Every week we break down the result of the previous game. Who really played well for the Seminoles against Notre Dame? 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).
Share this on FB and tweet it using the buttons/icons on this page. If we don't get big numbers on these, they will stop. They take far too long to put together to have a small payoff.
Please do ask any questions you may have in the comment section!
| D-D | At | Form | Play | Analysis |
| 1-10 | at Nd35 | FS ball on FS35. | ||
| Aguayo, R. kickoff 65 yards to the ND0, touchback. | ||||
| 1-10 | at Nd25 | GOLSON at QB for Notre Dame. | ||
| 1-10 | at Nd25 | 4-2-5 | PENALTY FS offside defense (Mitchell, D.) 5 yards to the ND30. | Derrick Mitchell is a little over excited, goes when the center puts his head up to snap the ball. |
| 1-5 | at Nd30 | 4-2-5 | GOLSON deep pass incomplete to PROSISE, clock 14:52. | Notre Dame wants a deep shot early and runs some kind of a post-vertical route in an attempt to split the 2 deep safeties. Nate Andrews allows the receiver to get a step behind him, but the ball is way overthrown. |
| 2-5 | at Nd30 | 4-2-5 | FOLSTON rush over left guard for no gain to the ND30 (Mitchell, D.;Northrup, R.), clock 14:40. | Inside zone from Notre Dame. DL squeezes it well and Derrick Mitchell completely defeats the guard's block and is waiting on the ball carrier. |
| 3-5 | at Nd30 | 4-2-5 | GOLSON screen pass complete to BROWN, C. for 3 yards to the ND33 (Andrews, N.), clock 13:49. | FSU rushes 6, looping Jacob Pugh up the middle from his end spot. He comes free and Golson moves off his spot and hits the receiver on the drag. Nate Andrews is right there and makes the tackle short of the first down. Forcing throws before the QB wants to and then tackling if caught. That's defense. |
| 4-2 | at Nd33 | BRINDZA punt 47 yards to the FS20, Greene, R. return 17 yards to the FS37 (PROSISE). | Excellent defense so far. | |
| Drive: 3 plays, 8 yards, TOP 01:35 | ||||
| 1-10 | at Fs37 | FLORIDA STATE drive start at 13:25. | ||
| 1-10 | at Fs37 | Winston, J. at QB for Florida State. | ||
| 1-10 | at Fs37 | 11 Gun | Winston, J. MR pass incomplete to O'Leary, N., clock 13:22. | Jameis tries to hit Nick O'Leary on a stick route. Bad decision as the linebacker is on O'Leary's outside hip and nearly intercepts it. Jameis was expecting O'Leary to continue to work to the outside, but O'Leary did not due to the presence of the linebacker. This error is on Winston. |
| 2-10 | at Fs37 | 11 Gun | Winston, J. SH pass complete to Greene, R. for loss of 1 yard to the FS36 (FARLEY), clock 12:59. | Jet Sweep to Rashad has a chance to go but Tre Jackson gets beat badly and penetration destroys the play. |
| 3-11 | at Fs36 | 11 Gun | Winston, J. deep pass incomplete to Rudolph, T., clock 12:33. | Dalvin Cook is out of position in pass protection, forcing Jameis to evade a blitzer before throwing downfield. The ball comes out of his hand strangely, almost straight up in the air and lands in the middle of the field well short of his intended target. |
| 4-11 | at Fs36 | (RABASA). | ||
| 4-11 | at Fs36 | Beatty, C. punt 32 yards to the ND32, out-of-bounds. | ||
| Drive: 3 plays, minus 1 yards, TOP 00:58 | ||||
| 1-10 | at Nd32 | NOTRE DAME drive start at 12:27. | ||
| 1-10 | at Nd32 | 4-2-5 | GOLSON sideline pass incomplete to ROBINSON, C. (Andrews, N.), clock 12:23. | Five man pressure from the Noles and Golson tries to hit Cory Robinson on a speed out. Nate Andrews breaks it up. First almost INT of the night. |
