FSU Football: Top 5 Seminole standouts against North Carolina

The defense was the biggest storyline of the week five win. Every level played well, despite making mistakes. They didn’t let anything compound and shut down a powerful RPO based offense.

After allowing 350-plus yards on the ground to Notre Dame, they gave up less than 200 to a pair of running backs that rank 2nd and 6th in the ACC in yards per game. Holding the running game under wraps sufficiently limited the passing attack in the first half, and the defensive line created consistent pressure.

I want to start there. The defensive line has been atrocious thus far, barely getting pressure and had 3 sacks on the season to show for it, two that came against Jacksonville state. Last night, against UNC, the defense had four sacks, two from Janarius Robinson and one from Jarvis Brownlee on a blitz, while Cory Durden and DJ Lundy combined for the 4th.

Combining with the dominance up front, the linebackers were there to apply pressure and make stops as well. The UNC running backs still got quite a few yards after contact, but Emmett Rice, Stephen Dix, and Amari Gainer, all flew around the field. Dix, a true freshman, ended up leading the team with nine total tackles.

The secondary played a lot better for the most part aside from Jaiden Lars-Woodbey, as he continues to be a liability. They did struggle late as North Carolina found some holes in the defense, and their receivers made a few incredible catches. Outside of that, every play seemed to be the defense “responding” and rising to the occasion.