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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.
By the fourth quarter, Florida State’s chances of getting back into the game were slim to none.
It didn’t help that Francois tossed his second interception as well.
Giving any team, much less Alabama, starting field position in five straight drives inside your own half is a recipe for disaster. The Crimson Tide didn’t capitalize on these FSU errors with explosive plays, but the did milk the clock and slowly drain any hope of the Seminoles mounting a comeback.
From an offensive standpoint, there isn’t much to say about this quarter. Before his injury, Florida State’s offense had pretty much stalled.
Defensively, it was a welcome sight to see that Derwin James and company did not give up the fight. Even as Alabama was running down the clock, the defense still gave good effort and gave the ball back to the offense.
This was also our first look at some of the freshmen and first-year contributors. Defensive ends Janarius Robinson and Joshua Kaindoh played well in limited snaps. Cam Akers also ran the ball well as the game was ending.
FSU vs Alabama - 4th Quarter
| D-D | At | Formation | Play | Analysis |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| D-D | At | Formation | Play | Analysis |
| Start of 4th quarter, clock 15:00. | ||||
| 3-6 | FSU38 | 407 | Jalen Hurts pass complete to Calvin Ridley for 5 yards to the FS33 (Lane, E). | 3rd down package - Derwin in box in LB type position. Quarters coverage - Derwin carries wheel, possibly should have stayed underneath with Ridley in flat/hook zone and passed wheel off to McFadden. |
| 4-1 | FSU33 | 524 | Bo Scarbrough rush for 2 yards to the FS31, 1ST DOWN UA (Pugh, J). | This is just classic Smash mouth - zone run, numbers even 7-7, Bo finds a crease and Pugh can't get there in time. Hard to beat a team that can block this well in short yardage. |
| 1-10 | FSU31 | 425 | Bo Scarbrough rush for 6 yards to the FS25 (Thomas, M;Sweat, J). | Inside zone from pistol. Hoskins gets lost in the wash, Nnadi manages to get off his block and slow him down. Sweat and Matthew Thomas finish cleaning it up but not before Bo falls 4 yards forward. Great runner |
| 2-4 | FSU25 | 425 | Bo Scarbrough rush for 1 yard to the FS24 (Burns, B). | Split zone, Noles plugged all the holes well. Bo had nowhere to go, interior squeezed the gaps and backers filled. Great run defense. |
| 3-3 | FSU24 | 416 | Jalen Hurts pass incomplete to Henry Ruggs III. | McFadden gets beat here and is well out of phase, but Hurts can't make the throw. This should have been a touchdown. Good pressure, but this was always going to be a quick throw based on location and route combo. |
| 4-3 | FSU24 | A. Pappanastos field goal attempt from 41 MISSED - wide right, spot at UA24, clock 12:28. | haha thanks dude | |
| Drive: 8 plays, 18 yards, TOP 03:28 | Noles did get bailed out by a bad throw by Hurts - but that was always the game plan. Force him to beat you in the air, since he's not well equipped to do so. So a bit fortunate, but you make your own luck. | |||
| FSU drive start at 12:28. | ||||
| 1-10 | FSU24 | 11 Gun Tight | Francois, D pass intercepted by Mack Wilson at the FS31, Mack Wilson return 0 yards to the FS31. | Snag concept. No clue what Francois thought here. This is simple - snag against cover 3 MOFC coverage. Backer from hook zone cuts across and grabs the toss to the spot route. The corner route you can throw outside shoulder, the flat route was wide open. This was a terrible read and decision. Inexcusable from even a first year starter, let alone your 2nd year experienced QB. Replay shows this could've been thrown to Tate, as the deep 3rd was not well covered. |
| Drive: 1 play, 0 yards, TOP 00:06 | Come on, man. | |||
| ALABAMA drive start at 12:22. | ||||
