Florida State’s defense has continued to work through its struggles throughout the early part of the season, but against Virginia on Saturday, the Seminoles finally looked like they were finding their rhythm.
FSU recorded 10 sacks and 12 tackles for loss while holding Virginia scoreless on 12 of its 13 drives, including the final 11 of the game. The 10 sacks tied for the most by a team in an ACC game in records dating back to 2005.
Following the performance, head coach Mike Norvell pointed to the way
the Seminoles attacked an experienced Virginia offensive line, facing the same team that held them to two sacks and four tackles for loss in last year’s matchup.
“I’d say like they were clean in how they played. They were aggressive attacking the, you know, very experienced offensive line group,” Norvell said during his weekly press conference on Monday. “They were detailed in the pass when we had twist games, when we had 1-on-1s. You felt their technique, you saw them getting on edges, the reactionary counter moves showed up and then just tremendous effort.”
Chris Jones led FSU with six tackles, including four solo, and 1.5 sacks, while Amari Gbayor also recorded six tackles (five solo) and a sack. Rylan Kennedy led the Seminoles with two sacks while adding four tackles.
For Jones, preparation and playing fast helped lead to the performance.
“I just kind of felt it and I was kind of trying to do that all game. Just anticipate and call out the play,” Jones said following the game. “And I just shot it fast and made a good play and did what my coach told me to do. He told us to play fast all week, and that’s what we did.”
Defensive coordinator Tony White also pointed to Jones’ performance as an example of what can happen when all 11 players are on the same page.
“Everybody got the call, everybody got lined up, everybody’s eyes are in the right spot, everybody’s cleats on the ground, everybody came off the ball and it allowed Chris to go out there and do what he do,” White said at his press conference Tuesday. “You talk about playing as all 11 as one, communication, everybody calm, everybody just executing, and that’s what they did.”
Kevin Wynn was another part of the defensive effort, recording three solo tackles and a sack. For Wynn, FSU’s performance showed what the defensive line can do when the group executes and plays together.
“Everybody on the d-line could really do everything that they really need to. It’s like I’m just a bigger body, so I could just hold up more. But like as a whole, like the whole d-line could do the same thing. It’s like really no drop-off anywhere on there.”
Virginia scored the first points of the game to take a 7-0 lead, but FSU kept the Cavaliers off the scoreboard for the remainder of the game.
Communication has been an area of emphasis for the Seminoles throughout the early part of the season, but against Virginia, FSU showed improvement in playing together as a unit.
Now, FSU will have another chance to build on that performance when the Seminoles travel to Louisville to play Friday at 7 p.m.
