FSU football: 5 huge takeaways from Wake Forest loss

Penalties

I’m not going to blame the referees for the loss, but they didn’t make things any easier. The discrepancy in penalties between the two teams was something to behold, not to mention one-sided. Wake Forest only had four penalties called all game, and one of those was intentional for delay of game to center a field goal attempt. The Noles had 11 penalties called for 96 yards. Wake Forest wasn’t called for a single holding penalty that I can recall, and I don’t see how that’s possible. I don’t see how the referees called defensive pass interference against the Noles on a couple of plays and didn’t call it against Wake Forest when there was more contact between the Wake Forest defensive backs and FSU wide receivers than vice versa on several plays.

FSU defensive backs literally held FSU receiver’s arms down, and nothing got called. Anyways, penalties came into play on one possession that cost FSU big time. Mycah Pittman returned a punt 34 yards to the Wake Forest 33-yard line with five minutes left in the third quarter. The Noles trailed 28-13, and the first play was a false start that put the Noles behind the chains. After a first down, another penalty for holding put the Noles behind the chains again. Ultimately, FSU punted on that possession when the drive began inside the Wake Forest 35-yard line. That was a huge wasted possession in which penalties cost the Noles.