What went right, wrong on offense for FSU vs. Georgia Tech

Tallahassee FL- While the Florida State Seminoles were able to win on Saturday to avoid getting swept in the month of October, how they got the win was more concerning.

They beat Georgia Tech and covered the spread but they had a sloppy game and cannot play this way against better-coached and more talented opponents.

Here’s some thoughts on how the offense performed in an inconsistent but productive game.

What went right

The Seminoles did what they have done well all year, move the ball downfield with huge chunk plays. In the first half, Johnny Wilson and Lawrance Toafili both had big-time explosive plays.

Johnny Wilson had a few nice possession catches in the first half that were crucial — he has shown some inconsistency at times but his talent is clearly off the charts. I can’t wait to watch him on Sundays.

In the first half, the Seminoles were averaging 18.0 yards per reception and 8.0 yards per play, as I covered in my bye-week article this team has thrived moving the ball.

Jordan Travis had a pretty exceptional start to the game — as you can see in both of those big chunk plays, he dropped the ball right where the receiver needed it, creating those touchdowns as much as the receivers did.

He has shown off his improvement as a passer all season but if it weren’t for his elite accuracy, this game could have gotten ugly for the Garnet and Gold.

The ‘Noles running backs had a huge game; Trey Benson 18 carries, 111 yards and with Lawrance Toafili 18 touches, 154 total yards, and 2 TDs

At the end of the game, the Seminoles were able to flex their depth giving young players like Julian Armella, Rodney Hill, and CJ Campbell some playing time.

Campbell in particular is a feel-good story, the walk-on running back was previously ruled out for the year by the Seminoles came in and scored his first career touchdown.

While it was not a perfect game for the Seminoles' offense they showed how much they have improved their talent.

Some huge stats from the offense: 642 total offensive yards, 32 first downs, 9-15 on third down, 10.2 yards per pass attempt.

What went wrong

The Seminoles have been able to move the ball well but they have consistently struggled to convert drives into scores.

That issue reared its head on the ‘Noles first two drives on offense when they turned the ball over at the Georgia Tech 1 and 33-yard line.

In the first half, this team was able to move the ball well but they made some huge situational errors that would not fly against better opponents.

In their first red-zone possession they had to call 2 timeouts because of personnel issues on the field until they finally lined up for a wildcat call with Toafili that led to a fumble on the 1-yard line.

In the first half, they had 5 possessions where they were in Georgia Tech territory and they only scored 10 points in those offensive drives.

Beyond the miscues, time management, and weird red-zone calls early on the biggest concern has to be the offensive line and the Seminoles having another injury to their right tackle position.

They also had too many pre-snap penalties as well as too many drops, especially early on in the game.

This did not affect the outcome of the game as the Seminoles were much more talented than Georgia Tech - but this coaching staff has not had a clean game all season. The staff has not shown any improvement situationally, especially in the red zone.

Overall this was a weird game, but in the last two seasons, this was not a game that the Seminoles would have likely won if they had made this many mistakes.

This staff has brought up the talent on this roster to a place where they can beat these lower-level ACC teams consistently, but the situational errors are still very concerning.