| 2-10 | at Nd32 | 4-2-5 | GOLSON sacked for loss of 2 yards to the ND30 (Goldman, E.), clock 12:09. | Tremendous disciplined pass rush draws the noose around Golson. He briefly has a lane to escape but Goldman closes it quickly and brings him down. |
| 3-12 | at Nd30 | 4-2-5 | GOLSON crossing pass complete to ROBINSON, C. for 23 yards to the FS47, 1ST DOWN ND (Brutus, L.;Darby, R.), clock 11:30. | Notre Dame rolls the pocket to escape pressure and finds Robinson on a crossing route from the other side of the field. Lamarcus Brutus has to come up from the safety position to take this away but he reacts extremely late. |
| 1-10 | at Fs47 | 4-2-5 | FOLSTON rush over right guard for 4 yards to the FS43 (Edwards, M.), clock 11:08. | Inside zone and Eddie Goldman gets put on roller skates, shoved 5 yards off the line of scrimmage. This creates a big crease for the back to follow. |
| 2-6 | at Fs43 | 4-2-5 | GOLSON flag pass incomplete to BROWN, C., clock 10:57. | Trips to the field. Double slants from the two outside receivers with a corner route from the slot. Tyler Hunter is all over it, to the point that he and the receiver get tangled up and go down. Great coverage. |
| 3-6 | at Fs43 | 4-2-5 | GOLSON slant pass complete to PROSISE for 5 yards to the FS38 (Darby, R.), clock 10:37. | Notre Dame uses a tight bunch formation to get a free release for the spot route. Excellent open field tackle short of the first down by Darby. |
| 4-1 | at Fs38 | 4-2-5 | GOLSON rush for loss of 1 yard to the FS39, fumble by GOLSON recovered by ND GOLSON at FS39. | QB sneak. Fumble on the center-QB exchange, but this play was going nowhere. The FSU defensive line allows no push whatsoever. |
| Drive: 7 plays, 29 yards, TOP 01:57 | ||||
| 1-10 | at Fs39 | FLORIDA STATE drive start at 10:30. | ||
| 1-10 | at Fs39 | 21 | Cook, D. rush over right tackle for 4 yards to the FS43 (JONES, J.), clock 10:11. | Inside zone. There may have been more yards if Cook follows the fullback. Pretty well blocked. |
| 2-6 | at Fs43 | 21 Twins | Cook, D. rush over left guard for loss of 5 yards to the FS38 (JONES, J.), clock 09:32. | Jameis made some kind of check here and there is total miscommunication on the OL. Hoefeld and Jackson both try to get to the second level and turn the DT and DE free. Matias, Erving and Hart try to block someone but get beat. What on earth?? |
| 3-11 | at Fs38 | 10 Gun | Winston, J. crossing pass incomplete to Lane, E., clock 09:02. | Post route is open behind the linebackers and in front of the safeties. Difficult throw and it's a little high and in front...really feel like Lane needs to make more of an effort here, may have quit on the route thinking the ball was not coming to him. |
| 4-11 | at Fs38 | Beatty, C. punt 46 yards to the ND16, out-of-bounds. | Nice punt! | |
| Drive: 3 plays, minus 1 yards, TOP 01:37 | ||||
| 1-10 | at Nd16 | NOTRE DAME drive start at 08:53. | ||
| 1-10 | at Nd16 | 4-2-5 | FOLSTON rush left for 12 yards to the ND28, 1ST DOWN ND (Northrup, R.), PENALTY FS personal foul (Hunter, T.) 15 yards to the ND43, 1ST DOWN ND, clock 08:42. | Neat play. Notre Dame has jet sweep action, then runs power behind it. The jet motion receiver then adds on as an extra edge blocker. Terrance Smith is in position but can't make the tackle. Completely bogus facemask call. |
| 1-10 | at Nd43 | 4-2-5 | 1st and 10. | |
| 1-10 | at Nd43 | 4-2-5 | FOLSTON rush over left guard for 17 yards to the FS40, 1ST DOWN ND (Andrews, N.), clock 08:28. | Notre Dame is in a 2x2 set with the receivers in stack alignments split very wide. This pulls defenders out of the box and with FSU still playing 2 deep looks, there are only 5 defenders in the box. Reggie Northrup needs to attack the gap more aggressively vs. inside zone and not give the center so much time to get off the combo block of the nose. |
