Every week we break down the result of the previous game. Who really played well for the Seminoles against The NC State? 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 | Yard | Formation | Play | Analysis |
| 1-10 | at Fs35 | FS ball on FS35. | ||
| Aguayo, R. kickoff 65 yards to the ST0, touchback. | ||||
| 1-10 | at St25 | 4-2-5 | Brissett, J. pass complete to Grinnage, D. for 21 yards to the ST46, 1ST DOWN ST. | Wheel route to the boundary is wide open when both PJ Williams and the defensive end run to the flat. That's on PJ to carry the vertical route and leave the flat to the DE. NC State has two TEs to the same side and this appears to contribute to the confusion. |
| 1-10 | at St46 | 4-2-5 | Brissett, J. pass complete to Hines, B. for 54 yards to the FS0, 1ST DOWN ST, TOUCHDOWN, clock 14:42. | This play has been discussed ad nauseum in the days since the game. My belief is that this was supposed to be a blitz off the edge by Northrup and Andrews should have rotated into a deep middle zone. Blitzing the with Cover 1 behind it is a staple FSU pressure, and is probably what this was. Now all of that is said to say this: Hunter is likely correct in believing that he should have safety help and that with pressure coming, a quick throw is likely. Under these circumstances jumping the first move as aggressively as he does is the right choice. Unfortunately, there is miscommunication somewhere along the line and no one is there to make the tackle on the double move. Reggie Northrup is unblocked on the play and must get the QB on the ground or otherwise prevent the throw when he has a free shot like this. Really just that simple. |
| 1-G | at Fs03 | PENALTY FS offside declined. | ||
| Sade, N. kick attempt good. | ||||
| NC State 7, Florida State 0 | Two coverage busts in as many plays and the Noles are in a hole quickly. | |||
| Drive: 2 plays, 75 yards, TOP 00:24 | ||||
| Sade, N. kickoff 54 yards to the FS11, Wilson, J. return 34 yards to the FS45 (Jones, H.). | ||||
| 1-10 | at Fs45 | FLORIDA STATE drive start at 14:36, FS ball on FS45. | ||
| 1-10 | at Fs45 | 11 Gun | Winston, J. pass complete to Williams, K. for 19 yards to the ST36, 1ST DOWN FS (Burris, J.). | Rail route out of the backfield by Karlos Williams. Can't see the downfield routes to determine if this is a called play to the RB or if Jameis is reading it, but if he's not he does a great job of selling it. Fisher said it was third read on coaches show. |
| 1-10 | at St36 | 10 Gun | Winston, J. pass incomplete to Wilson, J.. | FSU runs a simple two man route combo featuring an out from the slot and a vertical from the outside receiver vs. Cover 2. Jesus Wilson throttles down between the corner and safety and is wide open. Jameis overthrows him by a lot, possibly expecting Wilson to continue his route full speed. |
| 2-10 | at St36 | 21 Twins | Williams, K. rush for 5 yards to the ST31 (Noel, R.;Jones, H.). | Inside zone left with a designed cutback. The NC State defense flows hard. Good seal by Freddie Stevenson on the defensive end and Rashad Greene gets in the way effectively enough on the weak safety who is playing at linebacker depth. NC State's nose holds the hell out of Barron and Fisher and staff were not happy about this stuff all day. That is a penalty. |
| 3-5 | at St31 | 11 Gun | Winston, J. pass complete to Green, C. for 9 yards to the ST22, 1ST DOWN FS (Tocho, J.). | Curl route to Christian Greene in front of the ample cushion from the cornerback. Winston throws it to the outside, leading Green away from a defender pursuing from inside out, but overdoes it a bit requiring a phenomenal catch from Green. |
| 1-10 | at St22 | 10 Gun | Winston, J. pass complete to Williams, K. for 5 yards to the ST17 (Wright, D.). | Another rail route to Karlos Williams, this time it is definitely a called play as the receivers are blocking the whole way. Not a good lock by Ketmit Whitfield but at least he dodn't hold. |
| 2-5 | at St17 | 21 | PENALTY FS illegal block (Hart, B.) 15 yards to the ST32. | This is technically a chop block, but an inadvertent one. Austin Barron is trying to bypass the nose tackle and get to the second level. The nose tackle engages with Barron who is trying to run by and grabs his jersey (again, a theme all day and never called) and Matias dives low to cut him. If the NT doesn't grab on to a player who is not attempting to block him, the situation never arises. Bad call. |
