Shirts are in! Order now
FRONT: "My brothers, put a smile on your face." BACK: "If we gonna do it then, we do it big." Every week we break down the result of the previous game. Who really played well for the Seminoles against N.C. State? Did the result have more to do with FSU playing well or the opponent playing poorly, or luck? Read to find out.
Note: there are certain schematic and tendency things we do not discuss in these reviews out of respect for our sources, the school and coaching staff.
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask.
And this takes forever for our staff to put together, so please do share it on facebook and tweet it liberally.
| Down/Distance | Yard | Formation | Result | Analysis |
| AGUAYO, R. kickoff 63 yards to the ST2, out-of-bounds, ST ball on ST35. | Roberto getting a little too excited again. Stay calm, play within yourself. | |||
| 1-10 | at St35 | Mitchell,B. at QB for NC State. | ||
| 1-10 | at St35 | 4-2-5 | Thornton,S. rush over left guard for no gain to the ST35, clock 14:48. | Zone read and Thornton loses his footing in the backfield. Play was going nowhere anyway as the DL squeezes the gaps out of existence. |
| 2-10 | at St35 | 4-2-5 | Mitchell,B. deep pass intercepted by BROOKS, T. at the FS35, BROOKS, T. return 0 yards to the FS35. | FSU appears to be in Cover 1 and there is only one route deeper than 8 yards past the line so the read is easy for Brooks. Making it quickly enough to get all the way over to the sideline from centerfield is another matter. Great range, aided by a throw that should have been put over the receiver's outside shoulder. |
| Drive: 2 plays, 0 yards, TOP 00:33 | ||||
| 1-10 | at Fs35 | WINSTON, J. at QB for Florida State. | ||
| 1-10 | at Fs35 | 01 Gun | WINSTON, J. deep pass complete to GREENE, R. for 24 yards to the ST41, 1ST DOWN FS, out-of-bounds (Tocho,J.), clock 14:22. | Smash route to the boundary vs Cover 1. This route requires a very quick read and throw in order to complete it before the receiver runs out of bounds. |
| 1-10 | at St41 | 11 Pistol | WINSTON, J. sideline pass complete to GREENE, R. for 13 yards to the ST28, 1ST DOWN FS, out-of-bounds, clock 14:02. | Play action rollout to the short side. Jameis hits Rashad on a deep curl or comeback type route. |
| 1-10 | at St28 | 10 Gun | WINSTON, J. screen pass complete to WILLIAMS, K. for 10 yards to the ST18, 1ST DOWN FS (Caldwell,R.), clock 13:12. | This is a check by Jameis and it's actually a variation of a bubble screen. Christian Green does not even run a route, just gets upfield and blocks the slot defender. |
| 1-10 | at St18 | 21 Twins | WILLIAMS, K. rush TR for 18 yards to the ST0, 1ST DOWN FS, TOUCHDOWN, clock 13:02. | Fake FB belly, option toss. Kelvin with a vicious crackback block on the linebacker. Karlos freezes the safety with a dead leg and Rashad Greene blocks his man to the goal line. |
| AGUAYO, R. kick attempt good. | ||||
| Florida State 7, NC State 0 | ||||
| Drive: 4 plays, 65 yards, TOP 01:31 | ||||
| AGUAYO, R. kickoff 65 yards to the ST0, Cherry,B. return 16 yards to the ST16 (ANDREWS, N.), PENALTY ST illegal block (Cox,R.) 8 yards to the ST8, 1st and 10, ST ball on ST8. | ||||
| 1-10 | at St08 | 4-2-5 | Mitchell,B. rush quarterback draw for 2 yards to the ST10 (SMITH, TEL.;JERNIGAN, T.), clock 12:27. | A couple cut blocks inside create a small crease on the veer read but the defensive line rallies and makes Mitchell pay. Need to read the OL's blocks instead of watching the ball. |
| 2-8 | at St10 | 4-2-5 | Thornton,S. rush over right end for 4 yards to the ST14 (JONES, C.;JOYNER, L.), clock 11:58. | Nice cutback by Thornton as the wham play is completely snuffed out. Jones has to retreat before shedding the tackle's block which allows the gain. |
