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.
Previously: 1st quarter
And this takes forever for our staff to put together, so please do share it on facebook and tweet it liberally.
| Down/Dist | Yard | Formation | Result | Analysis |
| 2-8 | at St32 | 4-2-5 | Mitchell,B. sideline pass incomplete to Payton,Q., clock 14:57. | Out pattern to the slot receiver and Mitchell just misses him. |
| 3-8 | at St32 | 4-2-5 | Mitchell,B. screen pass complete to Thornton,S. for 10 yards to the ST42, 1ST DOWN ST (ANDREWS, N.), PENALTY FS offside defense declined, clock 14:51. | Good call by NC State here. They had no receivers to the field so the flat was wide open for the screen. |
| 1-10 | at St42 | 4-2-5 | Underwood,B. rush reverse for 8 yards to the 50 yardline, out-of-bounds, clock 14:36. | Reverse and PJ Williams does not take on the wide receiver's block with any kind of aggression. He gets knocked on his rear and allows the runner to get the corner. Not a good seies for PJ. |
| 2-2 | at St50 | 4-2-5 | Thornton,S. rush over left tackle for 7 yards to the FS43, 1ST DOWN ST (RAMSEY, J.;SMITH, TERR.), clock 14:09. | Chris Casher gets mauled on a power play and Thornton pushes forward for an extra 4 yards. Several backups in on the defensive line and it shows. |
| 1-10 | at Fs43 | 4-2-5 | Mitchell,B. rush quarterback draw for 2 yards to the FS41 (MCDANIEL, J.;SMITH, TERR.), clock 13:24. | QB power. Jernigan defeats his man and blows up the play. |
| 2-8 | at Fs41 | 3-3-5 | Mitchell,B. screen pass incomplete to Thornton,S., clock 13:14. | Jones comes unblocked. Mitchell rolls away from him and finds Thornton in the flat who just drops it. |
| 3-8 | at Fs41 | Timeout NC State, clock 13:14. | ||
| 3-8 | at Fs41 | 3-3-5 | Mitchell,B. MR pass intercepted by DARBY, R. at the FS33, DARBY, R. return 4 yards to the FS37 (Thuney,J.), QB hurry by SMITH, TEL.. | FSU brings an interesting pressure here, with Telvin and Nate Andrews blitzing through the A gap on the offense's right side. Mitchell is trying to throw an out route to the slot receiver, but throws it falling away resulting in a lollipop that Darby is able to cut under and intercept. |
| Drive: 11 plays, 39 yards, TOP 03:52 | ||||
| 1-10 | at Fs37 | 10 Gun | WINSTON, J. deep pass incomplete to BENJAMIN, K., clock 12:58. | Some moderate pressure here from NC State and Winston catches his foot on Cam Erving's leg as he tries to step into the throw. |
| 2-10 | at Fs37 | 11 Gun | WINSTON, J. WS pass complete to SHAW, K. for 17 yards to the ST46, 1ST DOWN FS, out-of-bounds, clock 12:50. | Packaged play, zone read + bubble. Taking the free yards. |
| 1-10 | at St46 | 11 Pistol | FREEMAN, D. rush over right end for loss of 1 yard to the ST47 (Norman,A.), clock 12:11. | Bobby Hart gets pushed back on the counter run, forcing Freeman to alter his path and allowing the defense to pursue from the backside. |
| 2-11 | at St47 | 10 Gun | WINSTON, J. crossing pass complete to GREENE, R. for 9 yards to the ST38 (Caldwell,R.), clock 11:38. | Quick throw to Greene on the snag route. |
| 3-2 | at St38 | 10 Gun | WINSTON, J. crossing pass incomplete to SHAW, K., clock 11:12. | Kenny Shaw and Jameis out of sync on this one. Think Shaw was running an option route and Jameis was expecting him to turn out instead of in. Judging by Jameis and Jimbo's reaction, Kenny was right. |
| 4-2 | at St38 | Timeout NC State, clock 11:12. | ||
| 4-2 | at St38 | BEATTY, C. punt 38 yards to the ST0, touchback. | Should have gone for it. | |
| Drive: 5 plays, 25 yards, TOP 02:01 | ||||
