My Take FSU

[memcorsu]

Just got home and caught the end of a Mississippi State team beat Auburn. This was a team that is full of two and three star guys as was mentioned by the announcer. They were a nothing program and have worked their way back. Having grown up in Memphis, I hope they take the arrogant Ole Miss Rebs in the egg bowl behind the woodshed.

First thing I noticed today was how many of the "high end season tickets" were sold to FSU fans. It was probably 30/70 maybe even 40/60 SU today. I assume that the people that hold those tickets are well off and do not need to sell their tickets to make some cash. That being said, I never want to hear from people that sit in those seats complain about "higher ups" not attending or selling their tickets. It was very well... off.

On to the game. I think the D played well as the game went on. In the first half, we gave FSU way to much respect. In the second half, we got much more pressure on the QB and believe it or not, our "subpar" secondary played them pretty well. I was impressed that the DL was able to hang in against the bigger FSU OL. I have to admit that FSU got away with many blatant holds and their were some very poor calls on pass interference and the "late hit" on Winston was complete BS. How that was called and the shot to Wilson was beyond me. In the second half, we tied them 14 14.

The offense looked much improved and both Wilson and Long made some great passes into some tight windows. I love the fact that we were passing down field instead of short passes. I was impressed that we are able to run as well as we did and how well they blocked in passing opportunities. I don't think they had a sack, maybe one. It was good to see the play calling being called to our running backs strengths. PT on sweeps and AAM head on. I was also impressed with our receivers seeing that they were supposed to be mismatched. On every passing play their were multiple receivers open. It was great to see us move the ball against a team that we were supposed to blown out by. There is a huge difference when the D is not on the field 3/4 of the game. We were 6/10 on 3rd down and had two passing TDS. They were 7 for 14. We had 20 first to their 29. A couple of those were gifts. They had 72 offensive plays we had 67. They had 185 rushing yards we had 162.

Special teams did a great job for the most part today. Watching Norton kick at the half, he is a mess. Kid better get his head on straight or he might see his position cut. There was only one kick out of bounds but for the most part great coverage all around. Dixon is a stud. I love this kid and he should be playing on Sunday.

The officials were disgusting today. There were multiple times we were moving and we had great momentum as an offense and as a fans in the stadium and they would huddle for random things. On one drive when we caught a pass down near the five, they huddled 3 times in a row. They also missed multiple blatant holds where Winston would have been sacked. If your going to call hand checking going down field it needs to go both ways. Their were multiple great catches for our guys when they had guys draped all over them. There was also one maybe two that should have not been called. FSU also had multiple blocks in the back. There was also a few blatant hands to the faces and face masks, one on the receiver against the cb at the end of the first half should have been a 15 yard face mask.

All in all, what I am taking so far this season is how much we have beat ourselves. Maryland we crushed but found a way to five them the game crushing ourselves worse. ND I put on the shoulders of the refs. I don't know if we would have won but they cost us many points. UL, we were just a mess and players missed plays... Today, PTG dropped a first down possible touchdown +7. Ish dropped a touchdown although there was good coverage +7. Two dropped interceptions that lead to touchdowns -14. That would have put the score 34/24 SU. There was also a drop in the open field by a back; I think it was Erv. He had room to run, if not 6 would have been a first down. The one pick in the first hurt and could have been 7/3 FSU. Also the pick where Long tried to throw it out of bounds was possibly another 3 if not 7.

I was very impressed with today's performance having come in being very pessimistic after sitting through every second of the UL game. This is the same UL who gave Clemson fits today. We were more than competitive with the #1 team in the nation. This game was a lot closer then what you see in the score. It gives me confidence as we move forward.

I am very concerned with the QB position. We are down to 2 QB's. I am still upset about the hit on Wilson and it not being called. As I said after Maryland, I think that we will kick ourselves for beating ourselves that game and giving it away. We do have a chance for a bowl. We have 5 to win 4. I count Klempson to be a loss although we might give them a better game than last year. I do believe we take WF, SCS, Pitt. That leaves us having to beat Duke at home or BC away. I hate to think that the NCAA with the new playoff giving the "preferreds" advantage to assure that those teams are in the playoff. I have seen some very questionable calls not just against us but many teams out there. It is very much about money these days.

