FSU coaches frustrated, think 'third-and-forever' mistakes are correctable
By: Bob Ferrante - The OsceolaAdam Fuller was calm but frustrated. He sees the in-game mistakes first-hand and then reviews them on film with Florida State’s defensive staff.
From the first question of Monday’s press conference, Fuller fielded questions about the breakdowns within FSU’s 31-29 win over Boston College. FSU had done a good job through two games on third downs, limiting opponents to a conversion on 6 of 23 (26.1%) attempts. And the Seminoles didn’t allow a conversion on fourth down, 0 for 4 through four games.
But when Boston College’s offense wasn’t committing pre-snap penalties, the Eagles were frequently able to convert on third down. Fuller called one such instance, a third-and-17 with FSU ahead 31-10 in the third quarter, a “third and forever.” But BC quarterback Thomas Castellanos had time and hit a wide open Dino Tomlin on a 52-yard catch-and-run.
“If 10 guys execute and one guy does the wrong thing and the ball finds that place, it becomes a big issue,” Fuller said. “It's another lesson learned that it takes 11 to operate as one, especially on defense. If the ball doesn't find the mistake, then people don't see it. But when it finds it, it becomes very glaring and obvious. That's a hard way to learn the lesson, but that's a lesson that needed to be learned."
The lesson was learned often. BC converted on 8 of 19 third-down opportunities and 4 of 5 fourth-down chances. The mistakes were frequent, from “poor eyes” to missed alignments and missed tackles (Pro Football Focus mentioned 15, but perhaps that was being generous against Castellanos and the Eagles?).
BC converted on a third-and-8 in the first quarter, a third-and-17 in the third quarter and then a third-and-10 as well as a third-and-20 in the fourth quarter.
“They had way too much offense there in third down — I think it was close to 240 yards in third-down situations,” FSU coach Mike Norvell said. “That's unacceptable for how we want to play and what we want to do. But coaches, players, everybody involved, we get an opportunity to go get better.”
Mixed in there were some notable situational stops, including a third-down sack late and a fourth-down halt near the goal line. But the chunk plays added up.
“There wasn't really a common (denominator),” Fuller said. “There was an unbalanced (formation) scramble, there was a counter run on a third-and-extra-long, there were a couple quarterback draws in there. It's just tying it all together. The ball found the mistakes and that's something that you continue to harp to your group and you continue to harp to the individuals of mistakes need to be addressed and cleaned up. And we did it and so now we've got to go play better."
Linebacker DJ Lundy said after the game that FSU didn’t take BC, or Castellanos, for granted. What’s needed in Lundy’s view is better communication, for starters.
“We got to tackle better honestly,” Lundy said. “As a defense, you got to get off the field on third down. We didn’t get off the field on third down enough.”
The learning process continued Sunday as the Seminoles reviewed the film. Painful as it was, Norvell could appreciate how the players responded to what they saw.
“I heard ownership yesterday,” Norvell said. “When you're an 18- to 22-year-old and willing to stand up in front of your peers and say, ‘Look, I made the mistake there.’ For whatever the reason that it was, I understand that. I accept it. I'm fixing it. It will not happen again. That's a step in the right direction.”
The third-down breakdowns were frequent. But it could be a good learning lesson in September, and helpful with Clemson ahead on Saturday as well as eight games after that. Fuller feels the issues with “poor eyes” are correctable.
“It's all correctable because if you have poor eyes, it means they weren't in the right place,” Fuller said. “Sometimes it's just the execution in the moment of making sure that you're detailed with doing your job and put them in the right place. And then usually that key work will bring you to whatever your assignment is."
BC's third-down situations on Saturday
First quarter
BC drive 1
Third-and-1: Kye Robichaux 8-yard run (drive later resulted in a TD)
BC drive 2
Third-and-8: Castellanos 7-yard pass to Robichaux. After a timeout, Robichaux picks up 2 yards on fourth-and-1
Third-and-8: Castellanos run for 29 yards
Third-and-15: Castellanos run for 14 yards.
Second quarter
Fourth-and-1: Robichaux runs for two yards on fourth-and-1.
Third-and-goal from the FSU 3: Castellanos incomplete, BC goes for a FG
BC drive 3
Third-and-10: BC false start penalty, backs up to third-and-15. Castellanos runs 45 yards
Third-and-18: Castellanos incomplete pass, BC punts
BC drive 4
Third-and-8: Castellanos run for 1 yard, BC punts
BC drive 5
Third-and-10: Castellanos incomplete pass, BC punts
(FSU kneels down to end the half)
Third quarter
Drive 7
Third-and-4: Castellanos pas to Lewis Bond for 13 yards negated by holding
Third-and-14: False start on BC’s Drew Kendall
Third-and-19: Castellanos to Robichaux for 6 yards, BC punts
Drive 8
Third-and-3: Castellanos 2-yard run
Fourth-and-1: Robichaux 2-yard run
Third-and-17: Castellanos 52 pass to Dino Tomlin
Third-and-3: Robichaux 6-yard run
(drive results in Robichaux TD on next play)
Drive 9
(Trey Benson fumbles kickoff)
Third-and-1: Robichaux 4-yard run, drive continues into fourth quarter
Fourth quarter
Drive 9 (continued)
Third-and-8: Castellanos 6-yard run
Fourth-and-2: Robichaux stopped for no gain at the FSU 5-yard line
Drive 10
Third-and-10: Castellanos 13-yard run
Third-and-10: Castellanos 8-yard pass
Fourth-and-2: Castellanos 7-yard TD run
Drive 11
Third-and-20: Castellanos 28-yard pass to Ryan O’Keefe
Third-and-10: Castellanos sacked by Kalen DeLoach for a 14-yard loss, BC punts
