FSU football: How Mike Norvell can overcome Jacksonville St. disaster
By Kelvin Hunt
The defense isn’t elite, and any rational person would not have expected it to be this season. However, they have played well enough to be 2-0 this season.
The offense turned the ball over three times against Notre Dame, which resulted in 21 points. The offense only scored 17 points against Jacksonville State and couldn’t sustain any drives, which caused a defense with limited depth to gas against Jacksonville State.
Aside from the touchdown in the second quarter, Jacksonville State didn’t score again until their final two possessions. Adam Fuller deserves criticism for how he handled the final play of the game, no question. Jacksonville State had too much success on third downs going 8 of 17 (47 percent), but they forced Jacksonville State to punt eight times.
They had five sacks, eight tackles for a loss, nine passes defended, and five QB hurries. I know people want to put to UAB shutting Jacksonville State out the previous week, but the FSU offense not showing up had more to do with the loss than anything.
It’s inexcusable to score 17 points Saturday night, and the defense should have never been in that position on the final play of the game. In short, if the defense gets some help from the offense moving forward, I think FSU can win five or six games this season.