I hope that FSU beats ND next week then loose more through the season.

It was wonderful to see Big John out there on multiple plays today; much more than he was last week. Simply amazing and it kills me the NCAA did not grant him a year yet have given so many horrible reasons for other players. The kid deserves better. The NCAA angers me.

Funderburk saw more run today.

Erv is going to be special. It will be great to have Broyld and Estime back.

Eskridge has taken huge steps backwards. It seems that he is playing soft and I mean Charmin to prevent injury before he jumps to the NFL. Remember there were many rumors he was going to jump last year but he had an injury that probably brought him back.

It was awesome to see Whigham play the whole game after what happened last year. The secondary looked much improved when getting some rest.

I underestimated Long. I think he looked great for a Freshman getting his first start against the # team in the nation. I remember when he got in trouble for running his mouth but he might be backing it up. I don't think we should anoint him yet being one game but he had a great start. He was very composed in the pocket and will only get better. As much as I want the best for THunt after all he has dealt with, I hope that the coaches are willing to put the best player out there at all position regardless of what has been as they have said.

Missed a some tackles but did and awesome job on the quick screens and bubbles. We used to get blown up for those.

38-20 is much better than 59-3 and it should have been much closer than that.

I hope that GM relishes in his position and decides to stay on. I think if he does, he could spend more time on the recruiting trail where he excels. He could also take time to learn.

FSU fans are a mouthy bunch. Not as bad as PSU, ND, Ole Miss, UTenn, etc... but they were very nasty. I guess if you win and you are national champs you have that right. I would hope if we ever got back there we could do it with class and act like we have been there. Quite a few fights in the stands and a few outside.

The sight to see of the game today was the gang of fella's wearing crab hats. Kudos and oranges!!!!

 

[cto]

Great post, but your subject line confused me. "My Take" has been copyrighted by Tomcat.

 

[jekelish]

While it was nice to see Whigham play, it wasn't what I'd call awesome to see him play the whole game...simply because of how badly he got beaten time and time again, and the fact he stayed in there means we don't have any decent talent coming along in the secondary quite yet.

Good writeup. Thanks for this.

 

[memcorsu]

Great post, but your subject line confused me. "My Take" has been copyrighted by Tomcat.

Sry, you can change it to FSU recap or something if you like.

I also wanted to mention that the players seemed to have a positive outlook from today's outcome. It was good to hear that they were not happy and felt that they could do better moving forward but were not terribly upset. As Waiters would say, "Humble and Hungry!" AJ was discussing how he felt that the future is bright with so many from his class producing as freshman and he felt that the incoming class is going to be better (if we can keep it together). He directly mentioned Strickland and Ellison. I hope that it is not a violation.

Shafer was furious with the officials today and rightfully so. He was in their ear nonstop on many many questionable calls.

Edit: Saw Joseph when I was looking for something different for the way better half down in the lower level compared to the stale pretzels we get up above. He is excited for the season to start and thinks we will surprise folks!

 

[Dmcnabbrules]

Older FSU fans were cool, younger ones were drunk idiots. I am 34 so not being the old guy on the porch.

 

[LennX6]

While it was nice to see Whigham play, it wasn't what I'd call awesome to see him play the whole game...simply because of how badly he got beaten time and time again, and the fact he stayed in there means we don't have any decent talent coming along in the secondary quite yet.

Good writeup. Thanks for this.

Agreed, if we are going to compete consistently with these teams, we need to cover. Big receivers have big games against us. Plus we need "island" corners if especially a team that picks up the blitz better than most like FSU. In our '90's run when we did compete at the same level as these type of teams , our DB's were stellar.

 

[LennX6]

Sry, you can change it to FSU recap or something if you like.

