FSU Football: How did Tribe19 play against Arizona State?

After FSU football lost against Arizona State Tuesday, Chop Chat’s Sam Tschida takes a look at how the true freshmen played against the Sun Devils.

The 2019 season is over, and FSU football ended things with a loss to the Sun Devils of Arizona State. The 20-14 defeat cemented FSU’s second straight losing season and is the ‘Noles 20th loss since the 2017 Orange Bowl win.

Despite the defeat, the bowl game provided a great opportunity for many true freshmen to receive significant playing time, on both offense and defense.

Offense

Earlier this week, we at Chop Chat bestowed upon Dontae Lucas the extremely prestigious Offensive Freshmen of the Year award. Lucas had arguably been the best offensive lineman on the team this season and started his ninth game of the year against Arizona State.

Sadly, the true freshman got hurt early in the game against the Sun Devils, after the blocked field goal during the first quarter.

Lucas was then off the field and did not return, and appeared to suffer a lower leg injury. No new information has been released from Florida State, but let’s hope that Lucas recovers well during the offseason.

Elsewhere on offense, Maurice Smith saw playing time at left guard against ASU. After Lucas went down early on, Smith received almost all of the reps at guard and did an admirable job against the ASU d-line.

He was part of a FSU offensive line that paved the way for 224 rushing yards on the day, their second-highest total of the season.

Forty-four of those rushing yards came from true freshman running back Treshaun Ward, who made his first offensive appearance of the season.

Ward, a walk-on from Tampa, was a three-star prospect coming out of Tampa Bay Tech and chose to attend FSU over scholarship offers from Cincinnati and Maryland.

With the injury to Khalan Laborn and the early departure of Cam Akers, both Ward and sophomore Deonte Sheffield carried the load for the ‘Noles on the ground, combining for 131 yards rushing.

ASU came into the game with the 43rd ranked defense according to SP+ and had a stout run defense, making Ward’s play even more impressive. Ward showed a lot of promise at running back, hitting open holes hard and gaining a lot of positive yards.

According to Pro Football Focus, Ward graded out with a 65.2, one of the highest grades on offense. He provides quality depth to the position, and it would not be surprising if Ward is able to earn a scholarship under the new coaching staff.

Defense

The FSU defense might have been sup-par at times this season, but they played a great game against the Sun Devils. FSU football recorded three goal-line stops, forcing three field goals early on, and never allowed an offensive touchdown on the day.

Akeem Dent, who we named as the Defensive Freshman of the Year last week, did not start this week at safety.

Instead, he spent most of the game lined up at cornerback, the position he played in high school. After the injury to Isaiah Bolden in the first quarter, Dent spent the rest of the day as the field or slot corner, recording two tackles with one pass defended. PFF gave Dent’s performance a 67.6, considered an above-average grade, Dent’s second-highest-rated performance of the year. He looked really comfortable at cornerback and did a great job in man-to-man coverage.

Elsewhere on defense, Brendan Gant had the best statistical day of his young FSU career. Gant recorded seven tackles, three of which were solo, primarily playing as the ‘nickel’ defensive back. Staying in the secondary, Raymond Woodie III had one tackle but also recovered a fumble earlier in the game, and served as the primary punt returner during the second half.

In the front seven, both Kalen Deloach and Jaleel McRae saw a lot of playing time, with McRae tallying two tackles and Deloach recording one. Kevon Glenn also got snaps at linebacker but did not record any stats.

At defensive tackle, Tru Thompson once again started in place of Marvin Wilson and had another good day, registering four tackles, one of which went for a loss. His PFF grade was 71.8, one of his best performances of the season.

Thompson did a great job taking on blocks, allowing for the linebackers to roam free and was a catalyst for Emmett Rice’s big day. Derrick McLendon also got snaps on the defensive line but did not record any stats.

Bottom Line

It was a tough end to a rough season, but FSU football did statistically dominate ASU, out-gaining the Sun Devils 470-282.

Even with the turnovers, it was FSU’s game to lose. Despite the defeat, most of the true freshmen of Tribe19 progressively got better as the season went on, and many should be big contributors next season.