| 1-10 | FSU31 | 524 | Najee Harris rush for no gain to the FS31 (Thomas, M). | Zone to boundary with closed end. Fantastic downhill run defense all around here. Penetration from field side, Pugh bullies his man into backfield and forces Harris to the C Gap, where Thomas fills beautifully. Noles - with backups like Robinson, and Jones in - pushing around the vaunted Bama OL. |
| 2-10 | FSU31 | 425 | Jalen Hurts rush for loss of 3 yards to the FS34 (Jones, F;Kaindoh, J). | QB Counter Trey, all the way. Center peels to cover backside and leaves Fred Jones space to penetrate and make the play. This was probably a poor call from Alabama, but great movement from the big man in Jones. |
| 3-10 | FSU34 | 407 | Jalen Hurts pass incomplete to Calvin Ridley. | Same 3rd down package with Derwin in the box as a backer. Both Sweat and Burns start to turn the corner and force Hurts to leave the pocket. Christmas in pursuit forces him to make a throw to the sideline, where Ridley is covered and has no chance. FSU just doing a great job rushing the passer here. |
| 4-10 | FSU34 | Timeout FSU, clock 10:59. | ||
| 4-10 | FSU34 | JK Scott punt 28 yards to the FS6, downed. | I want this punter - sad emoji x 3. | |
| Drive: 3 plays, -3 yards, TOP 01:34 | Absolute lights out defense from a unit that had to stay on the field a LOT in this half. | |||
| FSU drive start at 10:48. | ||||
| 1-10 | FSU06 | 11 Gun | Akers, C rush for loss of 2 yards to the FS4 (C. Miller). | Counter Trey/bubble option. Correct decision to give. Minshew and Izzo pull, but both go to same guy and neither blocks him. Miller comes in and cleans it up behind the LOS. Very poor run blocking here. |
| 2-12 | FSU04 | 11 Gun | Francois, D rush for 4 yards to the FS8 (M. Fitzpatrick). | Trips right to field. 6 man protection blown up by a 4 man rush. Francois rushed out of the pocket, ran to field side and gets a few yards. Minkah Fitzpatrick hits him well inbounds. 12 has to protect himself and get out. When I saw this live I screamed but it was as clean as you can be. |
| 3-8 | FSU08 | 11 Gun | Francois, D pass incomplete to Tate, A. | 7 man protection, 6 man rush. Izzo stays inside and a game outside gets him trapped inside. Deondre steps up and evades wide pressure. Steps up and throws cross body well behind and under an open Tate. Understandable to be inaccurate here. |
| 4-8 | FSU08 | Tyler, L punt 38 yards to the FS46, fair catch by Trevon Diggs, PENALTY FS personal foul (Thomas, M) 15 yards to the FS31, 1st and 10, UA ball on FS31. | Just dumb. Special teams costing Noles this game entirely. | |
| Drive: 3 plays, 2 yards, TOP 01:26 | Getting beat by a darn good team. It happens. | |||
| ALABAMA drive start at 09:22. | ||||
| 1-10 | FSU31 | 425 | Bo Scarbrough rush for 8 yards to the FS23 (Thomas, M). | Trips wide, but this says everything about how much former NFL coordinator Daboll thinks of Hurts. They have trips to field, and the bubble is all open. But it's a designed IZ run. Thomas gets washed inside instead of filling the gap. McFadden and Marshall fill but Thomas gets back to clean it up. |
| 2-8 | FSU23 | 425 | Bo Scarbrough rush for 2 yards to the FS21, 1ST DOWN UA (Christmas, D;Nnadi, D). | Noles notice they're not letting Hurts throw the bubbles on these. Hoskins scrapes around in tradition scrape exchange counter to read/option. Nnadi does a fantastic job getting off his block and making the play. Great run defense. |
| 1-10 | FSU21 | 524 | Bo Scarbrough rush for 5 yards to the FS16 (Hoskins, R;James, D). | Split zone, Hoskins does a good job stacking and shedding a big OL mismatch and Derwin helps him clean up. |
| 2-5 | FSU16 | 524 | Bo Scarbrough rush for 1 yard to the FS15 (Thomas, M;Nnadi, D). | I envy the way Bama calls plays - line up and smash the inside zone. This time they got beat. That's the fun of a game like this - man up and beat you. No gimmicks, no need to rush tempo and beat you with speed. Just line up and play football. But Noles whipped them and that was it. |
