FSU football: 5 major takeaways from ‘Noles win over Florida Gators
By Kelvin Hunt
It wasn’t pretty for FSU football against the Florida Gators on Saturday night. The FSU offense ran three plays in the first quarter, and the FSU defense was on the field for much of the first half.
Florida ran a simple offense, leaning on its running game to get to third and manageable for their freshman backup quarterback. It felt like death by a thousand paper cuts, on top of a major blunder by the ACC officials in a critical situation.
It was third and goal from the FSU 10-yard line, and safety Akeem Dent timed a blitz perfectly for the sack, which was a loss of 10 yards.
However, the refs called a penalty for unnecessary roughness, which gave Florida first and goal from the five-yard line instead of fourth and goal from the FSU 20-yard line.
That play seemed to take the wind out of the sails, and FSU was reeling over the next few minutes. However, Florida failed to deliver a knockout blow.
One key moment was Billy Napier deciding to kick a field goal on a fourth and one from the FSU 17-yard line to make it 10-0.
They probably should have gone for it, and had they gotten it, they would have had a great shot to score a touchdown.
FSU at a 14-0 deficit would have been daunting, considering the game flow. Nevertheless, FSU continued to fight. Here are my five major takeaways from the win over Florida.