FSU’s Biggest Questions for NC State

Florida State is desperate to get the taste of a blowout loss out of its mouth. NC State is desperate to get the taste of defensive collapse out of its.

This year’s game in Raleigh has no broader implications than the numbers in each team’s record. Yet, it feels like it could reveal deeper truths about either squad.

An assortment of comments from FSU head coach Willie Taggart and various pieces of news out of practice mean that questions are flying around the program. We list four of them below, and attempt to provide some insight before kickoff on Saturday.

Is Taggart Serious About Benching Quitters?

Depending on how serious Taggart is on benching players who quit against Clemson, Florida State’s season outlook might not include another victory. Most would assume the opposite — punishing players who give up on their team should have a positive effect on game planning and motivation.

It’s a double-edged sword. If you’re lucky, the raw talent of young/committed players will propel you to victory. If you’re like most teams, that talent lacks experience and has not been faced with the prospects of a starting role. There’s going to be very uneven performances that occur while those players take on their new responsibilities. It helps a lot in the long term, but in the short term, it will be frustrating.

Assuming that Florida State follows the same path, Taggart’s seriousness about moving on from certain players will force reevaluation. How many Florida State fans will accept the bowl streak ending in exchange for an improved locker room in 2019 and beyond? There are a lot of tough decisions ahead and each have their pros and cons.

Will Offensive Line Continuity Help?

For the first time all season, Florida State started the same offensive line in back-to-back games. Unfortunately, the second game was against a dominant defensive line that obliterated that unit. Florida State simply could not match Clemson’s talent up front, even when the Tigers began rotating in second- and third-string players. Getting beat up by starters hurts. Getting beat up by career backups is demoralizing.

NC State is understandably a tier below Clemson when it comes to the defensive line. The Wolfpack are not pushovers by any means — they’ll probably shut down Florida State’s run game from the opening kickoff — but they are also not full of future NFL draft picks.

Having the same starting five (barring injury) helps with communication and makes practicing all that much easier. Now that guys like Brady Scott and Derrick Kelly have solidified their spots at tackle, while Cole Minshew and Alec Eberle man the interior, Florida State should see small improvements. Although that should have been apparent against Clemson, yet the Seminoles continued to commit errors.

Can the Seminoles Pressure Finley?

We mentioned in our previous article that NC State quarterback Ryan Finley is less Trevor Lawrence and more Devlin Hodges. A combination of scheme and play style mean that Finley gets the ball out quickly, leading to a low sack rate and efficient passing. On one hand, that means he probably will not exploit Florida State’s tendency to allow explosive deep passes. On the other hand, Hodges was able to dice up the Seminoles for a half with the exact same quick decisions.

Florida State will need to figure out a way to make Finley uncomfortable. Against Samford, defensive coordinator Harlon Barnett utilized the Delta package to effectively counter the reliance on passing. The six defensive backs also allowed a safety to be used as a wild card in coverage. But despite the obvious improvement in defensive results, the Seminoles still failed to record a sack. That needs to change if they want to shut down the Wolfpack’s offense.

Is Blackman On the Horizon?

Taggart said earlier in the week that quarterback Deondre Francois was banged up and would be day-to-day. Nobody expected much different after the Clemson game. Yet consider that in addition to this development, James Blackman came in late in the game against the Tigers. He proceeded to show some nice mobility and passed for the lone Florida State touchdown of the contest.

With everything we’ve heard about his willingness to be a good teammate and support those around him, it’s hard not to think that he will start in one of the remaining games. After all, if Taggart is going to shake up the depth chart at other positions, why can’t the quarterback spot be part of it?

That situation would provoke more questions than we could answer in this piece. Would Francois be given the chance to win his job back? Would Francois even stay on the team? Would the offense change its approach? It has ramifications all the way down to the recruiting class. For now, all we can do is wait and see. As a final note, it is interesting that Taggart brought Blackman on to the weekly talk show.