| 3-4 | FSU15 | 425 | Jalen Hurts pass incomplete. | Should have been 6 for Bama. Designed flare was wide open. Derwin James blitzing scared Hurts out of the right read. But if he had the toughness to hang in and toss it - it's 6. |
| 4-4 | FSU15 | A. Pappanastos field goal attempt from 33 GOOD, clock 06:25. | ||
| FLORIDA STATE 7, ALABAMA 24 | ||||
| Drive: 6 plays, 16 yards, TOP 02:57 | Great defense overall. | |||
| JK Scott kickoff 65 yards to the FS0, touchback. | ||||
| FSU drive start at 06:25. | ||||
| 1-10 | FSU25 | 10 Gun | Francois, D pass complete to Gavin, K for 6 yards to the FS31 (Anthony Averett). | Stick concept. Gavin gets hit on the spot route, and is well covered. Good placement, good catch and good defense. This is just good football. |
| 2-4 | FSU31 | 10 Gun | Francois, D pass incomplete to Tate, A (Levi Wallace). | This should have been called defensive holding. Wallace is grabbing Tate's right arm through the entire route. Tate had no chance when hands are inside his numbers from behind. This is how they've been calling the game, though. Can't expect it to change. |
| 3-4 | FSU31 | Empty | Francois, D sacked for loss of 6 yards to the FS25 (Ronnie Harrison). | Just a brilliant blitz here - Bama tips field pressure then backs off and comes with 4 at boundary side overload. Overload games Harrison into the B gap free, Francois escapes the pocket and just happens to get caught poorly. I cannot overstate this - this is a normal football play, and the injury is just a freak injury. There is nothing malicious, nothing of poor sport, etc. It's just football. Poor kid. |
| 4-4 | FSU25 | Tyler, L punt 35 yards to the UA40, downed. | What a horrid punt. | |
| Drive: 3 plays, 0 yards, TOP 00:56 | poor drive overshadowed by the season ending injury for Francois. | |||
| ALABAMA drive start at 05:29. | ||||
| 1-10 | UA40 | 425 | Damien Harris rush for 9 yards to the UA49 (Marshall, T;Thomas, M). | Power. Great cut into hole. Backers from FSU doing a poor job - Hoskins gets lost in wash and Thomas is far too slow to fill. Harris falls forward for an extra few yards. |
| 2-1 | UA49 | 524 | Damien Harris rush for 3 yards to the FS48, 1ST DOWN UA (Thomas, M;Sweat, J). | Power again, Hoskins doesn't fill the gap, Harris gets the first down no problem. |
| 1-10 | FSU48 | 524 | Bo Scarbrough rush for 3 yards to the FS45 (Thomas, M;Nnadi, D). | Power, nothing in particular is available to Bo, but he hits the hole and falls forward while backers fill and finish. |
| 2-7 | FSU45 | 524 | Bo Scarbrough rush for no gain to the FS45 (Pugh, J;Taylor, L). | IZ, Noles tail whip the Bama OL and there's nowhere for Bo to go. He cuts back to field side and finds nothing. |
| 3-7 | FSU45 | 407 | Jalen Hurts rush for 2 yards to the FS43 (Sweat, J). | Designed rollout, Burns rushing wide forces Hurts back inside. Hurts has nowhere to go and gets eaten up by the Noles. |
| 4-5 | FSU43 | JK Scott punt 36 yards to the FS7, fair catch by McFadden, T. | Again, i want a punter dis good | |
| Drive: 5 plays, 17 yards, TOP 03:53 | Great defense. | |||
| FSU drive start at 01:36. | ||||
| James Blackman in at QB | ||||
| 1-10 | FSU07 | 12 Tight | Akers, C rush for 3 yards to the FS10 (Mack Wilson;Mekhi Brown). | Stretch to right. Akers cuts back to nothing and falls forward. |
| 2-7 | FSU10 | PENALTY UA unsportsmanlike conduct (Tony Brown) 0 yards to the FS10, PENALTY FS unsportsmanlike conduct (Eberle, A) 0 yards to the FS10. | Eberle does something stupid. | |
| 2-7 | FSU10 | 12 Tight | Akers, C rush for 6 yards to the FS16 (Isaiah Buggs;Cam Sims). | Zone left, Akers cuts back and hits hole with power. Falls Forward nicely. |
| 3-1 | FSU16 | 12 Tight | Akers, C rush for 6 yards to the FS22, 1ST DOWN FS (Mack Wilson;Shyheim Carter). | IZ right, Akers sees line washing and cuts outside, does nice job. |
| Drive: 3 plays, 15 yards, TOP 01:36 | Garbage time. | |||
| END OF 4TH: FLORIDA STATE 7, ALABAMA 24 | Great showing, unfortunate ending. |