FSU Football: Was loss against Notre Dame culture defining?

After a close loss for FSU Football against Notre Dame, a normally despondent team showed promise and optimism for the future.

“I’m proud to see our guys competing. But at the end of the day, this is about going out there and competing to be the best you can possibly be in all aspects. It starts with myself,” said Seminoles coach Mike Norvell.

Is it weird to say that a coach claiming there are no moral victories, is a moral victory? I appreciate his accountability, especially after two years of Taggart wanting them to have fun, and Fisher, who seemed one foot out of the door for the longest time.

Saturday night, since the 2013 National Championship winning season, did it feel like this team played a full four-quarter game. Yes, I know in 2014 we went to the Rose Bowl, but we pretty much played only the second half in every game.

From that point on, this team struggled to stay disciplined on and off of the football field, and Jimbo Fisher never held them accountable or sought to build them up. Two years later, he leaves after spending half the season in contract negotiations, rather than recruiting.

Two years after that, we saw a coach point at himself and his coaching staff after a close loss to a top-10 team.

That whole game, I saw the team celebrate every touchdown, turnover, and big-play together. FSU players didn’t hit someone after a 10, or 15-yard gain and stand talking smack.

It’s stunning that FSU football is in a position to claim moral victories, but the fact of the matter is that is what FSU needed. The week to week improvement is evident. The offensive line looks good, and that is the biggest win of the weekend after Jordan Travis answering questions bout his ability to lead the offense.

The coaching staff was able to ignite something within Tamorrian Terry, and he played hard for four quarters. La’Damian Webb showed why Mike Norvell recruited him from JUCO. The biggest limiting factor for the offense was the lack of success on third downs, which has been a problem all year.

On defense, I saw an improvement on third down. I know the defensive line still played terribly, and the linebackers and secondary are still nothing to write home about, but they held the Irish to two third-down conversions after allowing 11 third-down conversions against Miami.

Another moment to build on was the late fourth-down stop in the red zone. There is something to build on there. There were a few moments where the defensive line got pressure, but they need to figure out how to help the linebackers clean up those plays when the QB takes off.

The tackles for loss were there for the linebackers, but they took bad angles or had bad form. These are all coachable things. However, effort and passion is something that was severely lacking in the first two and a half games.

This game is a moment, something to build on, and something to sell. This may be the  defining moment of the climb.