Florida State is finally back in the win column, improving to 4-5 on the season after snapping a road losing streak that spanned three seasons. It was not easy to get the Seminoles to this point, however, as three staff members, including coach Mike Norvell, were fired after the loss to Clemson.
Interim coach Rick Stockstill was given what felt like the impossible task of getting this team back on the right track before the end of the season. While Stockstill is almost certainly not going to be the man running the show next year, a strong finish to the season means plenty to Florida State's recruiting and retention efforts.
Stockstill is certainly an experienced veteran after spending nearly two decades as the coach of Middle Tennessee. However, the overwhelming majority of college football fans felt like the chaos was already too much for Norvell to overcome, and Stockstill would just become the next victim.
The former Florida State quarterback weathered the storm and earned a chance to lead the team into battle, and Stockstill made sure he didn't disappoint.
Coach Grade against Boston College (Week 10): Rick Stockstill - B
Was it pretty? No. But did the win have to be pretty? Also no. Winning often cures all the bad and takes eyes away from the wounds, and Florida State won at a key time. It is not easy to take on an interim coaching job regardless of how many games deep the decision comes, and Stockstill adapted in a way that the Seminoles need more of.
What truly started to go wrong for Norvell before his firing involved the effort of the team when things began to fall apart. Florida State felt lost when the opposing team mounted a lead, which happened often earlier this season, and the team never successfully swung the momentum in its favor in those situations. Florida State battled back against Louisville, Miami, and even Clemson, but the effort always came too late.
Florida State had every reason to fall into that same trap against Boston College after the Eagles took a 17-7 lead, but the team responded and battled back for the remainder of the game. That type of resilience and ability to turn on the blinders when things get tough is what Florida State had been missing the past two and a half seasons.
The Good
What Stockstill did extremely well against Boston College was going back to the well and doing the things that Florida State found success with earlier in the season. Running the football has always been what the offense is best at this season, and Stockstill turned to the ground game when things began to fall apart through the air.
Florida State hasn't had an identity this season, and while that may not seem like an issue, failing to establish a foothold can put a team at a disadvantage. The Seminoles haven't really done anything well consistently this season, but Stockstill took the bits and pieces that were successful and molded them into a winning product against Boston College.
Stockstill also deserves immense credit for finding a way to get the team to rally behind him and play through serious adversity. In the current college football landscape, most players would be prepping portal papers and considering sitting out after watching three staff members hit the curb. The players responded incredibly against Boston College, and Stockstill somehow found a way to block out all of the outside noise.
The Bad
As previously mentioned, Boston College is not the greatest team but there are a few things the team does really well. Playing consistent on offense and finding ways to score is not one of them.
The only true concern that has come out of the win is that Florida State may not be able to figure the defense out this season. Interim defensive coordinator Ernie Sims is still very new to calling plays, with limited experience doing so in the past. It is hard enough to get one position group to respond effectively consistently, and now Sims needs to do so with the entire defense.
Sims should be getting some help next week when new defensive analyst Paul Pasqualoni officially starts. Pasqualoni is a longtime coaching veteran who even coached in the NFL while Sims was still playing. His expertise and experience should help take some of the weight off of Sims, as he won't have to learn on his own any longer.
Stockstill is a veteran, and he understands just as much as any coach that the entire team needs to click for success to be sustained. Defense is not necessarily his cup of tea, but Stockstill needs to find a way to help support Sims moving forward. Pasqualoni might be the answer, but if he is not, it is up to Stockstill to work diligently to find the real answer.
Boston College finished the game with 320 total yards, three touchdowns, and just over 29 minutes of possession time. The possession battle is not everything, but Florida State allowed much of the first half to drain away, which is something that cannot happen consistently anymore. It was an issue that former defensive coordinator Tony White had, and ultimately it cost him his job.
The Somewhat Ugly?
Florida State did not exactly look like the strongest team through the air against Boston College, totaling 178 passing yards and an interception. Ashton Daniels didn't have his best game, but to be fair, the Eagles have arguably one of the best secondaries in the ACC and forcing mistakes is what the team lives off of.
It is hard to really dock a ton of points from Stockstill's coaching performance when the team was matched up against an opponent who stylistically outclassed Florida State through the air. The bigger takeaway is that Stockstill made adjustments and began to attack on the ground when the aerial offense was taken away, which is something Norvell often didn't do.
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