| 2-20 | at St32 | 11 Gun | Winston, J. pass incomplete to O'Leary, N. (Fernandez, J.). | Jameis tries to get the ball to O'Leary on an out route, and he's open on the break, but the ball is late and nearly picked. The defense is clearly keying O'Leary and the slot receiver on the dig route is very open. Jackson gets beat and it's a great effort play by Barron to assist in protection peeling back. |
| 3-20 | at St32 | Timeout NC State, clock 12:09. | #goacc | |
| 3-20 | at St32 | 10 Trips | Winston, J. pass complete to Wilson, J. for 32 yards to the ST0, 1ST DOWN FS, TOUCHDOWN, clock 12:03. | If NC State is going to sit in Cover 2 all day, Jimbo is going to hold a coaching clinic on the smash concept. This time it's the three receiver variant with a hitch, post and corner. The safety jumps the post and the corner is so wide open. This is easy. |
| Aguayo, R. kick attempt good. | ||||
| Florida State 7, NC State 7 | NC State does not have the talent to play base defense like this. Too easy for Jameis and the Noles. | |||
| Drive: 7 plays, 55 yards, TOP 02:33 | ||||
| Aguayo, R. kickoff 65 yards to the ST0, touchback. | ||||
| 1-10 | at St25 | NC STATE drive start at 12:03. | ||
| 1-10 | at St25 | 4-2-5 | Hines, B. pass incomplete to Alston, J.. | Jet sweep pass. FSU covers this very well. The throw is off target but the receiver is surrounded by white jerseys. |
| 2-10 | at St25 | 3-4 | Thornton, S. rush for 4 yards to the ST29 (Walker, D.;Northrup, R.). | Inside zone away from the strength of the formation. Eddie Goldman and Reggie Northrup both overrun the play and have to try and reverse direction once the back cuts back. |
| 3-6 | at St29 | 4-2-5 | Brissett, J. pass complete to Hines, B. for 6 yards to the ST35, 1ST DOWN ST. | FSU brings 5 but the blitz is picked up well and Brissett bails out of a clean pocket. NC State runs a switch route with the slot receiver cutting off his vertical into a comeback. Ramsey is picked and takes an angle to intercept the vertical, leaving the receiver wide open on the comeback. Good play by State, Ramsey did the right thing. |
| 1-10 | at St35 | 3-4 | Thornton, S. rush for 5 yards to the ST40 (Hollin, D.;Smith, Terr.). | Inside zone left. FSU's gap integrity is quite good on this play but the entire defensive line gets shoved backwards, allowing Thornton to burrow forward for a gain of 5. |
| 2-5 | at St40 | 4-2-5 | Brissett, J. rush for 7 yards to the ST47, 1ST DOWN ST (Williams, P.J.). | Demarcus Walker is initially in his rush lane, but then tries to work outside the tackle opening up a massive lane for Brissett to escape the pocket and scramble for the first down. Rush discipline. |
| 1-10 | at St47 | 3-4 | Brissett, J. pass complete to Dayes, M. for 3 yards to the 50 yardline (Ramsey, J.;Smith, Terr.). | Pump fake left, roll right The back is uncovered in the flat but Ramsey and Smith combine to limit him to a short gain. |
| 2-7 | at St50 | 4-2-5 | Thornton, S. rush for 5 yards to the FS45 (Andrews, N.;Smith, Terr.). | Mitchell gets washed upfield, preventing Smith from filling the backside A gap when the back cuts back on the inside zone play. |
| 3-2 | at Fs45 | 4-2-5 | Thornton, S. rush for 8 yards to the FS37, 1ST DOWN ST (Hunter, T.). | Wildcat play with jet sweep action. Reggie Northrup is tentative and allows the center to get into him several yards downfield. He must be aggressive and step into his gap, meeting the center before he can gain momentum. |
| 1-10 | at Fs37 | 4-2-5 | Brissett, J. pass complete to Thornton, S. for 6 yards to the FS31 (Smith, Terr.). | Same pass play they just ran two plays ago, run to the other side of the field, with a similar result. |
| 2-4 | at Fs31 | 4-2-5 | Thornton, S. rush for 10 yards to the FS21, 1ST DOWN ST (Hunter, T.). | Draw play opens up a huge lane and Terrence Smith does a poor job of moving his feet laterally after the cutback and is in very poor position to try to make the tackle. Very nice open field tackle by Hunter. Fisher later revealed that Smith was hurt. |
