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Welcome back to our weekly film review sessions of Florida State’s 2017 season. Every play broken down, with video and analysis.
As always, this content is best viewed on a computer or tablet, not on a phone.
Florida State came out of halftime on a high note.
The Seminoles drove all the way down to the Alabama 34-yard line before negative plays killed their drive. After punting the ball away, the ’Noles made a stop on defense in order to regain possession.
Then things began to implode.
Logan Tyler’s punt was blocked by running back Damien Harris, setting up the Crimson Tide at the FSU 6-yard line. But a valiant effort from the defense limited Alabama to a field goal.
But then Keith Gavin fumbled the kickoff. On Florida State’s next drive, Deondre Francois’ pass was intercepted.
It’s these kind of mistakes you cannot afford to make against a well-oiled machine like Alabama. In the span of three consecutive drives in the third quarter, the Crimson Tide started with possession on the FSU 6-yard line, 11-yard line, and 42-yard line.
Defensively, you couldn’t ask for a better effort in this quarter. Derwin James and the defense lived up to the hype and made some critical stops. On the defensive line, Demarcus Christmas continued to wreck havoc.
Offensively, this is where you start to see thing sputtering. After Alabama goes up 21-7, Francois starts pressing. His interception was easily telegraphed by the defense as he tried to force the ball to Tate. Any momentum Florida State had at this point was lost.
FSU vs Alabama - 3rd Quarter
| D-D | At | Formation | Play | Analysis |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| D-D | At | Formation | Play | Analysis |
| Start of 3rd quarter, clock 15:00, UA ball on UA35. | ||||
| JK Scott kickoff 65 yards to the FS0, touchback. | Alabama making it very clear they are not kicking to Derwin. | |||
| FSU drive start at 15:00. | ||||
| 1-10 | FSU25 | 11 Pistol | Akers, C rush for loss of 1 yard to the FS24 (S. Hamilton). | A little confusion here as Campbell runs onto the field late. Counter trey with Izzo and Minshew as lead blockers. Akers slips as he's running, negating what could be a big gain if he follows Izzo. |
| 2-11 | FSU24 | 11 Tight | Francois, D pass complete to Gavin, K for 15 yards to the FS39, 1ST DOWN FS (Levi Wallace). | FSU brings everyone in tight and leaves Izzo and Akers in to pass pro. Francois hits Gavin on the inside route for a first down. Nice throw. |
| 1-10 | FSU39 | 11 Pistol | Francois, D pass complete to Gavin, K for 12 yards to the UA49, 1ST DOWN FS (Ronnie Harrison;Anthony Averett). | Play action with Mishew as a pulling blocker. Francois does a very nice job of fitting this ball into a tight window to hit Gavin on the curl route. Little to no room for error here by Francois. |
| 1-10 | UA49 | 11 Pistol | Akers, C rush for 4 yards to the UA45 (Da'Ron Payne). | Outside zone run to the field side. Minshew does a nice job of getting to the second level. Da'Ron Payne makes the tackle at the last second or else Akers might have sprung this one for a big gain. |
| 2-6 | UA45 | 11 Gun | Francois, D pass complete to Akers, C for 11 yards to the UA34, 1ST DOWN FS (Da'Ron Payne). | FSU fakes the handoff to Murray who comes in motion and Francois hits Akers in the flat. Bama brings Fitzpatrick on a blitz, leaving Akers a lot of space. The freshman makes a linebacker look silly and picks up a first down. Nice play. |
| 1-10 | UA34 | 11 Gun | Francois, D rush for loss of 1 yard to the UA35 (M. Fitzpatrick;S. Hamilton). | QB power. Murray comes in motion, but Francois keeps it. Izzo and Dickerson are the pulling blockers. Akers misses a block on Fitzpatrick, who makes the shoestring tackle on Francois. |
| 2-11 | UA35 | 11 Pistol | Akers, C rush for loss of 3 yards to the UA38 (S. Hamilton). | Outside zone run to the boundary. Minshew is supposed to get to the second level here to block a LB, but Hamilton is too fast and makes the tackle for loss on Akers. |
| 3-14 | UA38 | Francois, D sacked for loss of 10 yards to the UA48 (Raekwon Davis). | Raekwon Davis slaps Minshew's hands away and easily gets by him for the sack. Not much Francois can do except eat this one. Five star linemen are gonna make plays eventually. | |
