FSU Football right to use one QB but they’re using the wrong one

FSU football kept the same quarterback in for the entire game against Wake Forest and proved why he shouldn’t have been the one under center.

As long as their has been major college football, the constant statement has been that if you’ve got two quarterbacks, you’ve got none – essentially saying if one isn’t good enough to start by himself, you’re in trouble. For FSU football, it’s been over three and a half decades since that has even been a debate.

The Seminoles, dating back to the early 1980s, have always had one signal caller rise above the others – from names like Ward, Weinke, Winston and more. This season, it was James Blackman’s turn to take over the starting reigns yet again after starting all but one game in 2017.

That lasted four games until an injury sidelined him for the N.C. State game – and when Alex Hornibrook threw for over 300 yards and three touchdowns in a blowout win, it led to the wild idea that both should get extensive minutes and go back and forth. A 31 point loss to Clemson changed that and just one quarterback played last week.

Florida State Seminoles Football

The only problem? It was the wrong one.

Days before the loss to Wake Forest, I wrote that Hornibrook should start for the Seminoles last weekend because Blackman had played himself out of the starting spot with bad second half play and the horrible performance against Clemson – granted, the grad transfer from Wisconsin didn’t do much better against the Tigers.

Saturday, Blackman took every snap at quarterback and now has a record of 9-9 as a starter for his career. Yes, he threw for nearly 300 yards and two touchdowns – but wasn’t one of those scores a dying duck of a pass that Cam Akers turned into a highlight? Wasn’t the second one the time that Tamorrion Terry remembered how the catch the ball?

Blackman is quite the talent at quarterback and I have loved watching him play during his time in Tallahassee – but the same mistakes he was making in 2017 that were brushed off by the fact he was a true freshman aren’t going to cut it this time over two years later when he was supposed to be one of the better arms in the ACC.

I’m not saying Hornibrook is the answer for the last five games of the regular season – hell, I’m still not totally sold he knows how to avoid the sack after getting brought down eight times in his only FSU football start – but at least for the present time, he is the best option.

Will head coach Willie Taggart make the right move? At this rate, only time will tell – but one quarterback is always going to be better than two…as long as it’s the one wearing No. 12.