FSU football: 3 important things to know about Pittsburgh

Red Zone Defense Is Awful

Pitt’s head coach, Pat Narduzzi, is known for having solid defenses and producing lots of NFL talent. I knew they’d have a drop-off defensively, but I had to double-check this stat before writing this.

FSU is one of the best red zone teams in the country, scoring touchdowns 72 percent of the time they get in the red zone. Pitt’s defense allows touchdowns 72 percent of the time. They’ve allowed 21 touchdowns in the red zone on 24 opportunities for opposing offenses.

Notre Dame was in the red zone seven times and scored five touchdowns last week. North Carolina scored four touchdowns on four red zone opportunities, and Virginia Tech scored touchdowns on three of four red zone opportunities.

That’s not a good recipe for success against a team like FSU, especially a week after the head coach threw the team under the bus. He has since apologized and all that good stuff, but if FSU gets up early, don’t be surprised to see them lay right on down.

That’s the key to the game, getting ahead early and making them one-dimensional, while, hopefully, getting a ton of reserve players in the game so starters can be extra fresh for Miami next week.