re: Time to say goodbye to this thread - The season is here

I just got through watching the first half of FSU v Clemson from last year, and a few things stuck out to me as worth sharing. Fair warning, this will be long.

Keep in mind, however, that this arm-chair analysis is of FSU’s team last year. This year is obviously this year – things can and will be different – but I think there are some interesting takeaways still. Also, keep in mind that I only watched the first half, which is a fairly small sample size, and keep in mind the style of ball Clemson plays offensively. It's a bit different from us. Nonetheless, here goes.

FSU Offense:

Oline: The funny thing here is not that this unit is a sieve, but that they didn’t put together many plays where each man did his job. There just always seemed to be a bust somewhere. On so many plays, it looked like 4 guys did their job and one guy didn’t – consistency and communication seemed to be lacking. They also struggled mightily when Clemson brought pressure. And the narrative that their numbers in the run game were better because of Dalvin Cook is definitely true. He made prime rib out of potted meat several times. The Oline/TE group had 4 false starts in the first half, plus a holding call. I was unimpressed overall, particularly in the consistency dept.

Francois: Francois throws a pretty ball, and has a quick release. Despite the fact that he can run, he only did once in the first half, and only when the LBs completely vacated the middle. He moves very well. Just like Hurts, Francois was a freshman last year, but played with poise. I was impressed in that regard. Regarding his passing, I found it interesting that no matter the play – straight drop back, play-action, whatever – he seemed to always let it fly to his first read, whether it was open or not. I’m not saying he was throwing into coverage all half, but rather it seemed that FSUs OC was drawing up plays to try and isolate a matchup and Francois’ job was to let it fly – and he did. Sometimes plays were made and sometimes not, but I never saw him read the D and check to his 2nd or 3rd read. He just spun it to whomever the play was designed for. Sure, he rarely had time to do much more, but the point is that if a passing play was called, Francois was gonna pass it – in rhythm, pretty ball, to his first read - no matter what. I don’t know if this is because he was a freshman or if this is what FSU wanted, but it’s what he did. He does execute a pretty good play-action fake, but was often under immediate pressure thereafter. Honestly, I thought FSU’s oline blocked better on straight drop-back plays as opposed to play-action. It was strange.

TE: They’ve got a couple guys, both juniors – a white boy, Izzo, and a guy with more melanin, Saunders, who looked like they could both play. Saunders opened the game with a nice catch and run, and Izzo was involved in the gameplan quite a bit. Izzo false started at least once.

WR: In this first half, they had 3 WRs who did enough to be noticed, and 2 of them (Rudolph and Whitfield) don’t play for FSU anymore. The remaining guy was Murray, who had a couple of nice underneath catch and runs (although both were open and anyone could have done that), but on FSUs last drive he had a few nice plays. He’s got a bright future. Not a tall kid, but good body control, thickly built, and moves well. Not one other WR was worth noting. I can say that as a group, I noted them not being physical at the line of scrimmage. I also made note of a lot of missed blocks in the run game from this group. I felt like there was an all-around lack of physicality.

Overall on their O, I can compliment them on one thing – the kept playing. They kept their cool and kept battling, and got the score to 17-14 just before half. However, 4 of their 5 best plays were pass interference, and they had 4 or 5 false starts. I was not impressed with their route running, but Francois can spin it pretty good and definitely will. He can run, but rarely left the pocket. Oline is inconsistent and the offense as a whole struggled with pressure/blitz.