Had Enough

I’m a little curious about the ACCs scheduling. I don’t know who was supposed to do what per preseason prognostications. UNC and Miami were to be good, but the rest I don’t know. Clemson and Duke were to be good to very good I’d think. Unless my counting is off, FSU played bottom 5 of 6 finishers in the conference (I misstated this as all 6 previously). There were 8 of the 14 who finished .500 or better. FSU played 2 of them in the regular season. None of the top 4. I’ll highlight again Va Tech was the regular season opponent that finished highest in the conference standings - 5-3. The same Va Tech that lost to 4-8 Purdue, 6-6 Rutgers, and Marshall who went 3-5 in the Sun Belt. Those Big 10 teams tied with several others but only two teams had worse in conference records. As for Marshall they were tied for 3rd worst in conference record. One of the other two Southern Miss, an FSU non-conference opponent. Overall, they played 5 teams with winning records. Two at 7-5. One of those had the lead until their QB got hurt. The other had a QB playing in his 2nd game. They played two terrible teams in non-conference. So bad that game planning, physical difficulty are not a drain. It’s a virtual bye week. One of the challenges of going undefeated is the weekly grind of opponents that present something to drain your physical and mental energy. This is a weak P5 schedule. They trailed into the 2nd half in 5 games. They were outgained in 4 or 5, two by 100 or so yards. There’s a bit of a crack in P5 scheduling with so many teams in the conference that you run the risk of missing playing the top teams. That happened here and I wonder if UNC was the hoped for conference championship matchup. I’m not overly disappointed that FSU didn’t make it. I certainly understand their disappointment. They did win them all. The only time they looked good against a team with a pulse was game 1 versus LSU. Add in the Travis injury and this is why they are on the outside looking in.

Yes, this is the key. Pressure and maintain rush lanes. The occasional scamper is fine as long as we’re creating chaos.

Congrats to Wake beating Vandy. And UNC and Clemson beating South Carolina. Florida State beat LSU and a Graham Mertzless UF. Miami over the Aggies. Georgia beat GaTech. UK over Louisville. Tennessee over Virginia. Ole Miss over GaTech. The ACC won 1 game against the top half of the SEC. A&M might squeeze in as top half I suppose. The SEC won 3 against the top 4 in the ACC.

Starting next year win ‘em all, you are in.

Win impressively. Don’t skate by a mediocre Clemson because their walk-in kicker misses a 30 yarder (outgained by 100). Never ever schedule North Alabama. Don’t get outgained by 100 yards against BC. Get Southern Miss off the schedule. Start there. They got lucky too. Duke QB injured. UF QB out. Miami playing so well they benched their QB. All that before Travis got injured (except the UF game). They’re unlucky in that most years they are in.

The ACC has been weak for years. Lots of poor QB play too. Top to bottom it’s a poor conference. All the teams in are from major conferences. It’s sorta bad luck on FSUs part. The selling point isn’t even that we’re better. It’s we won against our crappy schedule. Never mind Georgia you got Bama; we got Louisville.

If you ignore their schedule, then sure. FSUs toughest opponent = LSU. That’s Bamas 4th toughest. FSU did not play any of the top 4 ACC finishers in the regular season. Their top finisher? Va Tech. The same Va Tech that lost to Rutgers (6-6), Purdue (4-8) and Marshall (3-5 in the Sun Belt). Southern Miss won 3 games and lost to ACU and Tarleton by combined 38. North Alabama won 3 and lost to Mercer (Ole Miss maybe beat Mercer 73-7). Travis or not, FSU has done nothing to prove they’re more deserving other than beating the crappy teams on their schedule. Georgia, Ohio State, Bama, Texas, Washington, Michigan, Oregon. Yeah. I’d put money that at least 4 go undefeated against that schedule.

I know. But their conference schedule is atrocious. Played the bottom 6 finishers. People give the SEC hell about their scrimmages but FSU had two - Southern Miss and North Alabama. 5 wins against team with winning records. Two of those had backups playing.

I haven’t read all this but just wanted to say as of right now FSUs best conference win is a home game against a team that lost to Purdue, Marshall and Rutgers.

I did not know until now that FSU played the 6 worst teams in the conference. Did not play any of the top 4 until tonight. And their highest finishing conference foe lost to Purdue, Marshall and Rutgers. Their non conference foes lost to ACU, Tarleton and Mercer amongst others. Duke was winning until their QB went out. Miami started a backup. UF played a backup QB. They beat LSU.

