FSU offense struggling to find any footing in the post-Jordan Travis era
By: Curt Weller - The Osceola
It's hard to fathom the Florida State fan base being able to love Jordan Travis anymore than they already did.
But considering how things have looked on the FSU offense since the legendary Seminole quarterback suffered an injury that prematurely ended his playing career with the program, I'd say the Seminole faithful may be able to find more room in their heart for Travis.
Because while some regression was expected considering all the FSU offense lost and all Travis brought, the offensive drop off the cliff has been stunning.
After FSU surpassed 300 yards of offense in each of the final 27 games Travis started -- it also had 400+ yards in 19 of those games and 500+ yards in eight -- the Seminoles have failed to reach 300 yards of offense in any of the five games since Travis was injured last year vs. North Alabama.
While a few of those games were against very good teams in Georgia and Louisville, the other three were against a bad Florida team and two teams to start the 2024 season (Boston College and Georgia Tech) that each went 7-6 in 2023.
It was known Travis would be missed. But what was not known is exactly how many warts the quarterback may have been covering up within the offense.
The obvious issue when examining the FSU offense without Travis is looking at his successor at QB. There were some known issues with DJ Uiagalelei when FSU took his commitment as a transfer. Despite a big arm, he's had some intermediate accuracy issues, struggles to read defenses and tentativeness to run throughout his time at Clemson and Oregon State.
And yet, it seemed like he could serve as a bridge quarterback of sorts with the talent around him. While he may not have been a world-beater in 2023 at Oregon State, he did average 219.8 passing yards per game, 8.4 passing yards per attempt and throw 21 touchdowns to seven interceptions.
Through two games at FSU, he's averaging 6.7 yards per attempt and has just one touchdown pass along with one interception.
Mind you, that touchdown pass in the third quarter Monday night snapped a streak of 19 straight quarters without an FSU passing touchdown, dating back to the third quarter of FSU's win over North Alabama on Nov. 18, 2023.
The mix of an inaccurate quarterback and a wide receiver/tight end room that is struggling to consistency create separation and also dealing with a collective case of the drops is a horrific combination for FSU's passing game.
"There's not much that did click," FSU head coach Mike Norvell said of the passing game vs. BC. "We struggled to win one-on-ones early. There were times where we were giving up, getting pressure. There were times where we missed a throw or missed an opportunity for a catch, trying to get some things to find a rhythm offensively. We weren't able to do that very well."
The offense's struggles Monday night caused multiple "We want Brock" chants from fans at Doak Campbell Stadium who were clamoring to see the backup quarterback get a chance.
While it's not fair to judge Glenn from getting thrown into the deep end as a true freshman vs. Louisville and Georgia last year due to injuries to the two players ahead of him on the depth chart, his play in those games (17 for 47 for 194 yards, no TDs, two interceptions) wasn't exactly encouraging that he's ready to take over now.
While Uiagalelei hasn't been what FSU hoped it was getting in a bridge quarterback, he's far from the only issue on the offense.
Travis' absence may be felt even more severely in the run game early this season. While he used his legs less and less as he grew as a passer over his FSU career, that threat was always there.
His 31 rushing touchdowns and 1,910 rushing yards were both far and away the most by an FSU quarterback in program history.
It turns out that athleticism and playmaking ability may have led to a severe overestimation of how FSU's offensive line would perform in the run game once he left the program.
Through two games this season, FSU has 119 total rushing yards and is averaging 2.53 yards per carry. Considering PFF says that 96 of FSU's 155 sack-adjusted rushing yards have come after contact, that speaks to it being more of an offensive line problem than a running back problem.
Not having to account nearly as seriously for Uiagalelei as a number in the running game has totally changed how opposing defenses can scheme against the FSU offense.
After the running game totally fell flat after a great opening drive vs. GT, those struggles carried over in a major way vs. BC. FSU's 21 rushing yards against the Eagles were the fewest since the Seminoles had -21 rushing yards vs. Clemson in 2018.
"When it comes to the run game, it takes everybody. And we've got to be able to create space. We've got to be able to be on track. We've got to make sure that we're taking advantage of all positions doing their part," Norvell said. "People are stacking the box. People are squeezing the box. We've got to be able to take advantage of it out on the perimeter. Had a plan to try to be able to take what they were giving us. And obviously we did not do a good enough job and put our guys in a position to achieve success in that regards.
"There's some things that we've just got to be better in our execution. But we've got to find ways to be able to have success on the ground. For two games, we definitely have not been able to achieve that to the level that I was expecting. And, once again, I've got to put guys in a better position than what we're doing there offensively, in the run game to be able to create angles, to create space, to let our guys have a chance to be able to sustain and excel there on the ground."
Even before his time at FSU, Norvell has quite a strong track record of doing an excellent job of building his offense around the strengths of that year's team. In separate seasons at Memphis, he had a 4,000-yard passer and multiple 1,000-yard rushers on the same team.
The end of the 2023 season and the start of the 2024 season have drilled home that much of Norvell's offensive success was predicated on what he was able to get out of Travis. That, in its own right, was remarkably impressive. He took Travis from a player who was considering quitting football or a position change to an ACC Player of the Year.
Now, he'd better find the new identity of this FSU offense in a post-Travis era in a hurry or his reputation as an offensive guru may be tarnished.