I also wanted to mention that the players seemed to have a positive outlook from today's outcome. It was good to hear that they were not happy and felt that they could do better moving forward but were not terribly upset. As Waiters would say, "Humble and Hungry!" AJ was discussing how he felt that the future is bright with so many from his class producing as freshman and he felt that the incoming class is going to be better (if we can keep it together). He directly mentioned Strickland and Ellison. I hope that it is not a violation.

Shafer was furious with the officials today and rightfully so. He was in their ear nonstop on many many questionable calls.

Edit: Saw Joseph when I was looking for something different for the way better half down in the lower level compared to the stale pretzels we get up above. He is excited for the season to start and thinks we will surprise folks!

A lot of the calls watching on TV looked like crap live, but the replay showed what happened and the call was right. The late hit was indeed crap though. We haven't exactly gotten a lot of breaks this year though and penalties overall have hurt. I know, iffa wudda shudda, the penalties get tightened up and that in itself makes this a different game.

 

[memcorsu]

Agreed, if we are going to compete consistently with these teams, we need to cover. Big receivers have big games against us. Plus we need "island" corners if especially a team that picks up the blitz better than most like FSU. In our '90's run when we did compete at the same level as these type of teams , our DB's were stellar.

Surprisingly we are not blitzing as much in the last couple of games. I think the player that struggles the most is Cam Lynch, and I do love the guy. Great ambassador and student. Also an outstanding human being. He gets burned in coverage but is great when blitzing and against the run.

Edit: Windfield is doing alright with his adjustment but is wearing 11 Whigham 1. Windfield has a ways to go. Sometimes I have to double take. I am not saying Whigham doesn't get burned. Also, the officials should go unnoticed and their were at least on 6 occasions if not more that our player was having to move a ref out of the way before the snap. I could only see it when FSU was moving towards us as we had a direct line of sight at our Defensive scheme. One large gain was Whigham going across while the receiver was in motion. The ref then stepped back into him before the snap making him change his course. It was at around the 40 and went for a big gain.

 

[memcorsu]

A lot of the calls watching on TV looked like crap live, but the replay showed what happened and the call was right. The late hit was indeed crap though. We haven't exactly gotten a lot of breaks this year though and penalties overall have hurt. I know, iffa wudda shudda, the penalties get tightened up and that in itself makes this a different game.

There were also a few extra curricular after the whistle go uncalled our way. One bad one in front of our coaches after the "late" hit on Winston in which the FSU players started wolfing at our coaching staff.

I think the one thing that is not being mentioned is that I don't recall one false start on our OL today. I still think if you are going to allow players to hand fight down the field it needs to go both ways. Like the tie up against Maryland went to the offensive player as it should but against UL it went to the D and would have been a touchdown. If you are going to call it one way it should be called the same the other way.

 

[Crusty]

There were also a few extra curricular after the whistle go uncalled our way. One bad one in front of our coaches after the "late" hit on Winston in which the FSU players started wolfing at our coaching staff.

I think the one thing that is not being mentioned is that I don't recall one false start on our OL today. I still think if you are going to allow players to hand fight down the field it needs to go both ways. Like the tie up against Maryland went to the offensive player as it should but against UL it went to the D and would have been a touchdown. If you are going to call it one way it should be called the same the other way.

Hickey

 

[FAL]

Just got home and caught the end of a Mississippi State team beat Auburn. This was a team that is full of two and three star guys as was mentioned by the announcer. They were a nothing program and have worked their way back. Having grown up in Memphis, I hope they was the arrogant Ole Miss Rebs in the egg bowl.

First thing I noticed today was how many of the "high end season tickets" were sold to FSU fans. It was probably 30/70 maybe even 40/60 SU today. I assume that the people that hold those tickets are well off and do not need to sell their tickets to make some cash. That being said, I never want to hear from people that sit in those seats complain about "higher ups" not attending or selling their tickets. It was very well... off.

On to the game. I think the D played well as the game went on. In the first half, we gave FSU way to much respect. In the second half, we got much more pressure on the QB and believe it or not, our "subpar" secondary played them pretty well. I was impressed that the DL was able to hang in against the bigger FSU OL. I have to admit that FSU got away with many blatant holds and their were some very poor calls on pass interference and the "late hit" on Winston was complete BS. How that was called and the shot to Wilson was beyond me.

