Film Review: What Went Wrong for FSU in the Red Zone?

The Florida State offense actually looked okay during Saturday’s 27-21 loss to the N.C. State Wolfpack. Despite starting a true freshman at quarterback, the Seminoles outgained the Wolfpack in total yards and had multiple scoring opportunities in front of them.

Those opportunities are exactly why observers are frustrated with head coach Jimbo Fisher. In six red zone trips, Florida State was only able to muster one touchdown. The other five were field goal attempts with four makes. That’s fine if your defense is able to hold back the opposing offense –obviously that did not happen on Saturday.

What has gone wrong for Florida State in the red zone? Combine that with general ineptitude past the 50-yard line, and you’ve got the recipe for disgruntled fans.

As part of our film review series, we’ve looked at specific players and how they performed in various games. This week we decided to do something different. We examined all six of Florida State’s red zone opportunities and analyzed each play in an attempt to figure out what the issues truly are.

Keep in mind that we are using broadcast footage, so some plays simply weren’t observable. We do not claim to be professional scouts or coaches. This is simply our analysis:

First Trip

13:36 – Nothing wrong with this play. It’s a solid run by Jacques Patrick, and the N.C. State safeties detect pretty quickly what’s going on. It moves FSU closer into scoring range.

12:54 – Defensive tackle B.J. Hill makes his presence known on this one. He gets great push on center Alec Eberle and forces Patrick to the outside, where the play is snuffed out. Many are going to criticize the offensive line for this one, but sometimes you have great talent matched up on you. Hill is one of those talents.

12:28 – Beautiful pass by James Blackman over a defender, and great job by receiver Auden Tate of finding the hole in scheme. This is the one touchdown Florida State would get for the entire game. Now it’s time to look at the drives where that didn’t happen.

Second Trip

4:31 – A nice catch-and-run by Nyqwan Murray and short run by Cam Akers set up FSU with 2nd-and-8 in the N.C. State red zone. This play is a decent 6-yard pass from Blackman to Akers. It’s a good decision. All the other options were covered, and the pressure began to collapse the pocket.

3:53 – N.C. State makes a great call to send a safety to help defend the run. There’s also a weird tangle on the right side of the line where the play is going. Mavin Saunders goes in motion to help block, but on the snap, he and right tackle Rick Leonard run in to each other. That means Leonard is way too late to get to where he needs to be on the outside, so Akers is met by two defenders that end the play.

Third Trip

:25 – Broadcast angle makes it impossible to see what the other receivers were doing. Unfortunately we do not have photographic memory and I am unable to remember how it looked from above. Either way, Blackman throws a tight spiral into the hands of Auden Tate, who barrels ahead for a first down.

:17 – Again, the broadcast angle affects how we can analyze this play. But from what it looks like, the receivers aren’t running particularly elongated routes. Blackman keeps his eyes on the end zone, when he probably should have been looking over the middle of the field where tight end Ryan Izzo was. Left tackle Derrick Kelly is then beat on the outside and Bradley Chubb comes in for the sack. A mix of freshman mistakes and a good N.C. State defensive line were the culprits here.

Fourth Trip

13:14 – The play call here is fine. It’s a quick pass to Keith Gavin after a fake hand-off. The problem here is that no one on the N.C. State defense is fooled. Blackman doesn’t really sell the fake, so the defense starts to gravitate towards Gavin quickly. While Blackman could’ve done better here, the N.C. State safety Jarius Morehead had great instincts. There’s not much FSU can do about that.

12:34 – Izzo is supposed to come over and pave the way for Cam Akers on this lead run. He doesn’t get there fast enough, and as a result, the N.C. State defensive line emerges victorious. Some will point out that the right guard Cole Minshew got forced back a bit and slowed down Izzo. But honestly, it seemed like he held his own long enough for Izzo to execute the play. From this writer’s amateur perspective, this is mainly on the tight end.