| 4-24 | UA48 | Tyler, L punt 29 yards to the UA19, fair catch by Trevon Diggs. | ||
| Drive: 8 plays, 27 yards, TOP 04:56 | Drive started off nice, but was killed by a couple of negative plays. Can't have those against Alabama and expect to succeed. Not a lot of teams can drive 50+ yards on Bama. | |||
| ALABAMA drive start at 10:04. | ||||
| 1-10 | UA19 | 4-2-5 | Damien Harris rush for 3 yards to the UA22 (Hoskins, R;Nnadi, D). | McFadden comes on a blitz, but FSU gets nice penetration from Christmas so Nnadi and Hoskins can clean it up. |
| 2-7 | UA22 | 4-2-5 | Jalen Hurts rush for 4 yards to the UA26 (Burns, B;Hoskins, R). | FSU shows blitz and brings Thomas from the field side. Hurts reads Thomas on the bltiz on the zone read and keeps it. Burns does a nice job of ducking beneath the lineman to make the tackle. |
| 3-3 | UA26 | 4-2-5 | Jalen Hurts pass complete to Damien Harris for 11 yards to the UA37, 1ST DOWN UA (Marshall, T). | Bama comes with a two-back look in the backfield. Burns stays in to combat the QB keeper, but Hurts flips it to the flat and gets a first down. James has a chance to make a play here, but is matched up against the TE and gets blocked. Watch Burns give good effort to chase Harris all the way downfield. |
| 1-10 | UA37 | 4-2-5 | Jalen Hurts pass incomplete to Calvin Ridley, PENALTY FS pass interference (Marshall, T) 15 yards to the FS48, 1ST DOWN UA, NO PLAY, PENALTY UA delay of game 5 yards to the UA47, NO PLAY. | Man coverage across the board. Marshall is burnt like toast against Ridley and all he can do is grab on to draw the flag to prevent a big gain. Alabama is flagged for a sideline warning, so the 15-yard penalty is just a 10-yard penalty. |
| 1-10 | UA47 | 4-2-5 | Jalen Hurts rush for 3 yards to the 50 yardline (Thomas, M). | Hurts wants to his his TE in the flat here, but there is good man coverage by Thomas and Meyers downfield so he has to bite this and run for a short gain. |
| 2-7 | UA50 | 4-2-5 | Jalen Hurts pass complete to Calvin Ridley for loss of 11 yards to the UA39 (Marshall, T). | Alabama throws a screen, but FSU is all over it like white on rice. Burns and McFadden are in the backfield before Ridley can take a step, and all WR can do is dance around for a bit before taking a huge loss. Good defense. |
| 3-18 | UA39 | 4-0-7 | Jalen Hurts rush for 9 yards to the UA48 (Lane, E;Nasirildeen, H). | FSU playing basic prevent here on 3rd and forever. FSU runs stunts up front with Christmas and Sweat, which opens a hole for Hurts to run through. Too bad Lane and Nasirildeen are there to greet him. |
| 4-9 | UA48 | JK Scott punt 45 yards to the FS7, downed. | Jeez, why can't we get punts like that? | |
| Drive: 6 plays, 29 yards, TOP 03:41 | Great defense. Couldn't ask for anything better. | |||
| FSU drive start at 06:23. | ||||
| 1-10 | FSU07 | 21 Pony | Patrick, J rush for 9 yards to the FS16 (M. Fitzpatrick). | Counter concept, with Izzo and Minshew as the pulling blockers. Vickers makes a nice block on the LB. Patrick follows Izzo for a good gain. |
| 2-1 | FSU16 | 21 Pony | Patrick, J rush for 4 yards to the FS20, 1ST DOWN FS (S. Hamilton;Joshua Frazier). | Straight dive, with the OL downblocking. Patrick does a good job of powering forward for the first down. Nice run. Don't get too fancy in the backfield, just get the first down. |
| 1-10 | FSU20 | 21 Pony | Francois, D pass complete to Patrick, J for 5 yards to the FS25 (Mack Wilson). | The first look of the pony package in this game. Play action. Terrell Lewis is too fast for Leonard as he comes around the edge. Da'Shawn Hand is one-on-one with Vickers in pass pro as well. Francois gets hit as he throws, but still connects with Patrick in the flat for a good gain. |
| 2-5 | FSU25 | 21 Empty | Francois, D pass incomplete to Murray, N. | Patrick and Vickers both motion out wide. This play is a designed downfield shot to Murray, but he's matched up one-on-one with Fitzpatrick and gets no separation. The throw was a bit too far out in front as well. |
