FSU football: How better quarterback play can change everything for the Noles

Scoring Points

FSU has scored three touchdowns on 18 offensive possessions against teams that ranked outside of the top 75 nationally via FEI last season. I don't care how good your defense is, and that's not good enough to win college football games. The FSU defense, while flawed, has gotten several stops in key situations to allow the FSU offense to stay competitive or take leads in games. Let's look at the Boston College game. It's 14-0 in the second quarter, and the FSU defense forces back-to-back punts. FSU scores field goals instead of touchdowns to trim the lead to 14-6 at halftime.

FSU gets the ball first in the second half with a chance to take the lead and turns it over, giving the Boston College offense a short field, and they score a touchdown to make it 21-6. That's a backbreaker for a defense. The FSU offense punts on their next possession, and the FSU defense forces Boston College to punt. Despite all of that, had FSU scored touchdowns on those possessions, it's still a competitive ball game. However, once that turnover happened, it seemed to suck the life out of the defense, not to mention they had been on the field for nearly the entire first quarterback because the FSU offense only ran SIX plays in that quarter.