| 3-4 | at St14 | 3-2-6 | Mitchell,B. MR pass incomplete to Thornton,S., clock 11:33. | FSU runs a stunt that is picked up nicely by the left side of NC St's OL, but Timmy Jernigan whips the center with a swim move and forces and early throw off the back foot. The back is open on an arrow route but influencing the QB results in an inaccurate throw. |
| 4-4 | at St14 | Baumann,W. punt 48 yards to the FS38, SHAW, K. return 23 yards to the ST39, out-of-bounds (Baumann,W.). | Series of nice shifty moves by Kenny Shaw on the return here. The key is that after every move he gets upfield immediately. | |
| Drive: 3 plays, 6 yards, TOP 01:36 | ||||
| 1-10 | at St39 | 20 Gun | WINSTON, J. post pass complete to BENJAMIN, K. for 39 yards to the ST0, 1ST DOWN FS, TOUCHDOWN, clock 11:12. | Play action with the back crossing. Post-wheel combo to the field. Quarters coverage from NC State. Quarters is a "post alert" coverage in FSU's offense as the corner playing outside leverage will have difficulty defending the post. Good awareness by Winston to know that there won't be a backside deep defender and he can lead Benjamin all the way across the field. |
| AGUAYO, R. kick attempt good. | ||||
| Florida State 14, NC State 0 | ||||
| Drive: 1 plays, 39 yards, TOP 00:12 | ||||
| AGUAYO, R. kickoff 57 yards to the ST8, Cherry,B. return 13 yards to the ST21 (SMITH, TEL.). | ||||
| 1-10 | at St21 | 4-2-5 | Mitchell,B. rush quarterback draw for no gain to the ST21 (JONES, C.), clock 10:51. | QB trap and the Christian Jones is to the QB before the pulling lineman can try to trap block him. |
| 2-10 | at St21 | 4-2-5 | Mitchell,B. deep pass incomplete to Underwood,B. (DARBY, R.), clock 10:29. | NC St goes max protect and only has one receiver in the route. Darby has great coverage on the go route and breaks up the pass. |
| 3-10 | at St21 | 2-4-5? | Mitchell,B. crossing pass complete to Valdes-Scant,M. for 8 yards to the ST29 (JOYNER, L.), clock 09:56. | FSU is in a very exotic blitz look here with only 2 down linemen. They are threatening an overload blitz from both sides, preventing the offense from sliding protection. They bring the overload from the offense's left, but only rush 4. Mitchell feels the rush and escapes right. Christian Jones comes off his man running a crossing pattern to rush and Mitchell is able to complete the pass. Darby has flat responsibility to the field and cleans up the play. |
| 4-2 | at St29 | Baumann,W. punt 52 yards to the FS19, SHAW, K. return 19 yards to the FS38, out-of-bounds (Grinnage,D.). | ||
| Drive: 3 plays, 8 yards, TOP 01:37 | ||||
| 1-10 | at Fs38 | 12 | FREEMAN, D. rush over right tackle for 7 yards to the FS45 (Noel,R.;Ferguson,A.J.), clock 09:16. | Outside zone right and the offensive line creates seals very well, creating a huge cutback lane. |
| 2-3 | at Fs45 | 21 | WINSTON, J. deep out pass complete to GREENE, R. for 14 yards to the ST41, 1ST DOWN FS, out-of-bounds, clock 08:51. | Play action rollout. NC State rolls the weak safety down into the box to play the run and Winston finds Greene one on one running the deep out. Again very good play by Winston to get set and deliver the ball before the receiver's route takes him out of bounds. These intermediate outbreaking routes are difficult to throw, but will usually be open as the defense uses the sideline as leverage and assumes you can't complete that throw. |
| 1-10 | at St41 | 21 Gun | WILLIAMS, K. rush right for 2 yards to the ST39 (Gray,C.;Caldwell,R.), clock 08:14. | Packaged play and FSU runs stretch to the boundary. Cam Erving actually gets too far across his man who is able to get free and chase the play down from behind. |
| 2-8 | at St39 | 10 Gun | WINSTON, J. crossing pass complete to SHAW, K. for 15 yards to the ST24, 1ST DOWN FS (Jones,H.), clock 07:53. | Really nice tight window throw to Kenny Shaw on an option route from the slot, while Rashad Greene runs a snag underneath. |
