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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 Miami? 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.
Previously: 1st quarter | 2nd quarter
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| D/D | Yard | Formation | Result | Analysis |
| AGUAYO, R. kickoff 61 yards to the UM4, Artie Burns return 27 yards to the UM31, out-of-bounds. | Missed Tackles from Brooks and 22 | |||
| 1-10 | at Um31 | MIAMI drive start at 14:53. | ||
| 1-10 | at Um31 | 4-3 | Stephen Morris sideline pass complete to Clive Walford for 8 yards to the UM39, out-of-bounds (BROOKS, T.), clock 14:46. | PA rollout, Walford slips out on quick out, and Brooks struggles to bring him down, gets towed for 3-4 yards. |
| 2-2 | at Um39 | 4-2-5 | Duke Johnson rush over right end for 3 yards to the UM42, 1ST DOWN UM (JOYNER, L.), clock 14:19. | Inside zone, no lanes inside, Duke cuts back and Joyner meets him near the LOS. Duke falls forward for the first down. Noles small ILBs not getting neutralized even against the Canes' two TE sets. |
| 1-10 | at Um42 | 4-2-5 | Duke Johnson rush over left end for 2 yards to the UM44 (SMITH, TERR.), clock 13:40. | Counter left, and Duke shows why he's Duke. This is a 2 yard loss for most backs, but Duke's burst gets him through the arms of Telvin. Terrance Smith makes a great block in space. Well defended all around by the Noles. Not afraid to play nickel vs 2 TE sets. Goldman gets his jersey stretched real nicely here after beating McDermott |
| 2-8 | at Um44 | 4-2-5 | Stephen Morris slant pass incomplete to Herb Waters, clock 13:32. | Miami going after soft coverage in slot. Auto throw to Waters, thrown too far ahead. This looks like something Morris was told to do - attack 10 yard cushion on slot defender on slant. |
| 3-8 | at Um44 | 2-3-6 | Stephen Morris sacked for loss of 13 yards to the UM31 (BROOKS, T.), PENALTY UM intentional grounding (Stephen Morris) 0 yards to the UM31. | Pass rushing dime package. This is designed to confuse the offense. 2 down linemen, all 3 backers and 2 DBs all creep up to line and tip blitz. Down men go, 1 LB and both DBs blitz. Brooks goes in free, and would have the sack if Morris didn't throw a dumb intentional grounding toss. Looks like a 2 deep shell behind this. |
| 3-21 | at Um31 | 4th and 21. | ||
| 4-21 | at Um31 | Pat O'Donnell punt 52 yards to the FS17, downed. | Good fair catch. | |
| Drive: 5 plays, 0 yards, TOP 01:38 | ||||
| 1-10 | at Fs17 | FLORIDA STATE drive start at 13:15. | ||
| 1-10 | at Fs17 | 21 pony | FREEMAN, D. rush right for no gain to the FS17 (D. Perryman), clock 12:56. | Hard to really see this play, camera came in halfway into the play. Instead, was focusing on the crystal ball. Looks like zone right, with Abram crossing back to seal. Not sure if there's a read option here, but it would have been open for Jameis. |
| 2-10 | at Fs17 | 21 tight | WINSTON, J. sideline pass complete to ABRAM, C. for 9 yards to the FS26 (T. Cornileus), clock 12:24. | 41 motions from bunch to tight. Curl flat, Abram open in flat. Jameis does an excellent job getting it over a defender here. These are the sort of plays he needs to be taking to keep a methodical drive going. |
| 3-1 | at Fs26 | 22 I | WILDER, J. rush over left end for 8 yards to the FS34, 1ST DOWN FS (Justin Renfrow), clock 11:58. | Noles line up in heavy personnel in short yardage, and run zone. Massive hole up the middle, Wilder actually trips over Matias' feet here or he rips a big one off. |
