FSU football: 5 reasons Noles lost to Jacksonville State

FSU football suffered the worst loss in their history Saturday night against Jacksonville State. It was the first time that a Noles team lost to an FCS team. I still can’t believe how that game ended, and the sheer lack of game awareness by all involved is unbelievable. This loss is on Mike Norvell and Mike Norvell only. Everyone wants to fire Adam Fuller, but the defense played well enough to win the game. No, they were not perfect, but there is no reason whatsoever an FSU team should only score 17 points against an FCS team. Anyways, here are the five main reasons FSU football lost to Jacksonville State:

• No energy or focus to start the game
• The two-quarterback experiment was trash
• The offense got pass-happy
• Penalties
• The offense couldn’t score in the red zone

The lack of focus was apparent from the onset as Keyshawn Helton dropped a wide-open pass that would have been a touchdown that resulted in a turnover on downs for the offense.

Mike Norvell tried to get McKenzie Milton and Jordan Travis on the field at the same time. and the offense was a cluster. Jordan Travis couldn’t complete a single pass, and that was a wasted drive. FSU could have run the ball at will, so why did McKenzie Milton have 31 pass attempts?

Jashaun Corbin and Treshaun Ward averaged over 5 yards per carry, but they kept putting the ball in the air to Keyshawn Helton on third and long. He was never open and couldn’t get separation from Jacksonville State defensive backs after the dropped pass.

It seemed like every time FSU got going on offense, a play got called back for holding or illegal formation or a lineman downfield. The defense had their share of penalties, including one on third down that kept a Jacksonville State’s drive alive late in the game. However, the biggest issue was FSU had the ball on the 1-yard line and couldn’t score a touchdown against Jacksonville State.

Why did Lawrance Toafili get that carry instead of Jashaun Corbin or Treshaun Ward? Those two backs run more physically than Toafili. Mike Norvell and the coaching staff got too cute on offense, and it cost them. They should have run the ball and built a lead first, before trying to throw the ball around or get both quarterbacks on the field.

Mike Norvell took ownership of the loss and apologized to the fans for the performance, but that’s not going to help much. He has lost this fan base right now, and the only thing he can do to get some of that back is beat Wake Forest next week.

That seems laughable after what I watched Saturday night.