FSU football: Promising key metrics from Notre Dame game

At the end of the day, FSU football has to win football games, and that’s not lost on anyone. We know what the standard is but also understand where the program is at the moment.

Notre Dame probably isn’t the playoff team they were last year, and it looks like FSU isn’t the same three-win team.

In a sense, FSU seems to have closed the gap in an offseason where they had time to implement schemes with players getting tons of reps.

The scoreboard reflected that sentiment, and some key metrics show the same support.

Check the stats below from 2020:

• FSU 3rd downs: 2 of 14 (14.2 percent)
• Third downs allowed: 2 of 7 (28.5 percent)
• FSU Yards per play: 5.70
• Yards per play allowed: 8.27
• FSU red zone TD’s: 2 of 4 (50 percent)Red zone TD’s allowed: 4 of 5 (80 percent)

Check the stats from Sunday’s game:

• FSU 3rd downs: 7 of 16 (43.75 percent)
• 3rd downs allowed: 6 of 17 (35.2 percent)
• FSU Yards per play: 6
• Yards per play allowed. 6.16
• FSU red zone TD’s: 3 of 4 (75 percent)
• Red zone TD’s allowed: 2 of 2 (100 percent)

Thoughts

The improvement on FSU’s third-down conversions is substantial. FSU’s defense forcing Notre Dame to get to third down 10 more times and holding them to 35.2 percent conversion is impressive.

The improvement in the yards per play category speaks for itself. Notre Dame had to earn most of that production aside from a blown coverage and a well-timed screen call on third down. FSU’s defense didn’t lay down and let Notre Dame run all over them like in 2020. Frankly, FSU was more physical in stopping the run than Notre Dame.

The plays in the red zone are something I wrote about a while back as an area FSU needed to improve. The offense scoring touchdowns at a 75 percent clip will get it done against most teams, especially if you don’t turn the ball over three times. FSU scored touchdowns on both red zone attempts, but they had fewer red zone opportunities than in 2020.

That speaks to the improvement of this FSU football team. If they can maintain that level of play and cut out the turnovers, they can make some noise and make a bowl game.