Florida State is looking to bounce back from a blowout loss to the Louisville Cardinals. Their next opponent this Saturday will be an even bigger challenge as they hit the road to face the Miami Hurricanes, who are the No. 3 team in the nation.
Miami is extremely good on both sides of the ball. With that said, their defense is suffocating as they only surrender 9.8 yards per game. In particular, their run defense is stifling with just 42.6 per game allowed. So, this puts teams in third-and-long situations quite a bit.
FSU's offense will have to play mistake-free football and take advantage of scoring chances whenever they present themselves. Here are five keys for the Seminoles offensively.
Get Ashton Daniels in rhythm early
This is undoubtedly one of the biggest keys for Florida
State's offense. They need to get some easy/routine throws in to start the game and get Daniels rolling before taking some shots downfield. The more he's comfortable the beginning of the game will serve FSU well once things settle down, and it'll lower the chances of making mistakes later.
Be effective running the ball
This does not mean that Florida State has to run the ball for 200 yards against Miami. However, they must be good enough to not be one-dimensional and keep the Hurricanes honest on defense. Their offensive line has to bring their A game, plus Ousmane Kromah and Quintrevion Wisner will have to keep the chains moving as much as possible and set Daniels up to make easy throws, as mentioned earlier.
Make red zone trips count
There likely won't be a lot of these chances for FSU against a defense like Miami's. They do have enough talent to make plays, though, and once they get inside the 20-yard line, they have to score touchdowns because field goals won't cut it. If they can do this, there's a chance the game can stay close.
Duce Robinson and Micahi Danzy need to be heavily involved
It's been a struggle for Florida State to consistently be productive throwing the football. Robinson has an advantage with his size and athleticism, and Danzy is a threat with his speed. It will be paramount for the Seminoles to get them going and not put all the responsibility on the run game. They can seriously make this a tight game if Robinson and Danzy are balling out.
Protect the football
Miami is the top scoring team in the country at 49.6 points a game. The last thing FSU can do is turn the ball over and give the Hurricanes' high-powered offense short fields to work with. Ball security will be an extremely high priority for Florida State, or they will be looking at another blowout loss on Saturday.
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This article originally appeared on FSU Wire: Florida State's offensive keys vs Miami
