What is the story about?
Florida State, despite forcing four turnovers on Monday night, was unable to pull off an upset vs. No. 19 SMU in a 27-24 loss.
It’s the third straight year that FSU has lost its ACC opener. Mike Norvell is now 39-35 at FSU, with a 22-27 record in ACC play.
FSU was outgained 585-324, a large part of which was due to the Seminoles’ inability to shut down the Mustangs’ passing attack. Quarterback Kevin Jennings threw for 430 yards and two touchdowns, one of which was a 72-yarder.
What are the main takeaways
from yet another disappointing Florida State loss? The Tomahawk Nation staff breaks it down below.
What was the turning point of tonight’s game?
- Matt: FSU doing absolutely nothing after grabbing a second INT off Kevin Jennings late in the fourth. The Noles had just tied the game, then grab the pick and get a chance to go on a long, game-closing drive. Instead it’s three-and-out.
- LastNoleofKrypton: When SMU realized that Ashton Daniels can’t process and Mike Norvell does not trust his QB.
- Jacob: There wasn’t really a “turning point” as much as it was a back-and-forth game that genuinely deserves its credit. FSU played with hunger and a drive to win and just came up short against a very good SMU team that is likely Charlotte-bound.
- Frank: The third-down completion for 30 yards with less than three minutes left. Just another third-down completion against White’s 5 defensive scheme.
- Curt: FSU never created the turning point. SMU made mistake after mistake trying to let Florida State win and the “turning point” was that Florida State never really took full advantage.
- Jon: I don’t know if there was ever really a turning point. FSU was only in the game because of SMU’s constant mistakes.
- Perry: Florida State’s three-and-out after picking off Kevin Jennings for the second time. With 6:33 on the clock and a rare offensive rhythm seemingly found on the last drive, the game was for the taking for FSU but the Seminoles went backwards and were forced to punt from their own 15. Even with a nice kick from Daniel Hughes (who was an absolute weapon tonight) putting the Mustangs on their 26, there was plenty of time for SMU to work with.
Did the game being close change your opinion on the team?
- Matt: No. This is what Mike Norvell does. Find ways to lose games. Imagine having two more timeouts at the end of the game. Might have helped.
- LastNoleofKrypton: Yes, they were gifted four turnovers and not only didn’t blow them out, they lost. I thought this team could make a bowl game; I no longer think that.
- Jacob: I genuinely expected it to be a blowout. So consider me surprised, positively.
- Frank: No, SMU tried to give us the game but we don’t know how to freaking rip out our opponents’ hearts anymore.
- Curt: No. It was close because of what SMU did poorly instead of what FSU did well. I still think it’ll be a battle for bowl eligibility.
- Jon: No. Every other stat besides the turnover line was massively in favor of SMU. This was a blowout that was masked by a ton of miscues.
- Perry: It locked in the opinion I already had of it, really. A team that actually does fight hard and can have flashes of nice play, but just doesn’t have enough to truly be a winning team against the better opponents on its schedule. FSU absolutely could have crumbled and gotten blown out tonight, but instead, played just hard enough to stay in it and just bad enough to not be able to win despite a 4-1 turnover margin.
Who stood out to you?
- Matt: The OL got markedly better after 79 was yanked and it was reshuffled. On the downside, Daniels’ passing stood out as even worse than I previously thought. Even his completions were inaccurate throws.
- LastNoleofKrypton: The QB is bad and the defense is very poorly coordinated.
- Jacob: Ashlynd Barker and Nehemiah Chandler. Great plays from the safeties. Some improvement over last week that was sorely needed. Room, as always, to improve, though.
- Frank: Chris Jones on defense and Kromah on offense.
- Curt: The running backs remain legit. But even that is a bit good news/bad news, as it does make the decision to pay up for a running back transfer in Quintrevion Wisner who is riding the bench frustrating, as that money could have been better spent elsewhere.
- Jon: Ousmane Kromah continues to impress.
- Perry: Ashlynd Barker had his fair share of big moments on a night to forget for the Florida State defense, same with Chris Jones. Ousmane Kromah continues to live up to the hype that surrounded him all offseason.
What was the most concerning stat of the night?
- Matt: The word “concerning” implies I have some level of positive expectations for the outcome this season. You can’t be concerned for something you expect to fail. But the most damning stat is a toss-up between our third-down performance (on both sides) and the fact we lost a game at home while essentially having a plus-4 turnover margin.
- LastNoleofKrypton: A Florida State defense let a team average 8.7 yards per play in Doak Campbell Stadium.
- Jacob: Ashton Daniels: 123 yards. And Duce Robinson having zero touchdowns through two games. What are we doing, man? We have a preseason All-American WR in our pocket and we aren’t using him as much as I’d like to.
- Frank: Allowing Jennings 430 passing yards with little to no pressure against a clueless secondary.
- Curt: Aside from losing a game where FSU held a 4-1 edge in forced turnovers, it’s third down on both sides of the ball but especially defense. Beginning to feel like the Titanic “it’s been 84 years” gif when trying to remember the last time FSU was consistently good defensively on third down.
- Jon: SMU averaging almost 9 yards a play.
- Perry: 430 passing yards for Kevin Jennings, averaging 16.5 yards per completion. The secondary concerns that arose against New Mexico State are officially baked in, and barring any miracle turnarounds from it, it’s going to be the defining issue of the defense this season.
What does FSU need to focus on during the bye?
- Matt: FSU the school needs to focus on searching for a new AD. FSU the football program needs to focus on figuring out how to defend on third-and-long.
- LastNoleofKrypton: Figuring out if someone else can play quarterback, or play the guys that will be here next year to see if they get better. A 22-year-old QB that takes four seconds to decipher anything is wasting time at this point.
- Jacob: I have to agree with Krypton here, perhaps it’s time for a change at QB. Daniels has shown he’s more of a DJU with his decision making and running game than a Castellanos. I’m just not that impressed.
- Frank: Working on implementing a new defensive scheme or our chances of winning the ACC Championship this year will decrease.
- Curt: It’s beyond time to consider a QB change. But it would also be pretty brutal to throw a new starter into the fire in two weeks at Bama if you make the change now.
- Jon: Do you make the switch at quarterback before or after the very long Saturday that’s going to occur in Tuscaloosa?
- Perry: I’m with everybody on the quarterback train, even though I think Daniels was serviceable on Monday. The bye gives you a chance to get Malachi Marshall acclimated, adjust the playbook to his talents and actually take advantage of the preseason All-American receiver that you shelled out so much money to retain.
