Column: Don’t Be Fooled by FSU Victory; Serious Changes Are Needed

1-2. Losses to Alabama and N.C. State. A nail-biting win over Wake Forest.

That says a lot, doesn’t it?

One of the most talented teams in the nation had five straight seasons of 10-plus wins. That included five straight major bowls games and three straight ACC championships. That team came into this season expected to contend for a national title.

They are now 1-2 with a nail-biting 26-19 victory over against Wake Forest. A bowl game is not guaranteed.

The team in reference is of course, Florida State.

Against a Demon Deacon team that struggled on offense against lesser opponents, the Seminoles gave up over 360 total yards and 19 points. Despite having an overwhelming talent advantage on the other side of the ball, they only managed two touchdowns and 121 passing yards.

There is absolutely no excuse for what FSU fans witnessed on Saturday. Every single aspect of the game showcased terrible play by the Seminoles. Shanked punts, bad play-calling, dumb penalties, missed opportunities, terrible blocking, everything one could think of, FSU had it in spades.

It has become abundantly clear that the FSU coaching staff has not gotten the players to buy in. They are not motivated, they are not executing, and they are not playing up to the standard of FSU football that head coach Jimbo Fisher refers to so often.

There’s a lot of season left, but I’ll say it: this is the worst Florida State team of Fisher’s tenure. Again, that’s not due to a lack of talent. It is rooted in bad coaching.

So who needs to go? It’s quite a list.

The biggest needed change is probably defensive coordinator Charles Kelly.

This writer really tried to give Kelly some leeway after 2016. Despite a terrible start to the season, there were decent explanations: the defense was somewhat young and lost its best player — safety Derwin James — early in the season. As the year progressed, the defense seemingly improved and looked much better as a unit. Many were willing to give Kelly the benefit of the doubt for turning the defense into a top 25 group after a dismal beginning.

In consecutive weeks against N.C. State and Wake Forest, he has shown that the latter half of 2016 was a fluke. The defensive line that has multiple future NFL players has not dominated a game yet. The closest it came was against Alabama, but right now, it looks like that was the outlier. The line was almost completely negated against N.C. State and faded down the stretch against Wake Forest.

It’d be one thing if that unit was the lone weakness. But in fact, the secondary (Kelly’s main responsibility) might actually be worse. The Seminoles have been gashed by quarterbacks who are not exactly “elite”. Ryan Finley is good, but John Wolford?

A mix of it is players not living up to potential (rooted in coaching) and questionable calls (coaching). Kelly has been handed the keys to a Lamborghini and drives it like a Camry. He is not up to the task.

Along with him on the defensive side is linebackers coach Bill Miller. He has had unfortunate injury luck at his position, but injuries can only explain so much. His unit has been the key weakness of the FSU defense since 2014. That isn’t necessarily true this season, but you would be hard-pressed to find anyone who would call the linebackers a strength.

Other than them, defensive line coaches Odell Haggins and Brad Lawing have produced great results. They are also excellent recruiters.

Offense is where the other two changes need to be made.

Jay Graham apparently has no duties besides recruiting. He’s good at that, to be fair. But for someone labeled the “Running Backs Coach/Special Teams Coordinator” he doesn’t seem to be doing much. Running back is already a spot where not much coaching is needed compared to other positions.

Yet guys like freshman Cam Akers are still trying to cut back and reverse field on plays where they should just take the small yardage or a minimal loss. You can attribute that to him being a true freshman, but he’s also been on campus for over eight months. It’s strange how both Patrick and Akers struggle in short yardage situations.

For special teams, it’s pretty obvious. There has already been an entire season’s worth of muffed kicks and horrible punts. It kept the season-opening contest against Alabama from being competitive late. Again, is Graham really the best that FSU can do?

On the fence is offensive line coach Rick Trickett. The offensive line receives more criticism than it should, and often gets blamed for things that isn’t its fault. That unit actually played well against Alabama and N.C. State. But they were nearly dominated at Wake Forest aside from a handful of plays.

In-game injuries to starters Derrick Kelly and Landon Dickerson can explain some of that. Yet 17 tackles for loss — a Wake Forest school-record — does not sit well with anybody. Entering Saturday, the Demon Deacons had six sacks all season. They had five against FSU.

Wide receivers coach Lawrence Dawsey has had more than enough time to prove he can maximize talent. Instead, he has shown time and time again that he cannot get the best out of his players. Some of the criticism may have been a bit overplayed. Now, it’s not even the draft numbers that have fans concerned. It’s the actual play of the receiver group.

Despite having loads of blue-chip talent, Florida State’s wide receivers have become detrimental to the offense. After a hot start against Alabama, they have left plenty to be desired with the exception of improved junior Auden Tate. That’s good, but he’s only one guy.

Even Nyqwan Murray took a step back after showing serious promise in 2016. They’re inconsistent, they miss blocks and they give up on routes. Dawsey was one of the few coaches who stayed around when Fisher got hired. It’s this loyalty that bought him time in Tallahassee.

In fact, it all comes back to Fisher.

There’s no easy way to say this. If Fisher keeps the same group of coaches around for 2018, his era at Florida State will be on a countdown. A lot of passes were given after 2016. Some were justified (Kelly), but others were not (Graham). Fisher needs to realize where the problems are and root them out before they choke his program.

Some might think this is too negative. After all, FSU just won. It was ugly, but a wins a win. If they can get at least seven more of those, calls for coaching changes might appear to be an overreaction.

The problem with that mentality? That’s how you get a 4-8 season at a tradition-rich program like Florida or Notre Dame. If you ignore the problems and think winning seasons are all that matters, then those same problems will reappear. You need to have a sound structure.

If not? All of the sudden, when you think you’re going to compete for a national championship, you’re struggling to make a bowl game.

In fact, it might already be happening.