Before this piece goes any further, let’s establish something: Florida State head coach Jimbo Fisher and his staff are not on the hot seat. No one deserves to be fired after Saturday’s 27-21 loss to N.C. State loss. There is still a lot of football to be played in 2017.
But the expectations just got a bit heavier.
Florida State came in to Saturday’s game after not playing football for 21 days. Whether or not that would benefit the Seminoles was inconclusive. On one hand, they had two weeks to prep for Dave Doeren and the Wolfpack. On the other, they hadn’t played a game for quite some time and could be rusty.
A close game was not out of the question. In fact, many predicted an ugly FSU win. Not many would have been surprised with a 3- or 7-point victory. What actually happened?
Florida State did not lead for a single moment. It outgained N.C. State in total yardage 382-365. It averaged 5.9 yards per play. It lost by six. How does that happen? Poor red zone play, missed opportunities, and an untimely turnover.
The Seminoles were able to advance the ball into the N.C. State red zone six different times. They converted on five of those, which seems like a good percentage. The issue is that only one of those was a touchdown.
The other four were Ricky Aguayo field goals — Aguayo actually played well, for what it’s worth. He was asked to attempt a field goal five different times. That’s a heavy load to put on someone in a tight game.
That’s not on the special teams, that’s not on Charles Kelly and the defense, it’s not even on Rick Trickett and the offensive line.
That’s on Jimbo Fisher and the offense.
James Blackman played well enough to win. The true freshman quarterback missed a few throws (including a crucial one in the fourth quarter) but by all accounts, his day went well. He completed 22 of 38 passes for 278 yards and a touchdown.
Under no circumstance should a true freshman be blamed for offensive woes when he’s able to put up those types of numbers. Especially when his head coach is supposedly one of the best offensive minds in the sport.
What happened in the red zone that caused a collapse? We’ll look at that in a later article, but the facts we know now suggest that it was an execution issue at the very least. That’s on Fisher, who controls the offense and how they treat situations like that. If this was a new problem, it’d be less concerning.
But Florida State fans who have been around since at least the Virginia game in 2011 know that Fisher has some issues with conservative play-calling. For what it’s worth, Fisher admits it was execution at fault.
“We had some opportunities and they’re a good run defense, they played good, and you’ve got young guys, and when we lost (wide receiver Auden) Tate down there, it bothered us just a little bit because that’s our big guy that we like to go to in there, but we have other guys that can make plays, too,” he said after Saturday’s loss. “We had a chance on a little bubble right there, if we make a block, we’re going to walk in; we just missed it. We’re inches off; we had a couple drops.”
What about the season in general? There’s clearly pressure on Fisher to figure out what went wrong with the offense and get it remedied sooner rather than later.
“Goals are set before the season, then you move on…there is no panic,” the FSU head coach said. “There is an urgency to correct some things and get better. We’ve got to play one game at a time. That’s all we can control.”
It is somewhat interesting that Fisher mentioned panic. Compared to his previous postgame press conferences after losses, Fisher was much more contained in this one. He indeed did not show panic.
Maybe because once you start to panic as a coach, that’s when you begin to lose the players. You start to do things that you shouldn’t be doing, and you move away from what brought you success in the first place.
There are signs of hope when it comes to the players.
After the game, wide receiver George Campbell was made available to the media. He just had the best game of his career. Three receptions for 85 yards is the most he’s had at FSU so far.
Coming into the year, he had three receptions for 42 yards total for his career. He was asked about his big game and how he felt.
“I want to do anything for my team to win, I want to do anything for Coach Fisher,” Campbell said. “I trust him and I believe in him.”
Tough losses are going to happen. Above all, one of the biggest keys to success is trust in the head coach. If the players trust the coach to lead them to success, wins will follow. It doesn’t always happen that way. But for the most part, it’s a good rule to believe in.
The pieces are there for Florida State to regroup and go on a run. The Seminoles trust in their head coach and they were obviously just a few plays away from victory. Yet 0-2 does not sit well with anyone in the program (or outside of it for that matter).
If Fisher wants his team to play up to its expectations, he needs to figure out what went wrong in this game quickly. It’s only the second game of the season.
No one’s job is in jeopardy right now. But a long leash got a bit shorter after this loss.
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