Florida State football, recruiting news: Can the defense be fixed?

University President John Thrasher has made it his mission to increase Florida State’s academic standing, and the work he’s led has paid dividends as U.S. News & World Report ranks FSU among the top 20 public universities in the country:

At least we’re ranked in something, right?

Football:

ESPN’s Bill Connelly (feels weird typing that) gives his thoughts and advanced box score for FSU and ULM, and it’s really worth clicking on and taking a look over:

Being upset about the team’s performance to this point is understandable, but lashing out at everything isn’t always fair. FSU’s offense hasn’t been perfect by any means, but they are much improved over last season. The special teams have also made a similar jump in quality, while the defense has taken a large step back. The Nolecast discussed some of the issues plaguing this team.

Yesterday Willie Taggart held his afternoon press conference and arguably offered a lot of platitudes, but he didn’t appear to be really pressed to answer difficult questions either. He did come out and say he wasn’t happy about the play of the defense, that how they’re practicing isn’t carrying over to games, and spoke about accountability and punishment for selfish play.

FSU also opened a spot for a Quality Control Analyst, but Taggart didn’t give any specifics.

Running back Cam Akers was extremely impressive in the win over ULM, being named ACC Running Back of the Week, and he’s going to be featured going forward:

Up next — the Virginia Cavaliers. Virginia head coach Bronco Mendenhall was asked about the Seminole defense and his response was very generous:

Cavalier quarterback Bryce Perkins was asked about FSU’s reputation and getting to play the ’Noles:

The game against Virginia has been called the most important game of Taggart’s tenure at FSU. Is that fair? FSU opened as an 8-point underdog.

SBNation’s FanPulse took the, well, pulse of FSU fans and turns out the fanbase’s confidence is in virtual cardiac arrest. They tied Chip Kelly’s hapless UCLA Bruin faithful for the lowest confidence in the direction of the program at just 8% of those polled.

FSU will host the Louisville Cardinals at 3:30pm on September 21st.

The ACC Network will air a feature on Bobby Bowden and the dynasty he built:

Recruiting:

Three-star defensive end commit Morven Joseph of Lake Gibson High School has been dominant so far in his team’s first three games.

Don’t forget to check out this week’s High-School Roundup.

Other Sports:

Women’s Basketball senior forward Kiah Gillespie has been named a second team All-American by Lindy’s Magazine.

Alumni:

Multiple former ’Noles had great days in the NFL’s 2019 opening weekend, like Dalvin Cook and Xavier Rhodes, while others did not.