Every week we break down the result of the previous game. Who really played well for the Seminoles against Syracuse? Which players played poorly? Where did the coaches do well, and when did they screw up?
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.
For other quarters, visit the film review section (All quarters up by tonight).
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| D-d | Spot | Form | Play | Analysis |
| 1-10 | at Fs35 | SU ball on SU35. | ||
| Cole Murphy kickoff 53 yards to the FS12, Jesus Wilson return 18 yards to the FS30 (Adrian Flemming). | ||||
| 1-10 | at Fs30 | 11 Gun | Jameis Winston pass complete to Nick O'Leary for 9 yards to the FS39 (Cameron Lynch). | Quick out to O'Leary after the outside receiver runs off the flat coverage with a vertical route. |
| 2-1 | at Fs39 | 11 Gun | Jameis Winston sideline pass complete to Rashad Greene for 6 yards to the FS45, 1ST DOWN FS (Darius Kelly). | All hitch. Syracuse is playing with a lot of cushion and Jameis is taking the free yards. |
| 1-10 | at Fs45 | 20 Pony | Jameis Winston screen pass complete to Mario Pender for 9 yards to the SU46 (Darius Kelly;Brandon Reddish). | Play action fake to the boundary, throw back screen to Pender on the other side. Neat play that I don't recall seeing before. |
| 2-1 | at Su46 | 11 Pistol | Jameis Winston screen pass complete to Jesus Wilson for no gain to the SU46 (Brandon Reddish). | Packaged play, power run with a bubble. First time I can recall FSU running a packaged play from a pistol set. Travis Rudolph gets a poor block on the outside but Bobo breaks a tackle for the first down. And then a terrible spot makes it 3rd and a foot. |
| 3-1 | at Su46 | 22 | Mario Pender rush up middle for 3 yards to the SU43, 1ST DOWN FS (Durell Eskridge). | Inside zone left. Pretty well blocked. On a normal down and distance you'd like Pender to show more patience and cut off the lead block, but in short yardage when you see a crease, stick it up in there and get a first down. |
| 1-10 | at Su43 | 10 Gun Trips | Jameis Winston middle pass complete to Travis Rudolph for 14 yards to the SU29, 1ST DOWN FS (Marqez Hodge). | Tunnel screen to Rudolph is blocked very well. Using motion to get the receiver in position gives the defense less of a read. Really nice job by Hoefeld getting downfield and getting a block. |
| 1-10 | at Su29 | 21 Pony Twins | Jameis Winston rush up middle for 5 yards to the SU24 (Marqez Hodge), PENALTY SU personal foul 12 yards to the SU12, 1ST DOWN FS. | Power blocking with true zone read action. Jameis reads the backside defensive end crashing and pulls, making a guy miss and falling forward for a nice gain. |
| 1-10 | at Su12 | 1st and 10. | ||
| 1-10 | at Su12 | 21 Bunch | Mario Pender rush right for 12 yards to the SU0, 1ST DOWN FS, TOUCHDOWN, clock 11:10. | Zone weak. Syracuse is blitzing the linebacker from this side and Matias turns him. The safety comes up aggressively but Pender jukes him in the hole and then cuts off of Rashad Greene's excellent downfield block to score. |
| Roberto Aguayo kick attempt good. | ||||
| Florida State 7, Syracuse 0 | Dominant drive. Everything clicking right now. | |||
| Drive: 8 plays, 70 yards, TOP 03:50 | ||||
| Roberto Aguayo kickoff 65 yards to the SU0, touchback. | ||||
| 1-10 | at Su25 | SYRACUSE drive start at 11:10. | ||
| 1-10 | at Su25 | 4-2-5 | Prince-Tyson Gulley rush right for 7 yards to the SU32 (Eddie Goldman;P.J. Williams). | Power run and Featherston tries to squeeze the gap, but is over-aggressive in doing so and gets washed inside. Nate Andrews should have outside contain here but gets blocked allowing the runner to bounce it outside. |
| 2-3 | at Su32 | 4-2-5 | Prince-Tyson Gulley rush up middle for 3 yards to the SU35, 1ST DOWN SU (Reggie Northrup). | Zone read and Desmond Hollin gets hooked, creating a cutback lane for the back. |
