FSU football: 3 lessons learned from Wake Forest loss

Early Down Success

One thing I noted earlier in the season was the success Jordan Travis had overcoming situations where the offense got behind the chains on early downs.

I didn’t think it was sustainable, and that issue came to light against Wake Forest. The Noles ran 63 offensive plays, and 14 were when the Noles were behind the chains on earlier downs, and that’s not counting third and long situations.

That’s 22 percent of their plays when it’s 2nd and 10 and longer or 1st and 15 and longer. It’s hard to overcome those issues against average defenses like Wake Forest, so it’ll be tougher against better defenses like NC State and Clemson in the next two games.

This issue links to the offensive line woes mostly, but a few opportunities were sheer lack of execution when passing on first down.

Wake Forest dictated some of that by stacking the box with eight and nine defenders and forcing the Noles to pass, but it’s something they did with success early in the season when the offensive line provided better pass protection. The Noles have to find ways to stay ahead of the chains in the next two games, or it’s going to be a long day at the office.