FSU football: Top 5 things FSU defense must do to limit Georgia Tech offense

Avoid Missing Tackles

This is a big one that frustrates me and defensive coordinators to no end. There's nothing worse than calling a defense and having a guy in a position to make a tackle for a loss or minimal gain, only to see the defender miss the tackle and allow another 10-15 yards. It's an aspect common in season openers because teams don't tackle that much in practices nowadays, and the players will be playing in a time zone unique to their bodies. Georgia Tech's starting running back isn't a large guy, but runs hard and doesn't try to dance too much.

He's going to hit the hole and try to get upfield. FSU linebackers will need to fill the right gaps. It'll be imperative for the FSU safeties to be sound as they come downhill to make plays in the run game. They'll need to take good angles and play physically. We saw how the run game got exploited when Akeem Dent was out last year. I think FSU is in a better position depth-wise, but they can't afford to have the mishaps they had when Dent was out.