Florida State and Boston College have their game in the books. The Seminoles came out and handled their business 51-7 against a Boston College team that was looking for an upset on Saturday night.
It wasn't a perfect performance, but what game is?
Florida State did look the part of a national contender again on Saturday though, which is a big first step as the team starts to try and get back into the chase.
BC didn't have a bad offense, their defense had struggled but they were scoring points on every team they faced. Not against Florida State. BC only threatened twice all game, scoring on a second quarter drive and turning the ball over on downs on their initial possession.
Beyond that, Chase Rettig was on the run a lot and Florida State's team speed was on full display.
How fast is Florida State's defense? On the opening drive Terrence Brooks got nailed for unneccessary roughness for drilling a receiver that Rettig lead right into his path. Now a quick aside, this to me is part of what's wrong with football. Rettig on at least four separate occasions threw a pass that would have gotten a player carted out of Doak in the 90's. Nowadays, a quarterback can lead a receiver into a killshot and if the defender is foolish enough to take it, free yards.
At any rate, Brooks crushed BC receiver Alex Amidon and got 15 yards tacked on for his trouble. A couple drives later a BC safety came up and laid the same exact hit on a Seminole receiver... No call. Now, aside from the bang-up job the ACC officials do week in and week out, the reason that it wasn't called was simply speed. It just looks more fierce coming from Florida State. When they're playing up to potential this defense flies around and is really dangerous.
The same hit looks illegal when its made with Florida State's speed.
What Florida State needs to do now is figure out how to bottle up their play at Doak Campbell Stadium and bring it with them on the road.
At home this year Florida State has scored 49 or more in every contest and has been dominant with a capital D. On the road, they average just 23 per game and have let both USF and NC State hang around with them well into the second half.
So what Florida State team shows up next weekend?
If tonight was any indication, Florida State has its focus back.
After the game Vince Williams told me, "the hangover was gone Monday when we decided to kick Boston College's [rear end]."
And they did, the Seminoles came out with a chip on their shoulder and imposed their will all evening. Before the game BC made the mistake of talking about how Florida State only runs three plays and aren't blue collar.
After the game, Williams simply joked the Noles had some blue collar guys on their team too and that those were the best three plays Williams had ever seen called (a sarcastic allusion to their criticism of FSU's lack of offensive variety).
Frank Spaziani basically admitted after the game, three plays or not, BC just couldn't stop it.
"It wasn't like some things we didn't practice against and things they did differently," said Spaziani. "It was just a matter of us fundamentally not being able to stop them."
I guess that goes back to Jimbo Fisher's point about execution, but it also speaks to the fact that at 1-5, without an FBS win, BC might want to stop letting its players go say silly things.
They were outclassed on Saturday night and it showed.
As for the Seminoles, FSU is poised to hop up in the polls after losses by two teams ranked ahead of them. But more important than where FSU is in the polls tomorrow or the BCS rankings which will come out for the first time this week, Florida State has to maintain its focus from here on out.
Next week, at Miami, Florida State will try to make it 7-1 and continue to establish momentum for their stretch run. We'll have a nauseating amount of coverage leading up to that game (this is the Miami Herald after all), so make sure to keep an eye out.
But back to Florida State's win over BC, this was what the Seminoles needed. Florida State came out and handled their business.
I'll be back with more coverage and analysis tonight and tomorrow.
Keep checking back...
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