FSU football: SP+ metrics show wild fluctuations on offense and defense
By Kelvin Hunt
FSU football has been historically bad by program standards the past four years. Sure, some underlying issues contributed immensely to the downfall of the program.
I’ve detailed most of those before as they began about midway through the Jimbo Fisher era. It’s one thing to think about how bad the program has been, but graphs always seem to illustrate things clearly.
That’s something Bill Connelly does well with his SP+ models. If you’ve been reading the site for any amount of time, you know I like to use Bill’s work to drive points home.
His models are not perfect, but they use advanced metrics to help delve deep into the meat and potatoes on offense, defense, and special teams.
Connelly tweeted this Friday, and it caught my eye:
The quickness and sturdiness of Florida State’s collapse is something I’m not sure I’ve seen before. Great for years, then suddenly and permanently mediocre. pic.twitter.com/SUTZBQAccC
— Bill Connelly (@ESPN_BillC) May 7, 2021
It’s crazy how there are wild fluctuations between the offense and defense. I’ve long said the downfall of FSU began with Jimbo’s failure to address the quarterback position after Jameis Winston left.
The graphs point that out clearly, but there’s more. Let’s take a look and see what we can decipher.