| 3-5 | FSU25 | 10 Gun | Francois, D pass incomplete to Campbell, G. | Gavin on the orbit motion. Tony Brown comes on the blitz, which leaves a wide open space right at the first down marker. Tate sits down where Brown was and is open for a first, but Francois throws to Campbell. The throw is too short and incomplete. Francois was likely rushed by Brown on the blitz. |
| 4-5 | FSU25 | TEAM punt BLOCKED, recovered by UA Dylan Moses at FS6 (blocked by Damien Harris), PENALTY FS illegal formation declined. | No one chips Harris at the line and he gets the easiest punt block you'll ever see. Oh, and FSU had too many men in the backfield as well so that's fun. | |
| Drive: 5 plays, 18 yards, TOP 02:06 | [screams internally] | |||
| ALABAMA drive start at 04:17. | ||||
| 1-G | FSU06 | 4-2-5 | Bo Scarbrough rush for 2 yards to the FS4 (Hoskins, R). | The 'Noles get good push up front between Nnadi, Christmas, and Sweat and Scarbrough has nowhere to run. Hoskins finishes the job. |
| 2-G | FSU04 | 4-2-5 | Jalen Hurts sacked for loss of 7 yards to the FS11 (Sweat, J). | Man coverage with FSU bringing a 6-man blitz. Burns gets the initial pressure, which forces Hurst to scramble and Sweat gets the sack. Very nice play with your backs against the wall. |
| 3-G | FSU11 | 4-1-6 | Jalen Hurts rush for 4 yards to the FS7 (James, D). | Christmas beats the right guard immediately, which forces Hurts to scramble. Derwin is the spy and there's no escaping from DJ3 in the open field. |
| 4-G | FSU07 | A. Pappanastos field goal attempt from 25 GOOD, clock 01:54. | ||
| FLORIDA STATE 7, ALABAMA 13 | ||||
| Drive: 4 plays, -1 yards, TOP 02:03 | Holding Alabama to a field goal after having them start on your own 6-yard line is a phenomenal defensive performance. | |||
| JK Scott kickoff 64 yards to the FS1, Gavin, K return 9 yards to the FS10, fumble forced by Dylan Moses, fumble by Gavin, K recovered by UA Keith Holcombe at FS11. | C'mon, man. Jimbo Fisher called this a "poor decision" in the postgame press conference. Have to agree with Fisher on that one. | |||
| ALABAMA drive start at 01:47. | ||||
| 1-10 | FSU11 | 4-1-6 | Damien Harris rush for 11 yards to the FS0, 1ST DOWN UA, TOUCHDOWN, clock 01:41. | FSU brings a 6-man blitz, but Alabama's TE makes a good block on Burns to force a hole for Harris. He breaks arm tackles by James and Marshall and scores. |
| FSU03 | Jalen Hurts pass attempt to Calvin Ridley good. | Man coverage on the 2-pt conversion. FSU does a good job of preventing the initial throw, but Ridley breaks free on the scramble drill for the conversion. | ||
| FLORIDA STATE 7, ALABAMA 21 | ||||
| Drive: 1 play, 11 yards, TOP 00:06 | Don't put this on the defense. Back-to-back series where they've started inside their own red zone. Couldn't ask for better effort. Poor special teams is to blame here. | |||
| JK Scott kickoff 65 yards to the FS0, touchback. | ||||
| FSU drive start at 01:41. | ||||
| 1-10 | FSU25 | 11 Pistol | Francois, D rush for 3 yards to the FS28 (C. Miller). | Play action. Leonard can't make the block on Isaiah Buggs, who kills this play before it begins. Francois is forced to scramble and makes something out of nothing. |
| 2-7 | FSU28 | 11 Gun | Francois, D pass intercepted by Levi Wallace at the FS42, Levi Wallace return 0 yards to the FS42 (Tate, A). | Francois tries to force this ball to Tate on the back shoulder fade and he is easily picked off by the DB. Stared down Tate the entire way as well. Bad decision by a third year player. |
| Drive: 2 plays, 3 yards, TOP 00:45 | Can't give Alabama drives that start inside your own territory. Alabama thrives off of these kind of mistakes. | |||
| ALABAMA drive start at 00:56 | ||||
| 1-10 | FSU42 | 4-2-5 | Jalen Hurts rush for no gain to the FS42 (Thomas, M). | Alabama runs verts and FSU has good coverage downfield. McFadden comes on the blitz and forces Hurts to step up and scramble. Thomas is the spy and limits Hurts to no gain. |
| 2-10 | FSU42 | 4-2-5 | Bo Scarbrough rush for 4 yards to the FS38 (Jones, F;Walvenski, A). | Backup DTs in the game in Jones and Aime. Thomas makes his blocker miss, but gets bowled over by Scarbrough. Luckily, this stops his momentum long enough for Jones and Aime to make the tackle. |
| END OF 3RD: FLORIDA STATE 7, ALABAMA 21 |