| 1-10 | at St20 | 4-2-5 | Dayes,M. rush over right guard for loss of 1 yard to the ST19 (JERNIGAN, T.), clock 10:47. | NC St tried to cut FSU's DT on a counter trey play but Jernigan is having none of it, leaps over the cut and makes the tackle for loss. |
| 2-11 | at St19 | 4-2-5 | Dayes,M. rush left for loss of 2 yards to the ST17 (JOYNER, L.), clock 10:13. | Pin and pull scheme and Terrance Smith knifes through the gap vacated by the pulling linemen. Can't quite make the tackle but Joyner cleans it up for him. |
| 3-13 | at St17 | 3-3-5 | Mitchell,B. WS pass complete to Thornton,S. for 12 yards to the ST29 (JONES, C.), clock 09:22. | FSU shows blitz, then backs out of it and only rushes 3. They get pressure anyway when Mario Edwards Jr breaks loose and pursues Mitchell. Mitchell is able to find Thornton in the flat who breaks PJ Williams' tackle attempt and nearly gets the first down. |
| 4-1 | at St29 | Baumann,W. punt 44 yards to the FS27, SHAW, K. return 1 yards to the FS28 (Green,D.J.). | ||
| Drive: 3 plays, 9 yards, TOP 02:13 | ||||
| 1-10 | at Fs28 | WILLIAMS, K. rush left for 3 yards to the FS31 (Burriss,J.;Johnson,D.), clock 08:27. | The broadcast missed the beginning of this play, but it looks like outside zone | |
| 2-7 | at Fs31 | 11 Gun | WINSTON, J. crossing pass complete to GREENE, R. for 9 yards to the FS40, 1ST DOWN FS (Burriss,J.). | Levels concept to Greene. |
| 1-10 | at Fs40 | 11 Gun | WILLIAMS, K. rush over left guard for 4 yards to the FS44 (Gray,C.), clock 07:32. | Power to the strong side with a backside bubble screen. Decently blocked but Jackson doesn't quite clear the lane for Williams. |
| 2-6 | at Fs44 | 11 | WILLIAMS, K. rush over right guard for loss of 1 yard to the FS43 (Pittman,B.), clock 07:07. | Looks like some kind of trap play as Stork tries to pull around Jackson. The middle linebacker shoots the gap and makes the tackle in the backfield. Ugly play. |
| 3-7 | at Fs43 | 11 Tight Gun | WINSTON, J. crossing pass complete to GREENE, R. for 13 yards to the ST44, 1ST DOWN FS (Tocho,J.), clock 06:37. | Greene goes vertical, then turns in behind the linebackers and Winston fits it in the window. |
| 1-10 | at St44 | 11 | WINSTON, J. sacked for loss of 11 yards to the FS45 (Caldwell,R.), clock 06:00. | Something odd about this play. Looks like maybe it should have been a rollout the other way instead of a stop and pivot. The linebacker shooting the gap to make the tackle on the back has a free shot at Winston. |
| 2-21 | at Fs45 | 10 Gun | WINSTON, J. crossing pass incomplete to SHAW, K. (Jones,H.), clock 05:35. | 3 Verts. Winston puts it right on Shaw and he drops it. |
| 3-21 | at Fs45 | Timeout Florida State, clock 05:35. | ||
| 3-21 | at Fs45 | 10 Gun | WINSTON, J. deep out pass incomplete to BENJAMIN, K. (Jones,H.), clock 05:28. | Looks like Jameis bails from the pocket early here. Could have hung in there and maybe completed something downfield. The throw to Benjamin was dangerous, but also very close to being completed. |
| 4-21 | at Fs45 | BEATTY, C. punt 39 yards to the ST16, fair catch by Cherry,B.. | ||
| Drive: 8 plays, 17 yards, TOP 03:30 | ||||
| 1-10 | at St16 | 4-2-5 | Mitchell,B. middle pass incomplete to Thornton,S., dropped pass, clock 05:14. | NC St uses a bunch formation to get Thornton a free release and he is open on the slant, but the throw is slightly behind and is dropped. |
| 2-10 | at St16 | 3-3-5 | Mitchell,B. middle pass incomplete (BROOKS, T.), QB hurry by JOYNER, L., clock 05:05. | FSU brings both Joyner and Brooks at the QB on this play and Mitchell panics, retreats into his own end zone and flips a dangerous pass that is nearly intercepted. |