The offense looked much improved and both Wilson and Long made some great passes into some tight windows. I love the fact that we were passing down field instead of short passes. I was impressed that we are able to run as well as we did and how well they blocked in passing opportunities. I don't think they had a sack, maybe one. It was good to see the play calling being called to our running backs strengths. PT on sweeps and AAM head on. I was also impressed with our receivers seeing that they were supposed to be mismatched. On every passing play their were multiple receivers open. It was great to see us move the ball against a team that we were supposed to blown out by. There is a huge difference when the D is not on the field 3/4 of the game. We were 6/10 on 3rd down and had two passing TDS. They were 7 for 14. We had 20 first to their 29. A couple of those were gifts. They had 72 offensive plays we had 67. They had 185 rushing yards we had 162.

Special teams did a great job for the most part today. Watching Norton kick at the half, he is a mess. Kid better kid his head on straight or he might see his position cut. There was only one kick out of bounds but for the most part great coverage all around. Dixon is a stud. I love this kid and he should be playing on Sunday.

The officials were disgusting today. There were multiple times we were moving and we had great momentum as an offense and as a fans in the stadium and they would huddle for random things. On one drive when we caught a pass down near the five, they huddled 3 times in a row. They also missed multiple blatant holds where Winston would have been sacked. If your going to call hand checking going down field it needs to go both ways. Their were multiple great catches for our guys when they had guys draped all over them. There was also one maybe two that should have not been called. There was also a few blatant hands to the faces and face masks, one on the receiver against the cb at the end of the first half.

All in all, what I am taking so far this season is how much we have beat ourselves. Maryland we crushed but found a way to five them the game crushing ourselves worse. ND I put on the shoulders of the refs. I don't know if we would have won but they cost us many points. UL, we were just a mess and players missed plays... Today, PTG dropped a first down possible touchdown +7. Ish dropped a touchdown although there was good coverage +7. Two dropped interceptions that lead to interceptions -14. That would have put the score 34/24 SU. There was also a drop in the open field by a back I think it was Erv. He had room to run, if not 6 would have been a first down. The one pick in the first hurt and could have been 7/3 FSU. Also the pick where Long tried to throw it out of bounds was possibly another 3 if not 7.

I was very impressed with today's performance having come in being very pessimistic after sitting through every second of the UL game. This is the same UL who gave Clemson fits today. We more than were competitive with the #1 team in the nation. This game was a lot closer then what you see in the score. It gives me confidence as we move forward. I am very concerned with the QB position. We are down to 2 QB's. I am still upset about the hit on Wilson and it not being called. As I said after Maryland, I think that we will kick ourselves for beating ourselves that game and giving it away. We do have a chance for a bowl. We have 5 to win 4. I count Klempson to be a loss although we might give them a better game than last year. I do believe we take WF, SCS, Pitt. That leaves us having to beat Duke at home or BC away. I hate to think that the NCAA with the new playoff giving the "preferreds" advantage to assure that those teams are in the playoff. I have seen some very questionable calls not just against us but many teams out there. It is very much about money these days.

I hope that FSU beats ND next week then loose more through the season.

It was wonderful to see Big John out there on multiple plays today. Much more than he was last week. Simply amazing and it kills me the NCAA did not grant him a year yet have given so many horrible reasons for other players. The kid deserves better. The NCAA angers me.

Funderburk saw more run today.

Erv is going to be special. It will be great to have Broyld and Estime back.

Eskridge had taken huge steps backwards. It seems that he is playing soft and I mean Charmin to prevent injury before he jumps to the NFL. Remember there were many rumors he was going to jump last year but he had an injury that probably brought him back.

It was awesome to see Whigham play the whole game after what happened last year. The secondary looked much improved with getting some rest.