| 1-10 | at Fs34 | 22 I | FREEMAN, D. rush left for 5 yards to the FS39 (Jimmy Gaines), clock 11:35. | "LSU" toss left to Freeman. Abram nearly takes out TWO defenders with one cut block. LB 59 manages to reach an arm far enough out to Freeman to trip him up by the ankle here or 8 could've gone for a first down. |
| 2-5 | at Fs39 | 22 I | FREEMAN, D. rush over left end for 3 yards to the FS42 (AJ Highsmith;D. Perryman), clock 10:48. | Outside zone left. Solidly blocked, but hole closes for Freeman. Could probably have cut it right while in the hole, but that's really, really nit picking. |
| 3-2 | at Fs42 | 22 I | FREEMAN, D. rush right for 4 yards to the FS46, 1ST DOWN FS (Shayon Green;AJ Highsmith), clock 10:21. | Outside zone right. This team is excellent in short yardage tonight. Imposing their will. Great blocks from O'Leary and Abram, too. Stork reaches a playside 3 tech, somehow. You won't often see a center reaching a playside 3 tech in short yardage, folks. |
| 1-10 | at Fs46 | 21 tight | WINSTON, J. deep out pass complete to GREENE, R. for 22 yards to the UM32, 1ST DOWN FS, clock 10:01. | This is what you want to see from Winston. 35 and 1 are running deep routes, but Winston takes the wide open over route to Greene. Winston does a great job moving in the pocket against the 5 man rush. Freeman again does an excellent job in pass pro. Winston slides up, hits the over. Good to see him not force the deep ball here, as he could have tried here. |
| 1-10 | at Um32 | 21 tight | FREEMAN, D. rush right for 1 yard to the UM31 (A. Chickillo), clock 09:24. | Stretch right, Hart doesn't get good leverage on Chickillo and gets beat. 71 just makes a great play against the run here. |
| 2-9 | at Um31 | 11 gun | WINSTON, J. deep pass complete to SHAW, K. for 26 yards to the UM5, 1ST DOWN FS (Ladarius Gunter), PENALTY FS personal foul off-setting, PENALTY UM personal foul off-setting, clock 08:53. | Three verticals, Miami rushes 3 and drops 8. Shaw sits under the deep center player in C3, Jameis hits him. Then all hell breaks loose. Chickillo puts both hands in Bobby Hart's facemask, and a scrum breaks out. This has been discussed ad nauseum, so all I'll say is that I really enjoyed KB and Jameis screaming at Hart after Jameis told Jimbo that he'd handle it. |
| 1-G | at Um05 | 22 I | WILDER, J. rush left for 5 yards to the UM0, TOUCHDOWN, clock 08:33. | Turning point. LSU toss left, Noles score. KB absolutely demolishes his blocker away from the play. Noles came out angry and just beat all their men. Wilder does a good job side stepping an ankle tackle and scoring. |
| Official Review: Ruling on the field is a touchdown. | This was a demoralizing drive for Miami. 8.3 yards a play, methodical, and dominant on the ground. Clock draining, ground pounding drive, and Winston took the second and third type options when they were open. Didn't force the ball downfield. This offense can be methodical and dominate, too. | |||
| Official Review; Call on the field is confirmed. | ||||
| AGUAYO, R. kick attempt good. | ||||
| Florida State 28, Miami 14 | ||||
| Drive: 10 plays, 83 yards, TOP 04:47 | ||||
| AGUAYO, R. kickoff 59 yards to the UM6, Artie Burns return 17 yards to the UM23 (BROOKS, T.). | Good stop by Brooks while being held. | |||
| 1-10 | at Um23 | MIAMI drive start at 08:28. | ||
| 1-10 | at Um23 | 4-3 | Stephen Morris deep pass intercepted by Williams, P.J. at the FS21, Williams, P.J. return 0 yards to the FS21. | PJ Williams appears to be in phase in trail, and Morris just makes an awful throw. PJ recognizes that early, slows up, locates the ball, and makes the interception. Morris can throw a touchdown here if he throws an excellent ball, like he did a couple times in the first half. But a bad throw vs trail, and you're in trouble. |