| 1-10 | at Fs40 | 4-2-5 | FOLSTON rush over left tackle for 2 yards to the FS38 (Smith, Terr.), clock 07:53. | FSU is blitzing off the edges and there's a big running lane on the left side. Tremendous reaction and tackle by Terrance Smith. |
| 2-8 | at Fs38 | 4-2-5 | FOLSTON rush right for 6 yards to the FS32 (Hunter, T.), clock 07:19. | After three straight succesful inside runs, FSU blitzes both backers through the B gaps, but Notre Dame is running outside zone this time. In this scenario if the blitzers don't get the back in the backfield, he's going to turn the corner for a positive gain. Would like to see Hunter react a little quicker to this run. |
| 3-2 | at Fs32 | 4-2-5 | FOLSTON rush up middle for 1 yard to the FS31 (Featherston, L.), clock 06:33. | Notre Dame tries to read Lorenzo Featherston, which is generally a bad idea. He is unblocked and tackles the back for no gain. Eddie Goldman also completely blew up the center, driving him three yards into the backfield. |
| 4-1 | at Fs31 | 4-2-5 | MCDANIEL rush over right guard for 3 yards to the FS28, 1ST DOWN ND (Featherston, L.), clock 06:04. | Derrick Mitchell executes a swim move that gets him free but also pulls him out of his gap and he fails to make the tackle. If you're going to try that, you better make the tackle, 11. |
| 1-10 | at Fs28 | 4-2-5 | GOLSON WS pass complete to CARLISLE for 4 yards to the FS24 (Andrews, N.), clock 05:27. | Jet sweep across the formation, then a bubble screen to that side. The idea here is that FSU will be in zone, won't react appropriately to the motion and there will be a numbers advantage to the bubble side. Doesn't work, FSU reacts well and keeps it to a short gain. |
| 2-6 | at Fs24 | 4-2-5 | GOLSON ML pass complete to CARLISLE for 5 yards to the FS19, clock 05:00. | Stick route from a compressed set. Really fascinating Xs and Os chess match going on. |
| 3-1 | at Fs19 | 4-2-5 | GOLSON rush right for 1 yard to the FS18, 1ST DOWN ND (Northrup, R.), clock 04:11. | Zone read and this time Golson keeps. Demarcus Walker chases the running back and it appears the play is going to go, but Jalen Ramsey maintains leverage and Reggie Northrup gets outside to make the tackle short of the first down. TERRIBLE SPOT. He was a good half yard short of the 1st down. |
| 1-10 | at Fs18 | 4-2-5 | GOLSON post pass incomplete to FULLER (Darby, R.), PENALTY FS pass interference (Darby, R.) 15 yards to the FS3, 1ST DOWN ND, NO PLAY, clock 03:42. | Naked boot leg, throwback to the backside post. They call Darby for putting his arm on the receiver's shoulder as he elevates for the ball. If the Notre Dame receiver had actually made an effort for the ball it probably doesn't happen, but a fair call nonetheless. |
| 1-G | at Fs03 | 4-2-5 | PENALTY ND false start (HEGARTY) 5 yards to the FS8, clock 03:42. | |
| 1-G | at Fs08 | 4-2-5 | FOLSTON rush right for 5 yards to the FS3 (Smith, Terr.;Williams, P.J.), clock 03:24. | Power scheme. Lorenzo Featherston gets kicked out, needs to read this and squeeze the gap. Terrance Smith takes on the pulling guard but gets knocked backwards. Credit Notre Dame...this is a really well blocked and physical run. |
| 2-G | at Fs03 | 4-2-5 | FOLSTON rush over left guard for 2 yards to the FS1 (Edwards, M.;Mitchell, D.), clock 02:31. | Inside zone is pretty well defended except some of FSU's DL pop up in their stance (11), and allow ND's OL to get low and push them back. |