| 3-10 | at St16 | 4-2-5 | Mitchell,B. sacked for loss of 1 yard to the ST15 (JONES, C.), clock 04:44. | Disciplined pass rush across the board and Christian Jones puts a wicked spin move on the tackle to get free and record the sack. Goodness. |
| 4-11 | at St15 | Baumann,W. punt 39 yards to the FS46, SHAW, K. return 0 yards to the FS46. | ||
| Drive: 3 plays, minus 1 yards, TOP 01:00 | ||||
| 1-10 | at Fs46 | 11 | FREEMAN, D. rush over right tackle for 3 yards to the FS49 (Davis,D.), clock 04:11. | Inside zone is bottled up inside and Freeman shows tremendous balance in keeping his feet and bouncing it outside. |
| 2-7 | at Fs49 | 11 Gun | WINSTON, J. sideline pass incomplete to GREENE, R.. | Levels and Greene drops it. |
| 3-7 | at Fs49 | 11 Gun | WINSTON, J. sideline pass incomplete to GREENE, R. (Jones,H.), clock 03:54. | Trying to fit it in between the corner and the safety here. The throw is a little high and Greene fails to hang on. |
| 4-7 | at Fs49 | WILLIAMS, K. rush right for 17 yards to the ST34, 1ST DOWN FS, out-of-bounds (Coates,M.), clock 03:48. | This play is a lot closer to failing than it looked at first. Karlos had to stiff arm a guy behind the line of scrimmage to break free. | |
| 1-10 | at St34 | 10 Gun | FREEMAN, D. rush over left tackle for 30 yards to the ST4, 1ST DOWN FS (Johnson,D.;Burriss,J.). | Outside zone, linemen getting to the second level and Freeman is completely untouched until he is 25 yards downfield. The running game does get clunky at times, but can rip an explosive play like this at any given moment. |
| 1-G | at St04 | 21 | FREEMAN, D. rush right for 4 yards to the ST0, TOUCHDOWN, clock 03:06. | Tremendous job by Devonta Freeman and Bobby Hart of sticking with the play here. Freeman continues to press outside, and Hart turns back and seals the pursuit allowing Devonta to score. |
| AGUAYO, R. kick attempt good. | ||||
| Florida State 42, NC State 0 | ||||
| Drive: 6 plays, 54 yards, TOP 01:14 | Jimbo clearly decided that if the receivers didn't want to catch the ball, he just wouldn't throw it. | |||
| AGUAYO, R. kickoff 65 yards to the ST0, touchback. | ||||
| 1-10 | at St25 | 4-2-5 | Mitchell,B. sideline pass complete to Smith,R. for 11 yards to the ST36, 1ST DOWN ST, clock 02:48. | Mitchell rolls right, extends the play and finds a window near the sideline. |
| 1-10 | at St36 | 4-2-5 | Thornton,S. rush right for 4 yards to the ST40 (SMITH, TERR.), clock 02:31. | Pin and pull zone is nearly chased down from behind. |
| 2-6 | at St40 | 3-3-5 | Thornton,S. rush up middle for 3 yards to the ST43 (SMITH, TERR.;BROOKS, T.), clock 01:59. | FSU runs a slant to the offense's right, exactly where they're trying to run to. The back gains a few yards on a cut back. |
| 3-3 | at St43 | 4-2-5 | Mitchell,B. slant pass incomplete to Valdes-Scant,M. (DARBY, R.), clock 01:39. | Ronald Darby is in better position to catch this pass than the receiver. |
| 4-3 | at St43 | Baumann,W. punt 49 yards to the FS8, downed. | ||
| Drive: 4 plays, 18 yards, TOP 01:38 | ||||
| 1-10 | at Fs08 | 10 Gun | FREEMAN, D. rush left for loss of 3 yards to the FS5 (Teal,T.), clock 01:15. | Outside zone to the boundary. Stork gets walked over into the back's path. |
| 2-13 | at Fs05 | 21 | FREEMAN, D. rush over left end for 4 yards to the FS9 (Jones,H.). | Inside zone is bottled up but Freeman pushes the pile forward for 4 yards. |
| 3-9 | at Fs09 | End of half, clock 00:00. | ||
| Drive: 2 plays, 1 yards, TOP 01:28 | ||||
| Florida State 42, NC State 0 |