| 1-10 | at Su35 | 4-2-5 | Prince-Tyson Gulley rush up middle for 3 yards to the SU38 (Terrance Smith). | Zone read again and Terrence Smith hesitates and then runs around a block rather than attacking it. |
| 2-7 | at Su38 | 4-2-5 | Austin Wilson slant pass complete to Jarrod West for 13 yards to the FS49, 1ST DOWN SU (Nate Andrews). | Stop route. Would like Andrews to react to this a little quicker. |
| 1-10 | at Fs49 | 4-2-5 | Prince-Tyson Gulley rush up middle for 1 yard to the FS48 (Eddie Goldman). | Zone read again and the DL does a very nice job of controlling the blockers and squeezing the gaps. Great shed and tackle by Eddie Goldman. |
| 2-9 | at Fs48 | 4-2-5 | Austin Wilson sideline pass complete to Ben Lewis for 15 yards to the FS33, 1ST DOWN SU (Jalen Ramsey). | Jalen Ramsey is confused and out of position at the start of this play and has to run over the top of a rub route to get to the flat, resulting in a wide open receiver. |
| 1-10 | at Fs33 | 4-2-5 | Prince-Tyson Gulley rush up middle for 2 yards to the FS31 (Reggie Northrup). | Zone read. Nice fill and tackle by Terrence Smith. |
| 2-8 | at Fs31 | 4-2-5 | Austin Wilson slant pass complete to Adrian Flemming for 12 yards to the FS19, 1ST DOWN SU. | Same rub concept they ran just two plays ago, this time hitting the slant. PJ Williams plays the ball instead of the man and is inches from breaking it up or intercepting it. |
| 1-10 | at Fs19 | 4-2-5 | Austin Wilson sideline pass incomplete to Prince-Tyson Gulley. | Syracuse runs a play action fake to the back who then runs a wheel route. Northrup is all over it and the pass goes out of bounds. Good defense. |
| 2-10 | at Fs19 | 4-2-5 | Austin Wilson sacked for loss of 1 yard to the FS20 (Reggie Northrup). | Triangle read from Cuse and guys are open but Wilson hesitates and then has to scramble. Good pursuit to bring him down for a loss. |
| 3-11 | at Fs20 | 4-2-5 | Austin Wilson pass intercepted by Jalen Ramsey at the FS12, Jalen Ramsey return 27 yards to the FS39 (Adrian Flemming). | FSU brings a blitz and the linebacker is free in the QB's face, who rolls out of the pocket and throws it right to Jalen Ramsey. |
| Drive: 11 plays, 55 yards, TOP 03:55 | Defense is not playing very aggressively, but they're also not busting coverages or losing composure when the offense has some success. | |||
| 1-10 | at Fs39 | FLORIDA STATE drive start at 07:15. | ||
| 1-10 | at Fs39 | 11 Gun | Jameis Winston pass complete to Mario Pender for 2 yards to the FS41 (Cameron Lynch). | Fake jet sweep, roll out to the boundary. The defender is between Jameis and Pender, so Winston gives a subtle move as if he's going to run it to allow Pender to come open and then lobs it to him. Doesn't look like much, but this is a great football play. |
| 2-8 | at Fs41 | 10 Gun | PENALTY FS false start 5 yards to the FS36. | Can't blame Hart for this. Jameis signals for the snap three times and Hoefeld never snaps it. |
| 2-13 | at Fs36 | 10 Pistol Trips | Mario Pender rush left for 2 yards to the FS38 (Durell Eskridge;Ritchy Desir). | Outside zone and Cam Erving gets beat to the inside. Luckily Pender is able to dodge the tackle in the backfield and turn it into a positive gain. |
| 3-11 | at Fs38 | 10 Gun Trips | Jameis Winston sideline pass complete to Jesus Wilson for 11 yards to the FS49, 1ST DOWN FS. | Great curl route by Bobo Wilson. He bursts off the line to sell the vertical route then comes back to the ball and scoops a low throw by Winston off the turf for a first down. Jameis appears to be throwing it where a typical curl route would go while Bobo extended his route to get past the sticks. Nice blitz pickup by the backs and OL. |
| 1-10 | at Fs49 | 11 Gun | Jameis Winston sideline pass complete to Rashad Greene for 8 yards to the SU43 (Julian Whigham). | All curls. Jameis probably should have gone to the receiver in the slot who had a safety playing well off and was wide open. Rashad is being pressed and the coverage is quite good, but he shows why Jameis has such trust in him by getting open at the last second and making the catch. |