| 3-G | at Fs01 | 4-2-5 | GOLSON sideline pass complete to ROBINSON, C. for 1 yard to the FS0, TOUCHDOWN, clock 02:10. | As has been discussed ad nauseum, this is a pick play as well, but doesn't get called because the receiver takes a pass release off the line, ties up the defender for a moment then tries to get free. He doesn't grab the defender's chest plate and drive with his legs away from the intended receiver. That's how you run this play and don't get called for OPI. |
| BRINDZA kick attempt good. | ||||
| Notre Dame 7, Florida State 0 | ||||
| Drive: 12 plays, 84 yards, TOP 06:43 | ||||
| BRINDZA kickoff 64 yards to the FS1, out-of-bounds, FS ball on FS35. | ||||
| 1-10 | at Fs35 | FLORIDA STATE drive start at 02:10. | ||
| 1-10 | at Fs35 | 11 Gun Tight | Winston, J. post pass complete to Greene, R. for 23 yards to the ND42, 1ST DOWN FS (RIGGS), clock 01:58. | Skinny post is delivered behind the underneath coverage and well in front of the safety. Great route and anticipation on the throw. Well protected. |
| 1-10 | at Nd42 | 11 Tight | Winston, J. flag pass complete to Greene, R. for 33 yards to the ND9, 1ST DOWN FS, out-of-bounds (LUKE), clock 01:35. | The other 3 receivers run off the coverage and the over route from the short side of the field is unbelievably open. Back side safety totally blows it. Pretty much the exact same concept as Notre Dame converts the 4th and 18 in the 4th quarter on. |
| 1-G | at Nd09 | PENALTY FS false start (Erving, C.) 5 yards to the ND14, clock 01:22. | 5th year senior. At home. | |
| 1-G | at Nd14 | 11 Gun | Winston, J. rush QX for 3 yards to the ND11 (SMITH, J.), clock 00:50. | Breakdown in pass protection here. Notre Dame is bringing the Mike and Will backers on a blitz. Cook initially steps forward to take the Mike but Tre Jackson peels off and blocks him. By the time Cook realizes this and tries to get a piece of the Will backer, it's too late. Really good job by Jameis of evading the blitzer and getting some positive yards. |
| 2-G | at Nd11 | 11 Gun Trey | Winston, J. sideline pass complete to Rudolph, T. for 11 yards to the ND0, TOUCHDOWN, clock 00:19. | Scissors concept to the field. Not sure what coverage ND is in as it looks like quarters to the field side and Cover 2 to the boundary. The two vertical routes make it man to man to the field and the safety is way out of position when Rudolph breaks to the corner on his hot route to the front size w/ backside blitz. Because he's out of position and sprinting to make the tackle, Rudolph slips him and high steps into the end zone. |
| Notre Dame 7, Florida State 7 | Very clear after this drive that if FSU can protect Winston, he will carve this secondary up. | |||
| Drive: 4 plays, 65 yards, TOP 01:57 | ||||
| Aguayo, R. kickoff 63 yards to the ND2, MCDANIEL return 20 yards to the ND22 (Williams, P.J.;Northrup, R.). | ||||
| 1-10 | at Nd22 | NOTRE DAME drive start at 00:13. | ||
| 1-10 | at Nd22 | 4-2-5 | GOLSON sideline pass incomplete to BROWN, C., clock 00:07. | Notre Dame rolls the pocket away from FSU's standard star blitz from the slot and tries to hit the receiver on a curl/stop/comeback type route. |
| 2-10 | at Nd22 | 4-2-5 | FOLSTON rush right for 8 yards to the ND30 (Smith, Terr.). | Very strange blocking scheme from Notre Dame, I'm not sure this isn't a busted play. Might be inverted veer. Regardless, the handoff goes to the back and Matthew Thomas reads it well but overruns it and allow the back to cutback on him. |
| Drive: 2 plays, 8 yards, TOP 02:25 | ||||
| Notre Dame 7, Florida State 7 | Due to two three and outs and a four play 65 yard touchdown drive, FSU has only run 10 plays so far. |