Florida State avoided a disastrous 0-3 start on Saturday, but this team still has some work to do
It seems like forever ago at this point that people were discussing the 2017 version of the Florida State Seminoles as one of the best squads in the game this season. They had legitimate national title hopes in the eyes of many and were preparing for what we were all calling the greatest opening week game in the history of college football against the Alabama Crimson Tide.
Well everything from the moment this team took the field in Atlanta to play Alabama has been downhill ever since. They lost starting quarterback Deondre Francois for the season to a knee injury in the loss to the Tide, and then last week, the Seminoles fell to 0-2 on the year with their loss to NC State, marking the program’s worst start to a season since 1989.
Saturday they looked to avoid their worst start since 1976 if they were to fall to 0-3 on the season against the Wake Forest Demon Deacons, and thankfully for head coach Jimbo Fisher, they were able to do just that. But it was anything but easy for the Noles in Winston-Salem.
When it came down to the nitty gritty on Saturday afternoon, FSU needed this touchdown pass with just under a minute left in the game to finally enjoy their first win of the season, while at the same time narrowly avoiding matching that 0-3 start from 1976.
The touchdown that prevented FSU's first 0-3 start in 41 years. pic.twitter.com/7mqrKAMG8v
— ESPN (@espn) September 30, 2017
While Florida State has every right to enjoy a victory on Saturday, their performance overall was far from promising.
Quarterback James Blackman had the glory of tossing the first game-winning touchdown pass of his career, but the freshman who’s taking over for Francois did not enjoy an overall great outing. He was just 11-of-21 on the afternoon for 121 yards, and the team will need better from that area if they want to keep rolling with their winning ways.
However, the play of Blackman could also highlight a larger issue this team has — offensive line play. Simply put, the offensive line unit has looked the worst on the team through their three games played on the year, which sometimes has Blackman running for his life. You know, much like Francois was last year in his first season as the Seminoles’ signal-caller.
Jimbo Fisher’s job is not in question one bit despite this disastrous start, however, the status of offensive line coach Rick Trickett should definitely be at this point. Again, despite Florida State having a successful season last year that resulted in an Orange Bowl win over Michigan, it was no secret that offensive line play was a pretty big liability.
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Florida State enjoyed their first win of the season on Saturday but they still have issues to fix and things don’t exactly get easier in the near future. Next Saturday they have a date with the rival Miami Hurricanes, and that’s followed up with a trip to Duke and then a home game against a Louisville program that embarrassed them early last season as Lamar Jackson tore them to shreds.
The Seminoles avoided disaster on Saturday afternoon, but if they don’t tighten some things up, the preseason ACC favorite will be spiraling downward again.