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Florida State football film review: N.C. State 4th quarter

Offensive execution did not improve, playcalling slipped some, and the defense could not hold NCSU while being held a good bit.

By Alan Mundy
US PRESSWIRE - Presswire

Offensive formations are denoted by [# of backs][# of tight ends][shotgun, if applicable]

Defensive formations denoted by [# of DL][# of linebackers][# of defensive backs if more than 4]

Clips to come.

Down Yard Play O-form D-form Analysis
2-8 at St43 Glennon,M. pass complete to Creecy,T. for 9 yards to the FS48, 1ST DOWN ST (SMITH, TEL.). 11 gun 425 The running back does a great job of freezing Vince Wiliams with a stutter step then breaking outside. With every other receiver running deep, there's a lot of room to run underneath.
1-10 at Fs48 Glennon,M. pass complete to Payton,Q. for 14 yards to the FS34, 1ST DOWN ST (JONES, C.). 11 gun 425 Yet another rub concept. This time it's Christian Jones who is slow reading the pattern and allowing the receiver to run free. FSU is getting abused on the pick plays these last few drives. Time to play some zone.
1-10 at Fs34 Glennon,M. pass complete to Payton,Q. for 9 yards to the FS25 (RHODES, X.). 11 gun Dig route allows the receiver to run away from the man coverage and in front of the deep half safeties. Nice throw.
2-1 at Fs25 Creecy,T. rush for 1 yard to the FS24, 1ST DOWN ST (JERNIGAN, T.;WERNER, B.). 11 gun 425 Jernigan is just dominating at this point. He shoves the guard two yards into the backfield, then tosses him aside and makes the tackle.
1-10 at Fs24 Glennon,M. pass incomplete to Carter,M. (JOYNER, L.). 11 gun 425 Don't know what Glennon saw here. Telvin has great coverage on the TE and he is NOT open.
2-10 at Fs24 Glennon,M. pass complete to Thornton,S. for 24 yards to the FS0, 1ST DOWN ST, TOUCHDOWN, clock 13:47. 11 gun 425 Telvin Smith gets beat out of the backfield and Lamarcus Joyner takes a poor angle to the running back. Finally someone breaks loose on these underneath checkdowns where the rest of the defense has been run off deep.
Sade,N. kick attempt good.
Florida State 16, NC State 10 NC State is really taking advantage of FSU's linebackers in man coverage. FSU should have made the adjustment to play more zone by now.
Drive: 7 plays, 59 yards, TOP 01:34
Sade,N. kickoff 65 yards to the FS0, touchback.
1-10 at Fs25 MANUEL, EJ pass incomplete to THOMPSON, C., QB hurry by TEAM. 11 gun 425 This screen play is a 75 yards touchdown if EJ gets Thompson the ball. Beautifully timed call and just flat out missed it.
2-10 at Fs25 MANUEL, EJ rush for 1 yard to the FS26 (Dowdy,R.). 11 gun 425 Unacceptable breakdown in pass protection here as FSU has 7 guys to block 4 and still allows a pressure. FSU is trying to hit a shot play downfield, but NC State's DT whips Josue Matias and then wrecks poor Chris Thompson who tries to clean him up.
3-9 at Fs26 MANUEL, EJ pass complete to BENJAMIN, K. for 27 yards to the ST47, 1ST DOWN FS (Bishop,B.;Burris,J.). 20 gun 425 FSU runs two verticals to attack the safety here and Kelvin Benjamin is wide open. The intermediate and deep throws have been there whenever FSU has tried for them. By nature they are lower percentage throws and won't be completed every time, which is why you can't throw them exclusively when you have to have it. You cannot keep putting your QB in terrible 3rd and long downs and expecting him to convert every time. There has got to be some margin for error and you create that by calling more of these plays when you don't necessarily *need* them.
1-10 at St47 THOMPSON, C. rush for no gain to the ST47 (Wolff,E.). 21 425 Option to the boundary. Safeties are flying up against the run. Time to call the option pass, Jimbo.
2-10 at St47 Timeout Florida State, clock 12:15.
2-10 at St47 MANUEL, EJ pass complete to SMITH, R. for 20 yards to the ST27, 1ST DOWN FS (Bishop,B.). 21 gun 425 Again FSU attacks the safety by running two vertical stemmed routes at him and throwing whichever route he does not cover. In this case they jump the post leaving the deep curl to Rodney open. This is a *long* throw from the opposite hash and EJ throws it with velocity and accuracy.
