Gus Malzhan's Playcalling/4th down Decision Early
Gus Malzhan had some success against the Miami defense on the first possession. They broke off chunk plays with the traditional running game and with Thomas Castellanos running the ball. However, it felt like two things started happening as the tide began to turn in favor of Miami.
Gus Malzhan seemed to get away from the inside running game that FSU does best, and started running trick plays that he hadn’t set up yet. When they could have had some success, FSU didn’t execute their blocks anywhere close to how they did against Alabama.
We’ll talk more about Thomas Castellanos later, but he started taking off from the pocket way too much early in the game. It was like he felt he had to do it all by himself instead of taking what the defense gave.
The first interception he threw was a terrible decision. It was fourth and eight, and he threw into double coverage instead of hitting Gavin Sawchuk in the middle of the field for an easy first down. That turnover set up Miami’s second touchdown, as it was returned to the FSU 43-yard line.
The decision to go for it on fourth and eight was probably made by Mike Norvel, but it wasn’t the right call. It was too early in the game to take a gamble like that, and it wasn’t like it was fourth and two. Miami scored on the next play, and that seemed to take the air out of the stadium.