FSU football: Analyzing Adam Fuller’s defense against Louisville

Parting Thoughts

I thought the overall game plan was solid and the defense couldn’t have gotten off to a better start with the three-and-out. Louisville’s first touchdown drive consisted of Jarrian Jones on the field, missed tackles, and a defensive back that could have had an interception if he looked for the ball. The first touchdown run by Malik Cunningham was the result of a missed tackle.

The second touchdown drive was two great throws by Cunningham and Kalen DeLoach taking a poor angle on a Cunningham run. The second touchdown was Jared Verse coming hard off the edge on third down and not recognizing a screenplay.

I know folks want to find reasons to blame Adam Fuller, but all he can do is put guys in positions to make plays. If you want to argue they should have done things differently, like blitz more, or whatever, we have to remember he’s only going to call things he’s comfortable they can do. I do believe we continue to see some communication issues in the backend of the defense and that ultimately falls on Fuller to get those corrected.

The way they rushed to contain felt like it gave Cunningham way too much time to find receivers at times. It also felt like that option made them more susceptible to allowing Louisville running backs more penetration than they normally would have had.

At the end of the day, I have to ask how would the game have gone if Jordan Travis didn’t get hurt and FSU’s defense got as many stops as they did.

FSU missed two field goals and only punted four times in the game. The way they operated with Travis, I’d imagine they would have scored at least one touchdown on those four possessions, which would be a 13 point swing.

If that were the case, nobody would have been talking about the FSU defense in a negative light.