FSU football: Quickest way to gauge talent level on the Nole roster

One discussion among FSU football fans is how much talent they have on the roster. The greater the talent on the roster, the greater the margin of error in overcoming turnovers, excessive penalties, and injuries.

One thing you’ve heard me say is FSU has to play near-perfect football to beat the average to good teams. In the NC State game, FSU had two penalties and one turnover, and two crucial missed tackles while losing a one-score game midway through the fourth quarter. FSU offensive coordinator Kenny Dillingham spoke about players winning their one-on-one battles, and I had a thought.

There are 11 players on each side of the ball. How many of them are winning their 1-on-1 battles the majority of the time? Start with the offensive line and go out to the wide receivers. Then go to the defensive side of the ball and ask the same question? If the answer is anywhere near 50 percent or lower?

Then, you know you have a talent deficit, and I haven’t mentioned when the starters come out of the game. How steep is the drop-off? How many players on the entire team would you classify as a difference-maker?

Would it be 1-2 on offense and 2-3 on defense? It’s a talent deficit coupled with multiple years of very little or no development. Sure there are some questions about a couple of the coaches, but overall, I think the staff has gotten the most out of this roster(Jacksonville State loss is on the staff) and reduced several issues that made the program non-competitive.

The number of penalties is down. The sudden-change defense has improved immensely. Offensive turnovers used to mean automatic touchdowns for opposing teams. If we remove the Notre Dame game, FSU has turned the ball over 11 times and surrendered one touchdown and four field goals.

The goal is to continue to play clean football with better talent on the roster. Once that begins to happen, these close losses should result in wins by multiple scores.