The Daily Nole

Fisher Shows Coaching Ability in Loss to Clemson

wlpearce.com/FSU athletics

Saturday night’s loss to Clemson was definitely rough for Florida State fans who have sat through the 2016 season so far. A blowout loss to Louisville and a last second loss to North Carolina have forced FSU fans to experience both ends of the spectrum when it comes to heartbreak.

Saturday added another one, though this one might hurt a little bit more. The Seminoles had the No. 3 team in the nation on the ropes in the final two minutes, but their secondary and offensive line collapsed, thus leading to a loss.

Despite the loss, fans should feel a bit more secure about the future of the program. Why? Because head coach Jimbo Fisher showed that he can still build a team to compete with the best in the nation.

Even after two losses that largely derailed the expectations for 2016, Florida State came out on Saturday looking like a national championship contender. It was probably the most complete game the Seminoles have played so far, and it’s hard to argue that they wouldn’t have beat Louisville and North Carolina if they played like it every week.

The signs of improvement were obvious across the spectrum. Keep in mind that the Clemson Tigers came in to Saturday’s game with one of the best defenses in the nation and an offense full of NFL talent. Even before the season had started, many FSU fans penciled this game in as a loss. Clemson is simply in a better position due to a mixture of factors, and FSU had struggled to figure out its own issues.

Despite this, Florida State played Clemson better than Louisville did and defended the Tigers better than Alabama did last year. Clemson’s defense was only allowing 4.1 yards per play coming into Saturday. FSU averaged 7.1. Clemson had only allowed more than 30 points once this season and that was to Louisville, who is ranked No. 1 overall in points scored.

Fisher’s fingerprints were all over the offense on Saturday and it’s not surprising that it gave what may have been its best outing of the season. Clemson was having an incredibly difficult time defending the deep pass, so Fisher kept calling deeper routes to force the onus on the Clemson secondary. It worked.

The Tigers had four pass interference penalties and a couple more holding calls. Whether it was Travis Rudolph or Nyqwan Murray, Fisher challenged the Tigers’ secondary to make plays. It was simply a matter of quarterback Deondre Francois actually hitting the open guy. While he struggled a bit on Saturday, he is only a redshirt freshman, and he continues to show how resilient he is.

The offensive line was still having trouble versus a talented Clemson front seven, and Fisher knew that he had to give running back Dalvin Cook room to operate if he wanted to have a chance to win and continue his passing strategy.

The result? Counter trey runs and 139 rushing yards for FSU in the second half alone. Fisher had Cook go to the outside and try to make plays from there rather than try to combat the stout interior of the Clemson defensive line.

Much had been made about Fisher and his unwillingness to be aggressive when it came to play-calling on the offense. There is some truth to that, since Fisher is typically more conservative in various situations.

What he did on Saturday however, may have been his best coaching job in a loss in his career. Despite being down a starting wide receiver in Jesus Wilson, Fisher was able to get the offense in a rhythm against one of the best teams in the country. In fact, 14 points was the most scored by FSU in the first half against a Power 5 opponent this year and the second most against an FBS opponent.

Concerns will obviously still exist around the future of the defense and what exactly will need to be done with the offensive line. But for those who were shaky on Fisher’s ability to return to national competitiveness, the game against Clemson assuaged the doubts. His team took one of the best in the nation down to the wire, mostly because of his adjustments and calls made.

That being said, short memories are common in football. Fisher will need to reenact this performance in the final four games of the regular season and finish out the season strong. If he gets the team playing like it did against Clemson for the final month of the season, the Seminoles won’t lose again.

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