| 1-10 | at St24 | 11 | WINSTON, J. deep out pass incomplete to SHAW, K., clock 07:27. | Play action rollout and Winston rushes the throw a little, resulting in a ball at Kenny Shaw's knees. Gotta recognize when you have time to set and throw. |
| 2-10 | at St24 | 11 Gun | WINSTON, J. SH pass complete to GREENE, R. for 13 yards to the ST11, 1ST DOWN FS, out-of-bounds (Johnson,D.), clock 07:22. | First time FSU has run the jet sweep since the first half against Pitt. Great perimeter blocks by Devonta Freeman and Nick O'Leary spring Rashad Greene for a nice gain. |
| Previous play was a end-around shovel pass. | ||||
| 1-10 | at St11 | 11 Gun | FREEMAN, D. rush right for 11 yards to the ST0, 1ST DOWN FS, TOUCHDOWN, clock 07:02. | Outside zone to the boundary. Great job getting to the second level by Jackson and Nick O'Leary. Very patient, subtle running by Freeman to find the lanes created by his blockers. |
| AGUAYO, R. kick attempt good. | ||||
| Florida State 21, NC State 0 | ||||
| Drive: 7 plays, 62 yards, TOP 02:29 | ||||
| AGUAYO, R. kickoff 65 yards to the ST0, touchback. | ||||
| 1-10 | at St25 | 4-2-5 | Thornton,S. rush over right guard for 1 yard to the ST26 (JERNIGAN, T.;MCDANIEL, J.), clock 06:46. | Timmy Magic with a beautiful play here. Stones the center and gets off the block to make the tackle for no gain. |
| 2-9 | at St26 | 4-2-5 | Alston,J. rush left for loss of 4 yards to the ST22, fumble forced by BROOKS, T., fumble by Alston,J. recovered by FS SMITH, TEL. at ST14. | NC State tries a jet sweep and Terrence Brooks reads it perfectly. Takes a perfect angle and accelerates all the way through the hit, forcing the fumble. The receiver think he has the edge but Brooks just keeps picking up steam with every step. |
| Drive: 2 plays, minus 11 yards, TOP 00:42 | ||||
| 1-10 | at St14 | 11 Gun | WINSTON, J. middle pass incomplete to O'LEARY, N., clock 06:15. | They tried to hit O'Leary on a shake route, but he gets tangled up with the defender and falls. |
| 2-10 | at St14 | 11 Gun | WINSTON, J. sideline pass complete to O'LEARY, N. for 14 yards to the ST0, 1ST DOWN FS, TOUCHDOWN, clock 06:09. | Levels concept to the boundary and then O'Leary does the rest with a spin move. |
| AGUAYO, R. kick attempt good. | ||||
| Florida State 28, NC State 0 | ||||
| Drive: 2 plays, 14 yards, TOP 00:11 | ||||
| AGUAYO, R. kickoff 65 yards to the ST0, touchback. | ||||
| 1-10 | at St25 | 4-2-5 | Mitchell,B. middle pass incomplete (SMITH, TEL.), QB hurry by JONES, C.. | NC St tries to take advantage of Christian Jone's aggressiveness by chipping him with a TE then throwing to the guy who they chipped with. Jones blows by the chip and forces a bad throw that is nearly intercepted by Telvin Smith. |
| 2-10 | at St25 | 4-2-5 | Mitchell,B. sacked for loss of 8 yards to the ST17 (SMITH, TERR.), clock 05:44. | FSU slants the defensive line to the offense's left and then loops Terrance Smith around the right side, where he completely whips the tight end and gets the sack. |
| 3-18 | at St17 | 2-4-5? | Thornton,S. rush right for 21 yards to the ST38, 1ST DOWN ST (DARBY, R.;ELIGWE, U.), clock 05:19. | FSU is in another overload blitz alignment and NC St runs a pin and pull zone scheme away from the blitz. Right play against this defense but it still should have been stopped short of the first down. Poor tackling. |
| 1-10 | at St38 | 4-2-5 | Thornton,S. rush up middle for 2 yards to the ST40 (MCDANIEL, J.), clock 04:48. | NC St fakes the jet sweep and hands off on inside zone. The DL is just not allowing any movement at all and there is nowhere for Thornton to run. |