11:56 – This is all on Blackman. He has Mavin Saunders in the corner of the end zone if just stays in the pocket and looks to the left. The corner was hovering there, though it looks like he was expecting safety help that was already preoccupied. More than enough room for Blackman to make a throw. Instead, he tries to run with it himself and gets tackled short of the goal line.

Fifth Trip

:35 – Neither of the wide receivers got any sort of separation on this play. Even the fullback Johnathan Vickers was smothered on his route. It should be noted however that George Campbell gets held pretty egregiously. The N.C. State cornerback has his arms around Campbell’s shoulder pads all the way into the end zone. That is not “press coverage”…that’s a penalty. In retrospect, Blackman maybe should have attempted to scramble out of the pocket to the right side, but there’s no guarantee that he gains many yards.

15:00 – It’s hard to tell how much Blackman is at fault here. It appears to be a read-option, and Blackman pulls it instead of handing it off. But we’re not sure it’s an actual read-option, because both the quarterback (Blackman) and the running back (Amir Rasul) don’t seem to be selling it very well. Either way, Bradley Chubb is not fooled at all. Blackman seems to think that he’ll bite and follow the running back, but instead he goes straight for the sack. If this is a true read-option, then Blackman made the wrong decision.

14:19 – By now it should become apparent that the N.C. State defense played a great game in the red zone. On this play, the Wolfpack covered all the options very well. Blackman made the correct decision to throw to Murray, who had a mismatch with linebacker Germaine Pratt near the sidelines. Another instance of questionable officiating shows up. On the replay angle, it looks like Pratt is holding Murray’s left arm, and the receiver is able to get it up just in time to try and catch it. Pratt never made an attempt to turn around and locate the ball. In most other cases, you would give the referee the benefit of the doubt, because those plays are very hard to call either way. But Jeff Flanagan and his crew do not deserve that.

Sixth Trip

3:31 – This incompletion is squarely on Keith Gavin. Blackman may have thrown it a bit hard, but Gavin had it right in his hands and he let it slip through. Can’t make mistakes like that late in the fourth quarter of a tight game.

3:26 – An okay choice by Blackman on this throw. It nets them six yards, but Akers was open in the flats and we’ve all seen what he can do in open space.

3:10 – This is the play that many noticed immediately. Of all the options available to him, Blackman made the worst choice. Akers is wide open on the dump-off, and could have easily gotten the first down if his quarterback wasn’t looking downfield for the big play.

Analysis

Earlier this week, this author said that the loss to N.C. State on Saturday was due to poor execution, especially in the red zone.

That statement still holds true. However, after reviewing the tape, the situation is less dire than it might seem. Execution should still be a focal point in the ensuing practices. But there are some things you cannot control.

Blackman will need to learn that every part of a play is crucial to its success. Two different times he was supposed to show an option play, but instead he pulled it too quickly and broadcast to the defense what was happening. He also needs to do a better job of dumping it off to a running back or short route.

You never want to fault a young quarterback for stretching out a defense — yet if he stunts the red zone offense because of it, it becomes a problem. It is interesting to note that of the 16 plays examined here, 12 of them were passes. That is a lot of confidence for a true freshman in his first start. It had varying amounts of success, though perhaps Fisher should tweak some of the plays that he chooses for Blackman.

The offensive line and receivers played well enough to win. There are some plays that the former got beat, but a defensive line with multiple future draft picks will have at least a couple victories during a game. Overall there’s not much to critique there.

Credit also needs to be given to N.C. State and coaches Dave Doeren and Dave Huxtable. They called a fantastic game and snuffed out plays that typically go well for the Seminoles. They knew how to utilize their talent and leverage their advantages.

The little things are what haunt football coaches. Blockers running into each other, tight ends not being where they need to be, poor attempts at faking hand-offs, all of these and more can turn a potential touchdown into a loss of yardage. It is absolutely crucial that the red zone offense comes out crisp against Wake Forest on Saturday.

The Demon Deacons might not have the talent that the Wolfpack do, but they are still a very solid team this year. Florida State cannot afford another game with a single touchdown in multiple red zone trips.