Entering the 2010 season, FSU was an unranked team, an unknown entity with a new identity. Gone were the days of Bobby Bowden in the watertower at spring camp, in stepped Jimbo Fisher as a first-year coach of a team with only five senior starters. The early-season rout by Oklahoma to the tune of 47-17 seems to have woken up these Seminoles, as they beat their next four opponents by an average of 26 points per game, culminating in a thorough dismantling of in-state and in-conference rival #13 Miami at the Orange Bowl on Saturday. Heading into the season, the story of this team was Christian Ponder as a Heisman hopeful and he has certainly not disappointed (an efficient 10:4 TD:Int ratio with 60% completion rate and a 133.6 QBRAT), but he has taken a backseat to two units, the youthful defense and the rushing game.
After getting carved up by Oklahoma, the ‘Noles have bounced back with strong play from all facets of their defensive game, amassing 26 total sacks so far, good for #1 overall in the nation, by 6 whole sacks. To put that into perspective, there are 35 teams with between 14-20 sacks. Now these numbers will most likely shake themselves out as teams have their off weeks and results level out, but for right now that is a staggering glance. They have disrupted the line of scrimmage very well, their linebackers and safeties have penetrated and made many tackles for loss on well-timed blitzes. Greg Reid, one of the biggest defensive scapegoats in the Oklahoma game, stepped his game up so confidently over the last month that he was claiming to be bored by the lack of teams’ attempts to challenge him prior to the Miami game and didn’t concede anything of relevance during the game itself.
The defense plays tight football and the offense controls the time of possession with an efficient passing game and a rushing game that picks up large chunks of yardage. Just how large? Florida State has 3 running backs who have at least 36 carries this year (min. of 6 per game), and the lowest yards-per-carry of the three is 5.9. Benefitting from some long carries coming off of the game against Miami to be sure, this stable of running backs; Chris Thompson, Jermaine Thomas and Ty Jones; combines for 12 TD’s and 1,089 yards on 149 carries, a staggering 7.3 ypc. Add to that the elusiveness of Christian Ponder, and there are a lot of weapons in the running game for FSU.
This weekend they play host to Boston College, their first of four home games left to close out the season, out of a possible six. Miami dropped completely out of the Top 25 after their home loss to FSU and Florida, who after last week’s home loss to LSU has fallen down to #22, leaving FSU, ranked #16, as the top team in the state by the same margin as that team sack total. A nice coincidence for now, with both values subject to change, but Seminole fans have to be happy with what they’ve been treated to this season, and with the opportunity to have Doak rockin’ with momentum over the last month, because everyone familiar with the rivalry will know that FSU can’t call themselves kings of the state until they unseat Florida (Nov. 27 in Tallahassee), winners of the last six matchups. Jimbo Fisher has his team and his fans believing in that possibility, and that is mighty impressive considering the magnitude of the off-season coaching change coupled with a Week Two blowout.