Jimbo Fisher Call-In Show updates/takeaways: Bye week

It may be Florida State’s open week ahead of the Seminoles’ matchup with the Clemson Tigers on October 29th but Jimbo Fisher still returned to the Four Points by Sheraton Tallahassee Downtown for his weekly call-in show on Wednesday evening. What were the major takeaways from his bye week show?

What is FSU doing during the bye week?

Fisher received a few calls wondering what he and team is hoping to accomplish over the bye week with no team to prepare for this weekend. Fisher stated a few obvious thing such as a chance to spend extra time on film study for Clemson, an opportunity that Fisher welcomes, and a chance to get healthy. However, he added that the staff has taken this week as a chance to get back to fundamentals and to prepare for some future opponents beyond Clemson, such as NC State and Florida, and the unique wrinkles that those teams present.

Most improved position group?

A caller wondered which position group Fisher believes has made the most progress from the beginning of the season to now. Fisher named a few units, citing the progress that the defensive line has made, especially over the last few weeks as Josh Sweat and Derrick Nnadi have returned to full healthy, as well as the improvement that the running backs, Jacques Patrick and Dalvin Cook, have made from week one to now, admitting that they, especially Cook, got off to a slow start but they are really clicking now. Furthermore, Fisher has liked what he has seen from his tight ends, a position group that he says people don’t often think of first, speaking highly of Ryan Izzo’s further development as well as the surprising emergence of Mavin Saunders.

How will FSU stop Clemson defensive line?

One particularly astute caller was curious how Florida State can hope to keep quarterback Deondre Francois upright when he has taken so many hits against lesser defensive lines to this point. Fisher says that although some of the fault on Francois’ high number of hits he has taken can be attributed to the OL, he also says that some of the blame can be placed on missed blocks from the tight ends or the running back, as was the case in Francois’ fumble and sack play against Wake Forest. When asked how improvement in this regard can be seen, Fisher says that one major aspect is simply getting ahead of the chains. He states that most of these hits come in third-and-long situations when the defense is expecting an obvious pass play and can bring a bigger blitz as a result so getting into third-and-middle to shorts is the ideal fix, even against a line as talented as Clemson’s.

For a full rundown of this week’s show, check my updates in the comments section at the bottom of the page.