there most of the time. If we didn’t see improvements against Louisiana-Monroe, I’m afraid we’re not going to see them and it’s time for someone to go.