FSU football: 3 takeaways from ‘Noles loss against NC State

Offense

I don’t think an offense can look any worse they the Noles did on their first four possessions. They had four consecutive three-and-outs and didn’t get a first down until their fifth possession. FSU’s offense tallied 73 yards on 28 plays at half-time, averaging a robust 2.6 yards per play.

McKenzie Milton wasn’t accurate, the snaps were bad, which threw their timing off, and the wide receivers dropped passes and wouldn’t fight for the ball. The referees swallowed their whistles on a couple of obvious pass interference calls too.

FSU could never get their running game going, and the poor field position made it difficult for the Noles to get much going against a team that’s stingy against the run. I’m not sure what some FSU football fans expected with Jordan Travis out.

I also wonder how much of a difference he could have made? NC State isn’t as good as Clemson upfront, but they were getting a lot of penetration at the point of attack. FSU just doesn’t have the horses to overcome consistently getting behind the chains.

The Noles were 2 of 16 on third down and 2 of 4 on fourth down. I still contend the decision by Mike Norvell to go for it on fourth down on their 43-yard line was the wrong move. FSU’s defense had forced three consecutive punts, and Alex Mastramanno had pinned NC State deep in their territory several times.

NC State only needed one first down, and they were already in field goal range, which would have made it a two-possession game.

If they punt and the defense forces another punt, they get the ball back with a chance to tie again. Of course, NC State scored a touchdown in three plays, and the game was practically over at that point.