By: Curt Weller - The Osceola
It's hard to fathom the Florida State fan base being able to love Jordan Travis anymore than they already did.
But considering how things have looked on the FSU offense since the legendary Seminole quarterback suffered an injury that prematurely ended his playing career with the program, I'd say the Seminole faithful may be able to find more room in their heart for Travis.
Because while some regression was expected considering all the FSU offense lost and all Travis brought, the offensive drop off the cliff has been stunning.
After FSU surpassed 300 yards of offense in each of the final 27 games Travis started -- it also had 400+ yards in 19 of those games and 500+ yards in eight -- the Seminoles have failed to reach 300 yards of offense in any of the five games since Travis was injured last year vs. North Alabama.
While a few of those games were against very good teams in Georgia and Louisville, the other three were against a bad Florida team and two teams to start the 2024 season (Boston College and Georgia Tech) that each went 7-6 in 2023.
It was known Travis would be missed. But what was not known is exactly how many warts the quarterback may have been covering up within the offense.
The obvious issue when examining the FSU offense without Travis is looking at his successor at QB. There were some known issues with DJ Uiagalelei when FSU took his commitment as a transfer. Despite a big arm, he's had some intermediate accuracy issues, struggles to read defenses and tentativeness to run throughout his time at Clemson and Oregon State.
And yet, it seemed like he could serve as a bridge quarterback of sorts with the talent around him. While he may not have been a world-beater in 2023 at Oregon State, he did average 219.8 passing yards per game, 8.4 passing yards per attempt and throw 21 touchdowns to seven interceptions.
Through two games at FSU, he's averaging 6.7 yards per attempt and has just one touchdown pass along with one interception.
Mind you, that touchdown pass in the third quarter Monday night snapped a streak of 19 straight quarters without an FSU passing touchdown, dating back to the third quarter of FSU's win over North Alabama on Nov. 18, 2023.
The mix of an inaccurate quarterback and a wide receiver/tight end room that is struggling to consistency create separation and also dealing with a collective case of the drops is a horrific combination for FSU's passing game.
"There's not much that did click," FSU head coach Mike Norvell said of the passing game vs. BC. "We struggled to win one-on-ones early. There were times where we were giving up, getting pressure. There were times where we missed a throw or missed an opportunity for a catch, trying to get some things to find a rhythm offensively. We weren't able to do that very well."
The offense's struggles Monday night caused multiple "We want Brock" chants from fans at Doak Campbell Stadium who were clamoring to see the backup quarterback get a chance.
While it's not fair to judge Glenn from getting thrown into the deep end as a true freshman vs. Louisville and Georgia last year due to injuries to the two players ahead of him on the depth chart, his play in those games (17 for 47 for 194 yards, no TDs, two interceptions) wasn't exactly encouraging that he's ready to take over now.
While Uiagalelei hasn't been what FSU hoped it was getting in a bridge quarterback, he's far from the only issue on the offense.
Travis' absence may be felt even more severely in the run game early this season. While he used his legs less and less as he grew as a passer over his FSU career, that threat was always there.
His 31 rushing touchdowns and 1,910 rushing yards were both far and away the most by an FSU quarterback in program history.
It turns out that athleticism and playmaking ability may have led to a severe overestimation of how FSU's offensive line would perform in the run game once he left the program.
Through two games this season, FSU has 119 total rushing yards and is averaging 2.53 yards per carry. Considering PFF says that 96 of FSU's 155 sack-adjusted rushing yards have come after contact, that speaks to it being more of an offensive line problem than a running back problem.
Not having to account nearly as seriously for Uiagalelei as a number in the running game has totally changed how opposing defenses can scheme against the FSU offense.
After the running game totally fell flat after a great opening drive vs. GT, those struggles carried over in a major way vs. BC. FSU's 21 rushing yards against the Eagles were the fewest since the Seminoles had -21 rushing yards vs. Clemson in 2018.
"When it comes to the run game, it takes everybody. And we've got to be able to create space. We've got to be able to be on track. We've got to make sure that we're taking advantage of all positions doing their part," Norvell said. "People are stacking the box. People are squeezing the box. We've got to be able to take advantage of it out on the perimeter. Had a plan to try to be able to take what they were giving us. And obviously we did not do a good enough job and put our guys in a position to achieve success in that regards.
"There's some things that we've just got to be better in our execution. But we've got to find ways to be able to have success on the ground. For two games, we definitely have not been able to achieve that to the level that I was expecting. And, once again, I've got to put guys in a better position than what we're doing there offensively, in the run game to be able to create angles, to create space, to let our guys have a chance to be able to sustain and excel there on the ground."
Even before his time at FSU, Norvell has quite a strong track record of doing an excellent job of building his offense around the strengths of that year's team. In separate seasons at Memphis, he had a 4,000-yard passer and multiple 1,000-yard rushers on the same team.
The end of the 2023 season and the start of the 2024 season have drilled home that much of Norvell's offensive success was predicated on what he was able to get out of Travis. That, in its own right, was remarkably impressive. He took Travis from a player who was considering quitting football or a position change to an ACC Player of the Year.
Now, he'd better find the new identity of this FSU offense in a post-Travis era in a hurry or his reputation as an offensive guru may be tarnished.