| 1-10 | at Fs21 | 4-2-5 | Brissett, J. pass complete to Alston, J. for 16 yards to the FS5, 1ST DOWN ST (Northrup, R.). | Brissett has all day to throw. The front 7 is on their heels and gassed at this point. The deep coverage is good but the hitch is open. Reggie Northrup seems to underestimate the receiver's ability to turn the corner as he's able to get up the sideline for a big gain after a short throw. |
| 1-G | at Fs05 | 3-4 | Dayes, M. rush for 2 yards to the FS3 (Walker, D.;Hollin, D.). | Really nice job of the DL squeezing the gaps here, since the linebackers and secondary aren't set at the snap. |
| 2-G | at Fs03 | 6-2-3 | Thornton, S. rush for 3 yards to the FS0, TOUCHDOWN, clock 06:05. | Wildcat keeper. This is not a bad fill by Northrup, but Thornton is country strong and has to be met before he can get going if you want to prevent him from falling foward. |
| Sade, N. kick attempt good. | ||||
| NC State 14, Florida State 7 | ||||
| Drive: 13 plays, 75 yards, TOP 05:58 | NC State's best drive of the game, in my opinion. Nothing fancy and FSU didn't bust any coverages, just a steady diet of inside zone and short passes. FSU's linebackers are playing tentative and not attacking their gaps in the run game. After Fisher said that much of the stuff in the first quarter was stuff NC State had not shown through four games (they had played poor competition and there was no need) and it had the defense confused and tentative. They did adjust, however, as you'll see. | |||
| Sade, N. kickoff 65 yards to the FS0, touchback. | ||||
| 1-10 | at Fs25 | FLORIDA STATE drive start at 06:05. | ||
| 1-10 | at Fs25 | 21 | Winston, J. sacked for loss of 4 yards to the FS21 (McGill, T.), fumble by Winston, J. recovered by ST Nelson, M. at FS21. | FSU is trying to capitalize off it's success running from the I formation by trying to hit a deep shot off play action. The protection does not hold up as T.Y. McGill forces Tre Jackson backwards and across the Winston's face, then spins out and hits him from behind as he tries to step up into the pocket and throw. This one will by on McGill's draft highlight reel. FSU had the look here, too, with State having 8 in the box. |
| Drive: 1 plays, minus 4 yards, TOP 00:07 | ||||
| 1-10 | at Fs21 | NC STATE drive start at 05:58. | ||
| 1-10 | at Fs21 | 4-2-5 | Brissett, J. rush for 2 yards to the FS19 (Northrup, R.). | NC State makes a major error in pass protection and turns Desmond Hollin completely free towards the quarterback, but Brissett is able to retreat around the edge and scramble for a positive gain. |
| 2-8 | at Fs19 | 4-2-5 | Brissett, J. pass incomplete to Valdes-Scan, M., QB hurry by Mitchell, D.. | NC State is trying to set up a screen here but the pass rush in his face won't allow him to get the pass off. |
| 3-8 | at Fs19 | 4-2-5 | Brissett, J. pass incomplete to Underwood, B.. | NC State tries to run off the coverage then hit the receiver underneath on an in route but the receiver drops it. Nice disciplined pass rush keeps the QB in the pocket and influences the throw. A better throw is a first down or maybe a TD. |
| 4-8 | at Fs19 | Sade, N. field goal attempt from 37 GOOD, clock 05:16. | ||
| NC State 17, Florida State 7 | ||||
| Drive: 4 plays, 2 yards, TOP 00:46 | Holding NC State to a field goal from FSU's 21 on a quick turnaround after a 13 play drive is excellent defense. | |||
| Sade, N. kickoff 65 yards to the FS0, Whitfield, K. return 19 yards to the FS19 (Pittman, B.). | ||||
| 1-10 | at Fs19 | FLORIDA STATE drive start at 05:12. | ||
| 1-10 | at Fs19 | 20 Pony | Cook, D. rush for loss of 1 yard to the FS18 (Wright, D.;Rose, M.). | Outside zone. Karlos Williams runs right by the defender he's supposed to cut who then makes the tackle. He has to block or he cannot be in on this set. |
| 2-11 | at Fs18 | 20 Pony | Winston, J. pass incomplete to Green, C. (Burris, J.). | Same play they ran to Green on the touchdown drive. Clear pass interference from the DB who bumps Green in the back well before the ball arrives, causing the incompletion. Still, Green needs to catch the football. |
| 3-11 | at Fs18 | 11 Gun | Winston, J. pass incomplete to Wilson, J., QB hurry by Norman, A.. | Bobo splits the two defenders with his post route but the ball is over his outside shoulder and he's unable to make the adjustment. Very good chance this is an 82 yard TD if the ball is out in front of Wilson. Bobby Hart beat on the pass protection. |
| 4-11 | at Fs18 | Beatty, C. punt 39 yards to the ST43, fair catch by Hines, B.. | ||