1-10 at St27 THOMPSON, C. rush for 5 yards to the ST22 (Wolff,E.;Bishop,B.). 21 gun 425 This is zone read action in the backfield, but Nick O'Leary stays in and blocks the backside DE. NC State is really getting upfield in their pass rush and Thompson gets inside the DE for a nice gain.
2-5 at St22 THOMPSON, C. rush for 3 yards to the ST19 (Bishop,B.). 21 gun Again, the safety is flying up in run support. I don't know if this is the way it's designed, but I'd like to see Rodney Smith try to crack back on the safety here. It's an inside run and the corner is playing way off. Get the safety blocked and let Thompson deal with the corner.
3-2 at St19 Timeout Florida State, clock 10:26.
3-2 at St19 MANUEL, EJ sacked for loss of 15 yards to the ST34 (Johnson,D.). 22 43 There are several things to understand about this play. First, this is a pure naked bootleg. There is no one out on a route to throw to. Second, Tre Jackson and Nick O'Leary get absolutely owned, allowing their guys 5+ yards into the backfield. The play is totally doomed in terms of converting the first down. This is where your 5th year senior QB has got to play smart situational football. The play is doomed? You're in FG range and can make it a 3 score game. If EJ just puts his head down and minimizes the loss, you're looking at a very makable 42 yard field goal. Trying to spin out and losing another 10 yards was a terrible, terrible decision.
4-17 at St34 BEATTY, C. punt 26 yards to the ST8, out-of-bounds.
Drive: 8 plays, 41 yards, TOP 04:20
1-10 at St08 Glennon,M. pass complete to Thornton,S. for 9 yards to the ST17 (JOYNER, L.;JONES, C.). 00 gun 425 Christian Jones gets abused by an inside release and is yards behind the receiver. Why hasn't FSU made the adjustment to play more zone yet? This is just pure cussed stubbornness at this point.
2-1 at St17 Thornton,S. rush for 2 yards to the ST19, 1ST DOWN ST (CARRADINE, C.). 11 425 Werner gets sealed, but Carradine chases the play down from behind. Good effort to keep this play to a short gain.
1-10 at St19 Glennon,M. pass complete to Watson,A. for 6 yards to the ST25 (JONES, C.). 11 gun 425 This is actually pretty good coverage by Christian Jones here. Just a nice route and a nice throw.
2-4 at St25 Glennon,M. pass complete to Underwood,B. for 6 yards to the ST31, 1ST DOWN ST (RHODES, X.). 11 gun 425 NC State completes a pass against a DB for what seems like the first time all half. Quick in cut against pretty good coverage. Glennon is really in rhythm right now.
1-10 at St31 Glennon,M. pass complete to Creecy,T. for no gain to the ST31 (SMITH, TEL.). 11 425 Good coverage downfield and Telvin is right on top of the flat route to the back.
2-10 at St31 Glennon,M. pass complete to Smith,R. for 4 yards to the ST35 (JONES, C.;BENJAMIN, K.). 11 gun 425 Alignment bust by the defense here. Tyler Hunter is covering nobody to the field while there is an uncovered slot receiver to the boundary. Luckily, Glennon either doesn't see it or is content to throw a 3 yard drag route to the uncovered man.
3-6 at St35 Glennon,M. pass complete to Creecy,T. for 3 yards to the ST38 (JOYNER, L.;SMITH, TEL.). 11 gun 425 Telvin goes for the pick and misses, probably a little over aggressive on a 3rd and short in a one score game. Lamarcus Joyner cleans up the play with great closing speed and open field tackling.
4-3 at St38 Baumann,W. punt 39 yards to the FS23, fair catch by GREENE, R..
Drive: 7 plays, 30 yards, TOP 03:17 This is a big stop to slow down NC State's momentum.
1-10 at Fs24 THOMPSON, C. rush for loss of 2 yards to the FS22 (McGill,T.). 21 425 Stork gets beat by the DT who makes the tackle for a short gain. Number 75 for NC State is having an excellent game. FSU is really struggling whenever they try to block him with one guy.
2-12 at Fs22 GREENE, R. rush for 1 yard to the FS23 (Amerson,D.;Lucas,S.). 21 4 FSU is trying some different things to generate yardage on the ground rather than just running it up the middle. Lonnie and O'Leary both only get a part of their guy and the safety is waiting on Rashad Greene on the jet sweep.
