FSU football: 4 storylines to follow for the remainder of the season

The most blatant deficiency of the FSU defense is the linebackers and secondary. There have been too many times over the season and against Syracuse where their failings with passing off coverages, letting wideouts get behind coverage, and taking bad angles on tackles cost them.

However, they have looked more sound on play calls in recent weeks and have done much better cleaning up missed assignments. This aspect is most evident in their third and fourth down success rate against Syracuse, where the Orange were limited to 2-15.

The linebackers have been bad overall, but Kalen DeLoach has improved in his role as a starter. The unit still desperately needs Emmett Rice back, but the best indication of this improvement was how well they did against the run and their discipline in the screen game against Syracuse.

The improvement on the defensive line can be seen in the run defense and the disparity in sacks compared to last year. Jermaine Johnson has already surpassed the entire sack total of last year’s team. Johnson happens to be top 10 in the nation in sacks, which is light years better than last year.

If these improvements persist and there is some continuity in areas, I can see a turnaround. The biggest thing they need to work on is reducing explosive plays allowed and getting turnovers.

Special teams struggled mightily in the first stages of the season. There have been game-deciding missed kicks, indecisive returns, miscues, and big returns allowed. This phase is something the staff prioritizes a lot, so hopefully, they can find the best way to utilize people there and fix some of the issues to flip that back into an asset.

However, the team seems to have their finger on the pulse of this issue and is looking at different personnel groupings. Ryan Fitzgerald sinking the game-winning kick hopefully means his misses become fewer and farther between and his confidence increases.

Again, nothing feels out of reach, and if a couple more calls or bounces went our way, we could easily be looking for our fifth win against UNC rather than our second.