| 2-2 | at Su43 | 21 Pony | Dalvin Cook rush up middle for 4 yards to the SU39, 1ST DOWN FS (Micah Robinson). | Power run is not blocked particularly well but Cook is so quick off his cut that he's by the DL before they know what's happening. |
| 1-10 | at Su39 | 20 I | Dalvin Cook rush up middle for 4 yards to the SU35 (Marqez Hodge). | Haven't seen FSU run an I formation with a slot receiver in a long, long time. Jimbo is trying to help the run game as much as possible with formations. Inside zone is blocked well and Cook makes a nice subtle cutback. |
| 2-6 | at Su35 | 10 Gun | Jameis Winston sideline pass incomplete to Rashad Greene (Julian Whigham). | Smash route and the corner sinks underneath and breaks it up. Really good play by the DB knowing FSU's tendencies. |
| 3-6 | at Su35 | 11 Gun | PENALTY SU pass interference 7 yards to the SU28, 1ST DOWN FS. | Pretty sure Pender blows the protection here as he checks blitz to his side, but there is an overload blitz to the other side. The OL turn the first rusher loose to pick up the delayed blitzer...the back needs to be there to clean this up. Jameis tries to hit Rashad on the curl but throws it falling away and doesn't get enough on it. Bailed out by obvious pass interference from the DB. |
| 1-10 | at Su28 | 11 Pistol | Mario Pender rush up middle for 12 yards to the SU16, 1ST DOWN FS (Durell Eskridge). | Weak zone against blitz. Hart and Jackson get shoved backwards but create a nice lane that Pender is able to get through and break it to the outside. Once he's in the open field he breaks several more tackles on his own. |
| 1-10 | at Su16 | 21 Pony | Dalvin Cook rush left for 5 yards to the SU11 (Durell Eskridge). | Outside zone. Blocked well and Cook really doing a great job of picking a lane and getting upfield. |
| 2-5 | at Su11 | 20 Pony | Dalvin Cook rush up middle for loss of 1 yard to the SU12 (John Raymon). | Inside zone and Cam Erving's man squeezes the gap and makes the tackle. |
| 3-6 | at Su12 | Timeout Florida State, clock 01:33. | ||
| 3-6 | at Su12 | 11 Gun Trips | Jameis Winston pass incomplete. | Syracuse brings blitz again. The slant pass appears to be tipped and Bobo Wilson can't control it. |
| 4-6 | at Su12 | 1 | PENALTY FS false start 5 yards to the SU17. | |
| 4-11 | at Su17 | Roberto Aguayo field goal attempt from 34 GOOD, clock 01:23. | ||
| Florida State 10, Syracuse 0 | ||||
| Drive: 12 plays, 44 yards, TOP 05:52 | Really solid drive again. Syracuse made the adjustment to bring pressure and FSU didn't handle it perfectly, but still moved the ball effectively. | |||
| Roberto Aguayo kickoff 60 yards to the SU5, Ervin Philips return 15 yards to the SU20 (Reggie Northrup). | ||||
| 1-10 | at Su20 | 4-2-5 | SYRACUSE drive start at 01:23. | |
| 1-10 | at Su20 | 4-2-5 | Prince-Tyson Gulley rush up middle for 3 yards to the SU23 (Eddie Goldman). | Inside zone read. The DL gets pushed back but maintains gap integrity. |
| 2-7 | at Su23 | 4-2-5 | AJ Long rush for 1 yard to the SU24 (Reggie Northrup). | Young QB appears to have decided before the snap that he's going to run. Only stays in the pocket briefly before bailing. Excellent open field tackle by Northrup. |
| 3-6 | at Su24 | 4-2-5 | AJ Long middle pass complete to Prince-Tyson Gulley for 7 yards to the SU31, 1ST DOWN SU (Nate Andrews). | Empty backfield. FSU is clearly playing safe here as the defender is hovering over top of the slant rather than going for the breakup/int. Late throw. |
| 1-10 | at Su31 | 4-2-5 | Ervin Philips rush left for 6 yards to the SU37 (Terrance Smith). | Jet sweep. Trying to settle the new young QB in. |
| Drive: 4 plays, 17 yards, TOP 03:31 | ||||
| Florida State 10, Syracuse 0 |