3-11 at Fs23 MANUEL, EJ pass incomplete to BENJAMIN, K.. 20 gun 425 Going max protection and taking a shot play here. In my opinion this is a catch inbounds and then the ball comes loose, but the argument can certainly be made that he was going to the ground in the process of the catch and must control it the whole way.
4-11 at Fs23 Timeout Florida State, clock 04:43. Probably shouldn't have challenged this play. There is not clear evidence to overturn and preserving your last timeout is critical in a one possession game.
4-11 at Fs23 BEATTY, C. punt 51 yards to the ST26, fair catch by Smith,R..
Drive: 3 plays, minus 1 yards, TOP 01:34
1-10 at St27 Glennon,M. pass complete to Thornton,S. for 10 yards to the ST37, 1ST DOWN ST (WAISOME, N.). 11 gun 425 This is a very well-designed and executed screen pass. The routes by the TE and receivers look very much like the routes they have been running the entire second half and the defense is definitely fooled. This is one of the only screen plays FSU has allowed good yardage to all year.
1-10 at St37 Glennon,M. pass incomplete to Payton,Q. (WERNER, B.). 12 gun Bjeorn Werner, defensive back, with another PBU. He's good, folks. FSU is now finally playing zone coverage.
2-10 at St37 Glennon,M. pass complete to Underwood,B. for 2 yards to the ST39 (HUNTER, T.). 11 gun 425 Tyler Hunter makes a great tackle for a short gain.
3-8 at St39 Glennon,M. pass complete to Payton,Q. for 14 yards to the FS47, 1ST DOWN ST (SMITH, TEL.). 11 gun 425 Another coverage bust here as both Nick Waisome and Christian Jones run with the vertical route from the slot, leaving the middle slant from the outside WR wide open. Pretty positive this is on Christian Jones.
1-10 at Fs47 Glennon,M. pass incomplete to Watson,A. (SMITH, TEL.). 11 gun 425 Very good coverage by Telvin Smith. Hard to tell but it looks like the pass may have actually bounced off his back.
2-10 at Fs47 Glennon,M. pass complete to Payton,Q. for 11 yards to the FS36, 1ST DOWN ST (RHODES, X.;BROOKS, T.). 11 gun Everette Dawkins whips his man but comes at the QB a little wild, allowing Glennon to sidestep him and complete the pass for a first down.
1-10 at Fs36 Glennon,M. pass incomplete to Creecy,T.. 11 gun 425 Great coverage on the slant by Christian Jones.
2-10 at Fs36 Glennon,M. pass incomplete to Carter,M.. 11 gun Solid coverage all around. Nobody is open and Glennon tries to force it in to the tight end.
3-10 at Fs36 Glennon,M. pass incomplete to Watson,A. (JONES, C.). 425 Again Glennon is trying to force the ball into the tight end who is covered very well by Christian Jones.
4-10 at Fs36 Glennon,M. pass complete to Thornton,S. for 5 yards to the FS31 (HUNTER, T.). 01 gun 425 Glennon has a receiver open in the seam for a first down by just doesn't see him. Hits the checkdown instead and FSU gets the stop that should win the game.
Drive: 10 plays, 42 yards, TOP 01:48
1-10 at Fs32 THOMPSON, C. rush for loss of 2 yards to the FS30 (Teal,T.). 22 43 Every single NC State defender is within 8 yards of the line of scrimmage. You are not going to run successfully here.
2-12 at Fs30 Timeout NC State, clock 02:42.
2-12 at Fs30 THOMPSON, C. rush for 3 yards to the FS33 (Teal,T.;Bishop,B.). 43 Not to be outdone by their previous effort, every single NC State defender is within five yards of the line of scrimmage, except for the "deep" safety who is 6 behind the line.
3-9 at Fs33 Timeout NC State, clock 02:38.
3-9 at Fs33 MANUEL, EJ rush for no gain to the FS33 (Noel,R.;McGill,T.). 11 gun I don't hate this play call, but I do hate it on 3rd and long. Bringing in 3 WRs and spreading it out forced NC State to back off and get defenders out of the box. On first or second down this would have been a very good call, especially since it would have opened things up on subsequent downs. Go from splitbacks where you can run to either side and throw a bubble if they don't cover it. Give yourself options and force the defense to think. Running it up the middle against 11 in the box is totally conceding that you are not even making a serious effort to get a first down.
4-9 at Fs33 Timeout NC State, clock 02:32.
4-9 at Fs33 Team punt 10 yards to the FS43, out-of-bounds (blocked by Rose,M.). Absolutely inexcusable. Consecutive weeks with a blocked punt. Haplea makes a terrible effort on this play. FSU is very lucky that the ball bounces as far as it did.
