FSU football: Grading our five keys to victories over Clemson goals

Red Zone Opportunities and Touchdowns

Here’s an excerpt from what I wrote:

"One thing we’ve seen a decrease in the last two games is the number of times the FSU offense has entered the red zone. FSU has only entered the red zone six times and scored five touchdowns. The Noles averaged five red zone trips in their first three games against Power 5 competition and struggled to score touchdowns at an elite rate. They scored touchdowns 83 percent of the time in the red zone in the last two games, but they haven’t gotten there near enough. It’s one of the prime reasons they have scored 38 points in the last two games combined. Clemson’s defense allows touchdowns 55 percent of the time against Power 5 competition. As you can tell, most of these keys center around the FSU offense-making plays."

The FSU football offense did a great job getting into the red zone against Clemson’s defense. They got there four times and scored three touchdowns (75 percent), which is excellent. However, the one failure when they failed to punch it in from the Clemson two-yard line was back-breaking and ultimately one of the differences in the game.

I gave them a B because most didn’t expect they’d get to the red zone four times and scoring three touchdowns is excellent. However, the one trip where they got no points and were on the two-yard line I can’t excuse.

Grade-B 

Overall, the Noles didn’t do enough to win the game on offense. They lost the turnover battle, field position battle, and failed to convert on fourth down three times. These factors were major factors in losing the game.