So you want it be comparable? The NFL has fewer teams with more balanced schedules. Seeding will matter a ton. Who gets a bye, who gets a home game. That will matter more in college and will get scrutiny beyond what the NFL gets due to imbalanced schedules. So we’ll try harder to make it right.

That should be easily correctable on Red. That’s a negative on Sark. That was a generally effective set that we’ve seemingly thrown away. I don’t think he’s a full time RB but more situational. Baxter will probably be the best short yardage guy longer term.

I watch too much live football to know who’s the best. There probably are a number of teams better in short yardage though. I think Red would be fine in wildcat if we’d run anywhere but left seemingly every time. I’d like to see Red in at RB with QE at QB. Baxter has been a little slow going. Our strength is versatility and explosiveness in our depth.

Well room doesn’t imply just two. I’d be surprised if anyone else has a 4th/5th guy like Keilan, who has made big plays in non garbage time. Or a 4th/5th guy like Red that has run/thrown wildcat with some success. Blue has some skill. Baxter was a top recruit. And Brooks. They can run. They can catch. Some can block a bit. No idea where they rank but that’s a good group.

Majors. Just for the letdown factor for many.

1. I get you but view it differently. Rice and Wyoming are not coin flips. Houston really wasn’t but damned if they didn’t almost get us. I’d agree that no win is 100% guaranteed, but in my mind, there were few that were close to 50-50. 2. You are referencing our history. Nothing 3 years ago matters. That’s the battered fan syndrome. You are correct that more talented teams lose every year. But the Bamas, Georgias, Ohio States of the past 5 years are doing quite well in that regard. That’s in part because their talent disparity over their opponent has grown. I believe in our talent. The talent in the Big 12 is down too in my opinion. I believe in our growth trend from an individual and team perspective. We may not have the talent of those 3 teams above, but we are not far off. And a big part of this equation is that our Big 12 opponents are not in a great talent/experience situation.

I’m happy and I’ve never said otherwise. Overachievement would be beating teams more experienced and talented than us and not losing to those less talented. Bama may be more talented than us, but it’s marginal at best. They had an inexperienced QB and a frosh LT. Ours may not be supremely experienced, but they’re similarly talented with more experience. Their Oline has not been particularly good in several years either. Who exactly on our schedule can say they have better talent and experience than us? TCU wasn’t going to replicate their season. ISU has a frosh QB. KSU lost arguably their best offensive and defensive players. OU was coming off a terrible season, has minimal depth. Bu, OSU, Tech? So it was one coin flip, maybe two. You’d expect to hit one. Throw in a slip up game and you’re at 10 wins. Anything less than is absolutely battered fan syndrome. 10-11 wins was reasonable and what talent and experience indicated as a reasonable expectation.

I’d agree on that ceiling for most people. I just said not all of us had 10 wins as the ceiling. Maybe that was less than 1%, I don’t know that answer.

Not all of us. 10 wins was the minimum. This season is not an over achievement. Maybe it could be. But it’s not thus far. People ignore history and ignore roster turnover of all other teams. They shit themselves over perceived team and individual failings while again ignoring history and other teams issues. They also overinflate their own teams and individuals that wow them. The talent, experience and balance of this team was no doubt top 10 and borderline top 5 from the get go. When I say borderline top 5, I am being conservative. Really the surprising elements are how well Sweat and Auburn have performed. No one else really surprised.

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Tech is not a big play passing offense that was missing Price. Morton goes deep 14% of the time and completes 34%. 24% of passes behind the LOS. 60% at 9 yards or less. His yard per attempt is 6. Brooks has 24 catches for 72 yards. None of those reflect positively for an explosive offense. We just attack differently based on opponent. They don’t pose much of a passing threat. Our pass rush was decent and they couldn’t break us down escaping the pocket. And from an unprovable standpoint, it was just going to be our night. Brooks wasn’t going to beat us himself.

Catalon was in on 2 drives at least. There’s a lot of concern about pass D here. He’s not an answer for that. He’s not going to be.

Im on the opposite side so maybe that impacts my perspective.

From an outside perspective, he has the structure of the program in great shape. I’m not sure there’s anyone out there that is better suited for long term success.

It was the oddest injury I’ve ever seen. Not a big hit. He tried to drag/pull himself up but it just wouldn’t work. He was down for a long time then walked straight to the locker room without any help. But his walk didn’t give the impression that he’d return.