FSU football: NC State loss hurt, but there were some positives

If I told you FSU football would be without their starting quarterback and a starter on the offensive before the NC State game, most people would assume the Noles would get blown out. After all, the Noles were underdogs at home to the No. 19 NC State Wolfpack, who has one of the best quarterbacks in the ACC.

The same quarterback, Devin Leary, completed 32 of 44 for 238 yards and four touchdowns to beat a top 5 Clemson defense. Their defense isn’t shabby, checking in at the No. 31 spot in the BCF Toys advanced ranking.

Despite that, it was a one-score game with eight minutes to go in the fourth quarter with a quarterback that hadn’t seen live reps since the Louisville game on September 25. It hurt to lose, no doubt, but there were some positives from the game.

• Two penalties for 12 yards
• Sudden Change defense success on an INT
• Stopped the run
• Three Sacks and six tackles for loss(same as Clemson against NC State)

I’ve said it many times. FSU has to play nearly perfect football to beat teams, and that’s with Jordan Travis as the quarterback. The Noles didn’t hurt themselves with a ton of penalties. The turnover by McKenzie Milton resulted in an NC State punt, although their drive began on the FSU side of the field.

Those have turned into sure touchdowns for opposing offenses in the past few years. NC State did all of their damage through the air, primarily on 3-4 plays. The defense played well and had success against an offense that doesn’t allow a lot of sacks and tackles for loss. If they cleaned up a few missed tackles it could have been a different game in the second half.

It would have been interesting to see how it would have gone if Jordan Travis could have played in the game. The defense feeds off of the offensive success, as they began to dominate NC State in the third quarter when the FSU offense found a spark.

They’ll need to play complementary football against Miami next week in what will be an emotional game. The Noles opened as slight betting home underdogs Sunday, and we’ll be breaking down the game all week as usual. If the FSU offense shows up, I believe FSU wins the game.