Drive: 3 plays, 1 yards, TOP 00:20
1-10 at Fs43 Glennon,M. pass incomplete to Thornton,S.. 425 Someone on the DL gets their hands up and deflects the pass, can't tell who.
2-10 at Fs43 Glennon,M. pass incomplete to Underwood,B.. 11 gun 425 Glennon attempts a backshoulder fade throw to a receiver who clearly isn't expecting it and can't adjust.
3-10 at Fs43 Glennon,M. rush for 8 yards to the FS35 (RHODES, X.). 11 gun 425 Not sure if this is a designed stunt where Dawkins doesn't get over to fill the lane quick enough, or Amp McCloud just not being disciplined in his rush lane. Either way, a huge lane that even Mike Glennon can run through.
4-2 at Fs35 Glennon,M. pass complete to Watson,A. for 7 yards to the FS28, 1ST DOWN ST (JONES, C.). 11 gun 425 Christian Jones initially has very good coverage on the back who spins out to create just enough separation. FSU DL is getting no pressure at all right now.
1-10 at Fs28 PENALTY FS pass interference (RHODES, X.) 14 yards to the FS14, 1ST DOWN ST. 11 gun 425 Unfortunate decision by Xavier to interfere. He had good coverage. Trust your skills.
1-10 at Fs14 Glennon,M. pass incomplete to Thornton,S.. 11 gun 425 Hey guys, Christian Jones covered the wheel route! Perfectly! And Timmy Jernigan gets held right in front of Glennon. He needs to play more. Not sure if it's injury or what but he is just better than Amp right now.
2-10 at Fs14 Glennon,M. pass incomplete to Watson,A. (JONES, C.). 11 gun 425 Great coverage and the D-Line finally gets some push. Great defense all the way around.
3-10 at Fs14 Glennon,M. pass incomplete to Thornton,S.. 11 gun 425 This is the most egregious uncalled hold you will see all year. Timmy Jernigan is straightup tackled at Glennon's feet. This is not a ticky-tack call, or something away from the play. Just ridiculous.
4-10 at Fs14 Glennon,M. pass complete to Payton,Q. for 12 yards to the FS2, 1ST DOWN ST (RHODES, X.). 11 gun 425 Jernigan is held ridiculously again. Really good coverage, just a great throw and catch. Tip your cap.
1-G at Fs02 Glennon,M. pass incomplete to Underwood,B., QB hurry by SMITH, TEL.. 11 gun 425 Telvin Smith sees his man responsibility staying in to block, loops around the end to apply pressure and force the throwaway. Good coverage downfield. NC State must have been expecting blitz.
2-G at Fs02 Creecy,T. rush for no gain to the FS2 (MCCLOUD, A.). 11 gun Nothing doing on this run. FSU DL completely collapses the line of scrimmage.
3-G at Fs02 Glennon,M. pass incomplete to Payton,Q.. 11 gun 425 Glennon really makes a terrible decision here that almost ends the game. Almost.
4-G at Fs02 Glennon,M. pass complete to Underwood,B. for 2 yards to the FS0, TOUCHDOWN, clock 00:16. 11 gun 425 NC State motions the WR into a close split to the TE side, effectively creating a bunch set. Somebody has to recognize this and make the switch/banjo call so that everyone is clear who is responsible for who. Instead the compressed set creates havoc with the assignments and a receiver is left uncovered. Tyler Hunter is the specific defender who covered the wrong guy, but the defense has to communicate in that situation.
Sade,N. kick attempt good.
NC State 17, Florida State 16 This drive is reminiscent of the 2011 Clemson game, where the defense played remarkably well on 3 out of 4 plays, but just could not get off the field.
1-G at St35 PENALTY FS unsportsmanlike conduct (BROOKS, T.) 15 yards to the 50 yardline.
Drive: 12 plays, 43 yards, TOP 02:11
Sade,N. kickoff 50 yards to the FS0, touchback.
1-10 at Fs25 MANUEL, EJ pass complete to BENJAMIN, K. for 21 yards to the FS46, 1ST DOWN FS. 10 gun 335 Really good effort from Kelvin Benjamin to dig this ball out.
1-10 at Fs46 Team pass incomplete.
2-10 at Fs46 MANUEL, EJ pass incomplete to SHAW, K.. 10 gun 335 The structure of the play may dictate that EJ read the boundary side here, but both Dent and Kelvin Benjamin are WIDE open to the field.
3-10 at Fs46 MANUEL, EJ pass incomplete to DENT, G. (Bishop,B.). 10 gun 326
Drive: 4 plays, 21 yards, TOP 00:16

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