I underestimated Long. I think he looked great for a Freshman getting his first start against the # team in the nation. I remember when he got in trouble for running his mouth but he might be backing it up. I don't think we should anoint him yet being one game but he had a great start. He was very composed in the pocket and will only get better. As much as I want the best for THunt after all he has dealt with, I hope that the coaches are willing to put the best player out there at all position regardless of what has been as they have said.

Missed a some tackles but did and awesome job on the quick screens and bubbles. We used to get blown up for those.

38-20 is much better than 59-3 and it should have been much closer than that.

I hope that GM relishes in his position and decides to stay on. I think if he does, he could spend more time on the recruiting trail where he excels. He could also take time to learn.

FSU fans are a mouthy bunch. Not as bad as PSU, ND, Ole Miss, UTenn, etc... but they were very nasty. I guess if you win and you are national champs you have that right. I would hope if we ever got back there we could do it with class and act like we have been there. Quite a few fights in the stands and a few outside.

The sight to see of the game today was the gang of fella's wearing crab hats. Kudos and oranges!!!!

Best post of the season. Thank you!

 

[memcorsu]

Hickey

Stand corrected but much better than past season/games. I am very impressed that it was not more seeing who they were blocking. Although there were a few stops at the line, they more than held their own. They actually had more yards loss to negative gains than we had, they had 20 we had 6. That is pretty impressive when you think that it is in the trenches where football is won or lost and they should have (when you look at stars, measurements, records, etc...) not have done what they did today.

 

[OrangePA]

There were also a few extra curricular after the whistle go uncalled our way. One bad one in front of our coaches after the "late" hit on Winston in which the FSU players started wolfing at our coaching staff.

I think the one thing that is not being mentioned is that I don't recall one false start on our OL today. I still think if you are going to allow players to hand fight down the field it needs to go both ways. Like the tie up against Maryland went to the offensive player as it should but against UL it went to the D and would have been a touchdown. If you are going to call it one way it should be called the same the other way.

Hickey.

3rd And 1.

Ugh.

 

[Crusty]

Stand corrected but much better than past season/games. I am very impressed that it was not more seeing who they were blocking. Although there were a few stops at the line, they more than held their own. They actually had more yards loss to negative gains than we had, they had 20 we had 6. That is pretty impressive when you think that it is in the trenches where football is won or lost and they should have (when you look at stars, measurements, records, etc...) not have done what they did today.

Going into the game FSU was only a middle of the ACC pack run D so there was no real surprise we could run on them. We have been stellar at pass D all year and once again, FSU has no real pass rush this year. FSU is something like 9th in the ACC in total D. Austin Wilson's parents might not agree but still a solid performance by our guys.

BC, Clemson and Pitt are all better at run D and will probably be more difficult tests even if we are healthy. We will be better by the time we play them.

 

[memcorsu]

Another highlight of the game and for those very few that stay till the end of the game and after, is the band this year is seeing the alma mater acapella after every game. It is incredibly beautiful. I am on the complete opposite side of the Dome and it is amazing hearing it through the Dome. I compare it to the gentle rain after the raging thunderstorms we used to get back home in the summer. The game/storm has so much energy and the last visages alma mater/ gentle rain shows a subdued and quite beauty. I would love to hear a recording of this in Hendricks. It would be an awesome recruiting tool to have it playing near some of the displays back dubbed into some highlights with Mark Park breaking in to "catch the action'.

I must say that I am partial, and grew up in a church that we would often sing the good ole' hymns acapella. It always remind me that the human body is the most amazing thing ever and the human voice the most beautiful instrument (I am not including us who don't have the singing gene).



Edit that: I knew that the team, band, and players sang it together, but this is the first year that I have noticed them sing it again after the team went to the locker room. I must have missed it as the video was recorded in 08.

 

[Crumrye]

I thunk we will see the real FSU team this weekend. They will be up for that game. Also, I think Matthew Thomas and Eligwe will be back and they are supposed to be their 2 best rushers. Honestly yesterday, I thought they played real conservative and looked somewhat disinterested. . After next weekend, I think all the questions will be answered about them. other good or bad.

On a good not, I thought our new OC called a good game. Long has a future in my opinion.