Florida State's Win Over Boston College Is Most Impressive Win Yet Under Jimbo Fisher

This is the toughest FSU team, mentally and physically, I’ve seen in a long, long time. I was particularly impressed after Bert scored. Defense shut em down. Offense pounded the LOS, kept moving the chains, kept the ball away from them, ran out the clock. That is a sign of an elite team in the making.

but this was a good win, and one we probably would not of had in the past. I like the direction we are headed and I like to see that we have started to play with an attitude and swagger like back in the 90’s. Just got to keep putting it together every week and move forward. Go Noles!

I know the game was ugly, and I had to listen to it on the radio on Saturday afternoon, so I didn’t get a real look at the game until Sunday night. Honestly, I didn’t think it was nearly as bad as the score or the turnovers indicated. Our defense has been lights out since Sept 11. I know Miami put some yards up against us, but they are a big play offense, so they are going to get some big plays, but we severely limited them to just a couple meaningless big plays that never put us in doubt of the win.
But against BC, almost everyone thought there would be a let down, and there was. This is not speculative bashing of the old system, but it’s not that we wouldn’t have lost this game last year, WE DID… against usf. It was the same game, off of a big win where the offense put up big numbers, we came home and the offense wasn’t clicking at all… and we couldn’t put a win together.
The offense did last weekend though, do what it had to do when it was now or never, and score to go up, and not give the ball back for 8 MINUTES, huge, impressive and very important.
 Let down games are a part of college football because the big games mean so much. This isn’t the NFL where if you lose 6 games you get into the playoffs. One game can change a season, so when you get a game like we had against miami, complacency can set in, and a team can feel like if we can thrash miami, we’ll make it to the ACCCG. Wheels fall off, you lose composure, coaches begin taking risks (fake usc), and you let a win slip away after a season changing win.
BC win was more important to show where we are and more impressive as a fan who knows the struggles that we still have to overcome, um win was more impressive from the outside… but we are not on the outside.

I agree that getting this win was perhaps more impressive because FSU has dominated teams in the past decade but it has not shown the consistency and mental toughness, as you mentioned.

complete opposite direction because that is what I’m good at.

This was a bad game. Either the team is too banged up to compete at top level and/or the FSU offense just got exposed. Be it the coaching, Oline, Ponder, or whomever. I said earlier this year that the offensive problems would manifest against good defenses and that was especially true against BC.

Was Miami the aberration? Or should we expect OU and BC type numbers when facing other good defenses. Perhaps BC is just a taste of whats to come. The road doesn’t get much easier now. FSU’s most difficult stretch of the schedule is yet to come. Will we look back on the BC win as a tough, hard fought, learning experience that makes the team they have to bring their A game each week? Or will we look back on it as a sign of an offense on the precipice of disaster.

The last eight years of FSU football has conditioned me to think disaster. Especially going back and looking at the collapse in 2005 after FSU strung all those wins together. Time, the cliche says, will tell. Thursday is back on the road for the Noles. Will a healed up FSU team come out and dominate like it has in some games this year, or will a struggling offense again have to lean on a much improved defense?

Who do we hold responsible, the players, coaches?

Great analysis, Frank D. I think Noles will look back on the BC win and the OU loss (Nice fans up there BTW) as both critical to the development of these kids. Both were reality checks w/ the BC win showing this REALLY is a different team in terms of attitude and perserverance. We may not win every game, but I feel good about what the staff and players are doing to be prepared for them and the momentum changes that occur.

I agree with you completely. I took more away positive in this win than Miami. I have never seen Miami flatter against FSU and I have seen a few games. New the team would be beat up a little and they were. I saw it in the loss to OU and I still believe it. This team has “Fight” in em and it shows. If they take on the demeanor of their head coach I see this team accepting challenges and succeeding even after a loss. I just think back to OU and watching Nick Moody lay that kid out and thinking to myself, that wasn’t a dirty hit or anything, this team is still playing hard. Go Noles!

I do think it is good that we will practice focused and come out hungry vs NC State, similar to what Oklahoma did to us after their Utah State debacle.

it was more important to our goal of winning the Atlantic… Most probably know that FSU has never been able to beat BC—again, a crucial game for winning our Division—in Doak since BC joined the ACC. IMO this is the most important aspect of the win.

Helps get the players’ attention in practice. The game was ugly, the win was not. A victory with four turnovers is a beautiful thing! The best part was running the ball in the fourth quarter – that was stout!

It happens so often it’s like watching nascar. I mean wasn’t stanford a 41 point dog to USC two years ago? To believe that your team will never have a let down or never lose to someone they should not is just unrealistic. The great teams lose less often, and that is true but it happens a lot. I mean unranked ole miss beats #1 UF at the swamp….This team is good and they fight like they are great. I like the chemistry this season. I do wish we had better WR. That is really holding Ponder back this season. We really miss Owens probably the most.