| 2-8 | at St40 | 4-2-5 | Mitchell,B. deep pass incomplete to Valdes-Scant,M. (JOYNER, L.), clock 04:18. | FSU is in Cover 3 here and NC State tries to hit a deep curl in front of the corner. Joyner does a very nice job reading the QB's eyes, sinking into the passing lane and elevating to deflect the pass. |
| 3-8 | at St40 | 4-2-5 | Mitchell,B. rush for 2 yards to the ST42, PENALTY ST illegal forward pass (Mitchell,B.) 5 yards to the ST37. | Great pass rush from the front 4 collapses the pocket. Jacobbi McDaniel tries to spin out of a block which opens up a lane for the QB to escape and try a horrible lateral/pass/fumble thing past the line of scrimmage. |
| 4-11 | at St37 | Baumann,W. punt 51 yards to the FS12, SHAW, K. return -1 yards to the FS11 (Salahuddin,MJ). | Be decisive and get upfield Kenny. First few returns were great, this one was poor. | |
| Drive: 6 plays, 12 yards, TOP 02:12 | ||||
| 1-10 | at Fs11 | 11 Gun | WINSTON, J. pass complete to BENJAMIN, K. for 15 yards to the FS26, 1ST DOWN FS (Johnson,D.). | All curls. Throw to the guy with the DB playing 10 yards off. Free yards. |
| 1-10 | at Fs26 | 11 Gun | WINSTON, J. pass incomplete to BENJAMIN, K.. | Same play, same read, same throw. It's a little low, but Benjamin should make this catch. Clear drop. |
| 2-10 | at Fs26 | 11 Tight | FREEMAN, D. rush for 7 yards to the FS33 (Johnson,D.), clock 03:09. | FSU runs the toss play from a compressed set. Really nice down block by O'Leary allows Bobby Hart to pull around and lead the way around the edge. Good seal block by Kenny Shaw creates the alley for the back. |
| 3-3 | at Fs33 | PENALTY FS false start (HART, B.) 5 yards to the FS28, clock 02:56. | ||
| 3-8 | at Fs28 | 11 Tight Gun | WINSTON, J. screen pass complete to FREEMAN, D. for 30 yards to the ST42, 1ST DOWN FS (Buckley,T.), clock 02:31. | FSU runs off the coverage and the flat defender is nowhere in the picture when Freeman catches the ball. A couple missed tackles and it turns into an explosive play. |
| 1-10 | at St42 | 11 Gun | WINSTON, J. post pass complete to GREENE, R. for 42 yards to the ST0, 1ST DOWN FS, TOUCHDOWN, clock 02:02. | The post route run by Greene here would not normally be the primary route on this play, it would just be clearing out the safety for the over route coming from the other side of the field. But again, against quarters coverage the QB is always encouraged to throw the post if it's in the pattern. Tremendous pass protection allows Jameis to stand in the pocket while Rashad uses his speed to run away from the defender. |
| AGUAYO, R. kick attempt good. | ||||
| Florida State 35, NC State 0 | ||||
| Drive: 5 plays, 89 yards, TOP 02:01 | ||||
| AGUAYO, R. kickoff 60 yards to the ST5, Cherry,B. return 15 yards to the ST20 (SMITH, TEL.;JOYNER, L.). | ||||
| 1-10 | at St20 | 4-2-5 | Thornton,S. rush left for 2 yards to the ST22 (Williams, P.J.), clock 01:42. | NC State runs a pin and pull zone play to the boundary and PJ Williams does a tremendous job of playing the force and turning the play back inside towards the pursuit. He takes on a pulling offensive lineman to do it, as well. |
| 2-8 | at St22 | 4-2-5 | Mitchell,B. rush quarterback draw for 3 yards to the ST25 (SMITH, TEL.), clock 01:05. | A true quarterback draw play is sniffed out by the line backers. |
| 3-5 | at St25 | 4-1-6 | Mitchell,B. ML pass complete to Thornton,S. for 5 yards to the ST30, 1ST DOWN ST (SMITH, TEL.), clock 00:37. | Telvin is in good position and breaks on the hitch just a bit too late to break up the pass. |
| 1-10 | at St30 | 4-2-5 | Thornton,S. rush up middle for 2 yards to the ST32 (MCALLISTER, D.;SMITH, TEL.), clock 00:15. | Zone read and Dan Hicks stays at home, forcing the give. The rest of the line and linebackers squeeze the play and the back has nowhere to go. |
| Drive: 4 plays, 12 yards, TOP 03:52 | ||||
| Florida State 35, NC State 0 | ||||