| Drive: 1 plays, 0 yards, TOP 00:09 | Doak is rocking. Momentum heavily in the Noles favor here. It's a bit of an avalanche. | |||
| 1-10 | at Fs21 | FLORIDA STATE drive start at 08:19. | ||
| 1-10 | at Fs21 | 20 pony | WINSTON, J. screen pass complete to FREEMAN, D. for 24 yards to the FS45, 1ST DOWN FS, out-of-bounds (Ladarius Gunter), clock 08:05. | Designed rollout. With the way Miami bites on this, I wonder if Jimbo broke tendency here. Gets the ball to Freeman in the flats, and Shaw and Benjamin do a good job blocking downfield. |
| 1-10 | at Fs45 | 21 bunch | WINSTON, J. screen pass complete to FREEMAN, D. for 7 yards to the UM48 (T. Cornileus), clock 07:19. | Bunch right, Freeman gets wide open underneath when Miami blitzes backside corner. Jameis hits the underneath man while Miami runs a zone blitz. |
| 2-3 | at Um48 | 21 I | FREEMAN, D. rush left for 2 yards to the UM46 (Olsen Pierre), clock 06:42. | Outside zone left. Matias loses leverage on Pierre, who makes the play before the marker. This is probably a first down in this with a better block from 70. |
| 3-1 | at Um46 | 22 I | WILDER, J. rush up middle for 7 yards to the UM39, 1ST DOWN FS (Justin Renfrow), clock 06:18. | Inside zone. Jimbo breaking tendency here. This may be a check built in - Miami lines up in 5-0-5 true 3-4 front. Noles get great push - LOS is moved two yards up. Easy money for Wilder, who uses his power to fall forward and get 7 instead of 4 or so yards. |
| 1-10 | at Um39 | 22 I | WILDER, J. rush up middle for 4 yards to the UM35 (Tracy Howard;Shayon Green), clock 05:44. | Outside zone right. Wilder makes a good cut back, falls forward for four yards. |
| 2-6 | at Um35 | 21 tight | WINSTON, J. middle pass complete to GREENE, R. for 7 yards to the UM28, 1ST DOWN FS (Ladarius Gunter), clock 05:18. | Abram motions from bunch to tight. Curl/flat to field side, looks like snag to backside. Winston hits Greene on the curl just past the marker. Safe throws to move the chains. Playing within the system. |
| 1-10 | at Um28 | 11 pistol | WINSTON, J. rush up middle for loss of 2 yards to the UM30 (D. Perryman), fumble by WINSTON, J., clock 04:29. | Bobbled snap, Winston lost focus. Play was speed option left. Winston does a decent job scooping and minimizing the loss. |
| 2-12 | at Um30 | 21 pony | WINSTON, J. sideline pass complete to O'LEARY, N. for 18 yards to the UM12, 1ST DOWN FS, clock 04:11. | This is a really nice play from O'Leary on the corner route. Comes back to the underthrown ball from Winston and makes a great catch. Probably a walk in TD with a better throw here. |
| 1-10 | at Um12 | 21 I | FREEMAN, D. rush left for 12 yards to the UM0, 1ST DOWN FS, TOUCHDOWN, clock 03:41. | Zone left, Freeman just bounces it outside early and runs it right at the pilon for his third touchdown. KB helps him get this one just absolutely muscling Gunter. 59 and 2 for Miami will catch crap on this play in the film room. Really, really bad angles, especially from the safety Bush. Whole damn team congratulates Freeman for this one on the sideline. |
| AGUAYO, R. kick attempt good. | ||||
| Florida State 35, Miami 14 | Just another demoralizing drive. 9 plays, 8.8 yards per play, punishing running in short yardage. Physical domination, and Winston is just taking what's being given to him. | |||
| Drive: 9 plays, 79 yards, TOP 04:44 | ||||
| AGUAYO, R. kickoff 58 yards to the UM7, Stacy Coley return 13 yards to the UM20 (JOYNER, L.). | Pretty good coverage here. | |||
| 1-10 | at Um20 | MIAMI drive start at 03:35. | ||
