Another Game Day in Tallahassee. Another Loss for the Seminoles. A crazy day to say the least!!
Another eventful day in Tallahassee to say the least. The Noles did not come out victorious and drop to a horrid 1-3 on the season, but saying there was no drama would be an understatement.
The Tailgate
We arrived at our tailgate spot at around 11:30 after picking up my friend Matt from where he was staying. The cooler was loaded down with some cold beers and we were ready to have a grand time. My girlfriend's family would be meeting us down near the stadium at around 12:15 or 12:30. Prior to them coming, we were going to wander between other tailgates some of our other friends were having.
We played some beer pong and drank some keg beer for around an hour or so until my girlfriend's parents arrived. As we are walking over to the tailgate, @morganannwood gets a call from her mother saying that Bruce, Morgan's father, sliced his hand opened really bad. We walked hurriedly over to their tailgate to see what was going on with his cut. There was a puddle of blood and the paper towels were soaked.
He was trying to put up the tent and it broke as he was trying to lock in one of the pieces. The metal sliced a good chunk out of the top of his hand. A few other friends arrived shortly after we did and we sent a few of them off to find EMS. I saw a few team members of the Medical Response Unit (MRU) and flagged them down. They ran over to where Bruce was and started cleaning up his wound. The blood was flowing nonstop. When the head MRU team member arrived with the FSU police department, they wrapped up his hand with some gauze and called for an ambulance. Instead of waiting for the ambulance, they left the tailgate and went to a local urgent care.
He ended up with 17 total stitches, but no damage to his tendons, which was great news.
The rest of the tailgate was pretty uneventful. We kept it pretty calm as we were all in shock from Bruce's injury.
The Game
I did not have a good feeling about the FSU vs Miami game early in the week. I knew the Noles would come to play since it was a rivalry game, but they haven't been able to put it together on offense, defense, and special teams.
The first half of the game, the Noles defense stuffed Miami. The Hurricanes couldn't move the ball at all during the first half and the Seminoles took a "commanding" 3-0 lead into halftime.
As you know with football, making adjustments is key.
The third quarter was dominated by the Hurricanes as they kicked a field goal and added a touchdown which was set up by a long punt return from Braxton Berrios.
The fourth quarter was one of the most exciting quarters of football you will ever see. The Noles tied up the game at 10 after QB James Blackman connected with Ryan Izzo for a 15 yard touchdown. 5 minutes later the Noles took a 13-10 lead after Ricky Aguayo kicked a 38 yard field goal.
The Hurricanes drove down the field quickly on their next possession as Braxton Berrios had another touchdown reception to take the lead for the Hurricanes 17-13 with 5:09 left on the clock.
The following possession for the Noles was methodical, driving down the field in 9 plays for 75 yards. They capped off the drive with a 20 yard touchdown reception from Auden Tate with 1:24 left in the game. The fans in Doak Campbell Stadium were going crazy thinking the Noles extended their streak to 8 games over their rival Hurricanes.
Not so fast my friend.
Malik Rosier converted multiple third downs on the drive and then later connected with Darrell Langham for a 23 yard touchdown pass with 6 seconds left on the clock.
The Hurricanes beat the Noles in Tallahassee, 24-20.
The Seminoles are now 1-3 on the season and 1-2 in the ACC, while the Hurricanes are 4-0 on the year and 2-0 in the ACC.
I'm starting to wonder if the few Winston/Cook years were just a temporary reprieve from the downward slide that the program had taken in the past decade. The recruiting seems to be only slightly off, but the performance of the team in general is nearly abysmal. Maybe Jimbo just isn't the right guy after all.
What do you think of him as a Seminole fan?
I think you are definitely onto something. I definitely think Jamies made Jimbo. There are many problems that I see with the program that have it trending in the wrong direction.
I think overall he knows the X's and O's better than most and is a football savant, but he hasn't put his players in a position to succeed.
Regarding the play-calling -
I think most people underestimate the importance of having great offensive/defensive coordinators. If you look at what Ohio State did a few years ago...
Tom Herman had that OSU offense rumbling, even with a back-up quarterback that essentially proved to be a flash in the pan for a few games. Sure, they had Elliott in the backfield and a solid core of receivers, but the plays that were called were spot-on most of the time. Defenses never knew what was coming.
Since Herman left OSU, the play-calling has been mostly atrocious. And there doesn't appear to be much quarterback development happening at OSU - which has been that way for years. Herman was able to go to Houston and replicate the offensive output. Meyer has mostly struggled to find a coordinator and game plans that come anywhere close to what Herman did on a weekly basis. The worst part is - it's Meyer's own spread-option offense that they run! But the calls get predictable and they routinely play it safe and end up starting games far too slowly, especially against better opponents.
Point is - we've seen many times in recent years that great offensive coordinators under great head coaches end up leaving for a head coaching job of their own...and all too frequently, both coaches end up underperforming, or just flat-out failing.
If you have something great going for your program, why not keep it going? Not everyone is cut out to be a head coach or a play-caller. These coaches need some better guidance. Most of these guys seem to be chasing the head coach money but end up losing in the long-run. Surely they know this happens...but chase it anyway. It seems really stupid to me.
Maybe Jimbo should go work for Urban?
You bring up some great points there. When head coaches want to call the plays I think it takes away so much for the side of the ball they are calling the plays on, at least on the college level. I think these coaches should give their offensive coordinator the scheme they want to run and then work with them on the game plan, but let the specific coach call the plays.
The relationship between coordinators and head coaches is so important. I remember back when Richt already made his mind up to leave FSU as the offensive coordinator back in 2000 just as FSU was preparing to play Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl for the National Championship and the offense was non-existent. Then with Jeff Bowden as the offensive coordinator, it was a complete disaster and the Seminoles were basically irrelevant for the next decade.
Some guys definitely are better coordinators than head coach's, but that money and potential notoriety certainly intrigues these guys.
I think what Dabo has with Clemson is pretty damn impressive. Their offense and defense are rolling!
Bruce almost had as many stitches as the Noles had points. Hope he is doing ok.
I would show the picture on here, but it is absolutely disgusting!! He is a tough one so he made it through like a champ! Thanks for checking in! He has had two unfortunate events recently!
Poor guy. Needs some good news soon.