FSU football: 5 takeaways from ‘Noles win over Wolfpack

Physical Defense

Man, I often joke about not having seen the FSU defense be physical for years. They always say there’s a little big of truth in jokes right?

I have to say the ‘Noles defense was the most physical I’ve seen them play in years. I honestly think some of it came from when NC State put Bailey Hockman in the game after their starter couldn’t get anything going.

It was like they had a vendetta out for that guy. The former FSU backup QB was knocked from the game in the fourth quarter after getting punished on nearly every time he dropped back to pass.

They only got two sacks on the night but they were credited with eight QB hurries. However, their physicality wasn’t limited to just hitting the QB.

There were a number of plays where players like Leonard Warner, Levonta Taylor, Janarius Robinson and others straight up annihilated NC State players.

I almost feel like the referees felt like they needed to throw the flags because of how loud the pop was from the contact on some of the hits.

FSU held NC State to 4.6 ypp and only allowed them to convert four of 16 third downs while forcing two turnovers.

The defensive unit looked cohesive and didn’t miss too many tackles on the night in an outstanding effort and hopefully something we’ll continue to see.