| 1-10 | at Um20 | 4-2-5 | Duke Johnson rush up middle for 23 yards to the UM4-3, 1ST DOWN UM (RAMSEY, J.), clock 03:18. | Noles don't mind throwing nickel sets at 2 TE sets at all. This is less FSU messing up than it is Duke being Duke and McDermott holding Goldman egregiously. Goldman makes this play if he's not being jerked around. Couple other solid holds on Telvin and Jones. I don't like to fill these boxes with refereeing complaints, especially when this game was well called overall, but being allowed to break big runs on egregious holds is, well, egregious. Power right, Duke cuts back and zags through opening in Noles defense. His burst really makes this play for them. That and the holds. |
| 1-10 | at Um4-3 | 4-2-5 | Duke Johnson rush up middle for 8 yards to the FS49 (BROOKS, T.), clock 02:55. | Power left, Duke cuts it back right and again shows his burst. Brooks hits him hard before the marker. |
| 2-2 | at Fs49 | 4-2-5 | Stephen Morris screen pass incomplete to Clive Walford, PENALTY FS roughing passer (EDWARDS, M.) 15 yards to the FS34, 1ST DOWN UM, NO PLAY, clock 02:35. | This is a really bad roughing call. Just awful. Edwards is already head down, initiating tackle and has just one step left as ball is coming out of Morris' hands. No, Herbstreit, this is NOT a good call. Morris barely has time to get this ball out on the rollout, because he turns around and 15 is in his face. Bad, bad call. |
| 1-10 | at Fs34 | 3-3-5 | Stephen Morris screen pass complete to Clive Walford for 5 yards to the FS29 (SMITH, TERR.), clock 02:13. | Pass rushing package here. 7 men show blitz. 5 rush. Jones gets pressure, but Morris gets the ball out to his safety valve in the flats. |
| 2-5 | at Fs29 | 4-2-5 | Stephen Morris deep pass incomplete to Stacy Coley, clock 02:05. | This is a really, really nice move from Coley. PJ Williams bites hard on the double move, and Coley drops it trying to get cute and one hand it. Good throw and everything. |
| 3-5 | at Fs29 | 2-3-6 | Duke Johnson rush over right end for 3 yards to the FS26 (ELIGWE, U.), clock 01:47. | Pass rushing package. 7 men tip blitz. 5 go. Eligwe makes an awesome, awesome play here. Shows blitz, drops, reads the run and makes a really athetlic play to get to Duke and bring him down before the marker. Duke jaws a lot for a little dude. |
| 4-2 | at Fs26 | 5-3-3 | Duke Johnson rush over left tackle for 1 yard to the FS25 (LAWRENCESTAMPLE), clock 01:22. | This is a real monster set here. 3 DTs, 3 DE/OLBs on LOS, 2 ILBs. Power left, NLS whips Felliciano, tossing him away, knifes through the line and brings Duke down in the backfield. I'm not going to watch this one too many times. Duke gets hurt here and it's really not fun to watch that ankle get trapped under him. Awful for him. Best wishes and good luck for his recovery. |
| Drive: 6 plays, 55 yards, TOP 02:13 | Referees really kept the Canes in this drive more than their own play did. Noles played solid on this drive despite the yardage numbers. The drop by Coley was the only real dangerous mistake. | |||
| 1-10 | at Fs25 | FLORIDA STATE drive start at 01:22. | ||
| Injured player for Miami is #8-Johnson. Assisted off the field. | Get well soon, Duke. | |||
| 1-10 | at Fs25 | 22 offset I | FREEMAN, D. rush right for 3 yards to the FS28, out-of-bounds, clock 01:11. | Outside zone right, well blocked, just not a lot of room to boundary side. |
| 2-7 | at Fs28 | 11 singleback | FREEMAN, D. rush over right guard for no gain to the FS28 (Olsen Pierre), clock 00:27. | Zone right. Multiple Noles whiff on their blocks. |
| Injured player for Miami is #91-Pierre. Walks off the field. | ||||
| Drive: 2 plays, 3 yards, TOP 01:36 | ||||
| Florida State 35, Miami 14 |