| Drive: 3 plays, minus 1 yards, TOP 00:49 | Some near misses. | |||
| 1-10 | at St43 | NC STATE drive start at 04:23. | ||
| 1-10 | at St43 | 4-2-5 | Brissett, J. pass complete to Grinnage, D. for 45 yards to the FS12, 1ST DOWN ST (Andrews, N.). | Rollout right, throw back to the tight end leaking out the backside. Reggie Northrup "turns the tight end loose" according to Jimbo Fisher. |
| FSU injured player (24) Smith, T | At this point, Brissett is 7/9 for 151. Ridiculous. | |||
| 1-10 | at Fs12 | 4-2-5 | Thornton, S. rush for 2 yards to the FS10 (Goldman, E.;Hollin, D.). | Wildcat play again. Beautiful gap fill by EJ Levenberry, meeting the lineman at the line of scrimmage and knocking him into the ballcarrier and blowing up the play. Great play by the young linebacker. |
| 2-8 | at Fs10 | 4-2-5 | Brissett, J. pass complete to Purvis, T. for 7 yards to the FS3 (Walker, D.). | Northrup fails to pick up the H-back slipping out of the backfield. Actually a surprisingly athletic play by Walker to come off the tight end he was covering and get to the flat. NC State is using a lot of formations with multiple TEs/H backs to a side and it's creating free releases for them. This was something new and FSU's coaching staff did a good job getting the defense settled down and adjusting to it after the first 13 minutes, not waiting until halftime. |
| 3-1 | at Fs03 | PENALTY ST false start (Crisp, R.) 5 yards to the FS8. | ||
| 3-6 | at Fs08 | 4-2-5 | Brissett, J. pass complete to Alston, J. for 8 yards to the FS0, 1ST DOWN ST, TOUCHDOWN, clock 02:06. | Unbelievable play by Brissett to avoid multiple sacks and find the receiver in the back of the end zone. Give credit where it's due. With that being said...GET THE QB ON THE GROUND. |
| Sade, N. kick attempt good. | ||||
| NC State 24, Florida State 7 | ||||
| Drive: 4 plays, 57 yards, TOP 02:22 | ||||
| Sade, N. kickoff 65 yards to the FS0, Whitfield, K. return 18 yards to the FS18 (Means, M.;Boone, S.). | ||||
| 1-10 | at Fs18 | FLORIDA STATE drive start at 02:01. | ||
| 1-10 | at Fs18 | 10 Gun | Winston, J. pass complete to Whitfield, K. for 2 yards to the FS20 (Tocho, J.). | Packaged play. Power run with a bubble screen. With NC State's alley defender playing well inside the slot, the bubble is the correct choice. Not a great block by Christian Green. |
| 2-8 | at Fs20 | 10 Gun | Winston, J. pass complete to Wilson, J. for 39 yards to the ST41, 1ST DOWN FS (Jones, J.). | FSU runs whip route with a dig behind it. The linebacker runs with the whip leaving the dig wide open. Bobo's route running, in particular the way he varies his speed at different parts of the route is much more advanced than his experience would suggest. The acceleration once he's made the catch is fun to watch. |
| 1-10 | at St41 | 10 Gun | Winston, J. pass complete to Greene, R. for 5 yards to the ST36 (Burris, J.). | With the slot linebacker playing inside leverage and the safety over top of green 14 yards off the ball, the out route is completely uncontested. Take the free yards and force them to defend it. |
| 2-5 | at St36 | 10 Gun | Winston, J. pass incomplete to Wilson, J.. | All slants. NC State is still playing way off and FSU is just going to keep taking the free yards. The throw is high but Wilson should probably come down with this, especially with no defender around him. |
| 3-5 | at St36 | 10 Gun | Winston, J. pass complete to Greene, R. for 18 yards to the ST18, 1ST DOWN FS (Fernandez, J.;Tocho, J.). | NC State is in Cover 1 with a blitz on. FSU has the outside receiver running verticals and the slots running slants. With Greene aligned in the slot, they have a safety matched up on him man to man. That's an easy decision for Winston and with a broken tackle it becomes a chunk play. |
| 1-10 | at St18 | 10 Gun | Winston, J. pass complete to Wilson, J. for 6 yards to the ST12 (Tocho, J.;Noel, R.). | All slants again. Winston doesn't miss this time. |
| 2-4 | at St12 | 10 Gun | Williams, K. rush for no gain to the ST12 (Davis, D.). | This is a true zone read play with Winston reading the backside defensive end. The DE does a good job of staying home and not giving the QB an easy read. He doesn't declare until the instant before Winston gives and is able to make the tackle. |
| NC State 24, Florida State 7 |