Louisville at Miami – Miami dodged a bullet in this one. I don’t know if they didn’t play their best game or if they just aren’t that much better than Louisville. Either way, the Hurricanes were extremely lucky to come back and win. If a Louisville defender doesn’t drop an easy interception late in the game, the Cardinals would have won.
It may be that Miami needed a game like this to get their attention. They expected a close game with Florida State, but they’ve just been coasting since, seemingly ordained into the BCS. They need to be careful though. There are a few teams in the ACC that are good enough to beat them if they don’t play their best. I think maybe they know that now.
For Louisville, it was definitely a good loss, although it probably didn’t feel that way at the time. It was at Miami, on national TV, on Thursday night and it was a great, great game. The whole country saw how good the Cardinals are and that can only help them down the road.
Duke at Georgia Tech – Georgia Tech appears to be rounding into shape. One week after dismantling Maryland on the road, they methodically and soundly beat Duke. This was a perfect game for a letup, but they never really gave Duke a chance. Very quietly, the Yellow Jackets are laying claim to second-tier status in the conference along with Virginia, NC State and Virginia Tech.
For Duke, well, it’s looking like the Ted Roof optimism is over. They aren’t going to win more games than they won last year, in part because of a series of injuries. Fortunately for coach Roof, not much is expected of Duke football. The alumni aren’t going to be calling for his head unless he puts together three or more seasons of this kind of play.
Utah State at Clemson – Clemson has been in a slump. One way to fight out of a slump is to get yourself a slumpbuster. Well, Utah State was Clemson’s slumpbuster. At least, that’s what the Tigers hope.
There’s really not much they can take from this game other than the relief that they didn’t lose again. We’ll see if it works next weekend when they host a reeling Maryland in the Desperation Bowl.
Florida A&M at Virginia Tech –
You put your left foot in
You take your left foot out
You put your left foot in, and you shake it all about
You pay to play a patsy and blow those suckers out
That’s what it’s all about!
NC State at Maryland – As I alluded two last week, this was a critical game for both teams. Maryland and NC State were both coming off of upset losses and both had previously missed out on non-conference upset chances. One more loss could send their season to a tailspin.
I thought that Maryland would pull it out, but I was wrong. Way wrong. Last week, Maryland was humiliated at home by Georgia Tech, gaining only 81 yards. What did they do for an encore? Gain 91 yards against NC State! That just blows my mind. Hell, the 81 yards for a Ralph Friedgen team already blew my mind. Only 91 yards one week later hosed my mind chunks into the gutter. What is wrong with Maryland? I wonder how much sleep Fridge has had the last few nights? Words fail to describe how baffled I am at the Terps’ offensive ineptitude. Isn’t Ralph Friedgen supposed to be an offensive genius? The Cleveland Browns got more than 91 yards last Sunday on one play!
For NC State, this win was important for several reasons. First, it kept their season alive and on track. Second, it exorcised their turtle demons; Chuck Amato had yet to beat Maryland. Third, it showed that their defense, which faltered last week against North Carolina, is legit. While Maryland may have a bad offense, it takes a pretty stout team to hold their opponent to under 100 yards.
Next up for the Wolfpack is Miami at home. One thing NC State has done consistently under Chuck Amato is gotten up for the big opponents and pulled some upsets. They are a legitimate threat to beat Miami next week in Raleigh.
North Carolina at Utah – As soon as I wrote that I thought Carolina would upset Utah, I had regrets. Just after I published it, I remembered the three suspended pot smokers. I rationalized it to myself thusly – what harm could it do to lose the Tar Heels’ leading tackler? Could the defense actually be worse? Would Marge Schott have been uglier if she lost a tooth?
Well, it turned out that their defense could get worse, believe it or not. As bad as their defense was though, the real problem for UNC was actually the offensive injuries. Starting tailback Jacque Lewis went down on the first series. Darian Durant didn’t finish the first half. For Carolina to have a chance in any game, they need points. Take away their best offensive players, and well, that’s how they got beat 46-16 and gave up 669 yards of offense.
I bet that was a long plane ride home
Virginia at Florida State – And now we get to the big game of the weekend.
You’ve heard the chaos theory saying that if a butterfly flaps its wings in Brazil, it could set off a tornado in Texas? Well, that’s what happened last week in Tallahassee. A few dozen AP voters flapped their pens, giving UVA a higher ranking than Florida State, setting off a perfect storm in Doak Campbell Stadium. In my numerical analysis of the game, I forgot those numbers, and they turned out to be the most important. The Seminoles and their fans saw the rankings shift as a slap in their face. Never before had Florida State hosted an ACC game against a higher ranked opponent. They were furious and motivated and it showed.
The team that Florida State put on the field on Saturday night bore little resemblance to the teams they’ve fielded in recent years. That looked like the 1993 Seminoles, crushing everyone they played.
For all the praise that Wyatt Sexton earned for his stellar play on Saturday night (and the praise was much deserved), it was the defensive line that really won the game. Florida State dominated Virginia in every aspect, but their D-line did the most damage. Coming in to the game, Virginia’s offensive line was trumpeted as one of the best in the country. The generally accepted thinking was that they would hold FSU’s speedy defense at bay, opening up running lanes that would later become passing lanes. Nope. Didn’t happen. Virginia couldn’t run and they couldn’t protect the QB. A team that was averaging about 275 rushing yards a game could muster only 20. A team that had allowed only 2 sacks all season gave up 6. The Seminoles were swarming. The fearful fact for future foes is that by the middle of the third quarter, Florida State had played 12 different defensive linemen. Not only are they nasty, they’re deep.
Coaching-wise, it was a mismatch as well. It’s hard to say that Florida State’s in-game play calls were good or bad, because everything worked. They had no adjustments to make. For Virginia though, they stubbornly stuck to a plan to establish a running game long after it was apparent that it wouldn’t work. It wasn’t until the final drive of the first half, when they were in two minute mode, did Virginia stop trying to run on every first and second down. And low-and-behold, they moved the ball! By then though, it was too late.
For as bad and one-sided as the game was, there were a few critical first-half plays that could have changed the tone. Nothing would have changed the final outcome – Florida State was gonna win no matter what – but it didn’t need to be a blowout. The first was a minor face mask penalty on fourth down when Florida State had run a fake punt and failed. The five yards made it fourth and inches. The Seminoles went for it and got the first down, eventually getting a field goal. That simple penalty was basically a turnover at a time when the game was still just 2-0.
A second minor face mask penalty came a bit later, when Florida State had failed to convert a third down deep in Virginia territory. The five yards earned them a first down, and they ended up getting a touchdown instead of a field goal.
The third mistake was basic time mismanagement at the end of the half. On several of Virginia’s final plays, they let the play clock run for way too long before getting the snap off. Those seconds cost them a chance at what seemed to be a sure touchdown just before the half. They had moved the ball to inside the five yard line, but with the clock running out, had to settle for the field goal.
Those three small miscues add up to 11 points. The halftime score was 19-3, but it could have been just 12-7. Either way, Virginia was going to lose, but it’s interesting to see how just a few mental mistakes can make such a huge difference.
So, where does this put these teams? Surely everyone views them completely differently than they did one week ago. One thing to remember after a game like this is that Florida State is not as good as they looked and Virginia is not as bad. Sometimes everything just comes together for one team and that’s what happened on Saturday night.
If the Seminoles can even approach that level of effort and production for the rest of the year, they will not lose again and they have an outside shot at a national title. They looked that good.
For Virginia, they need to lick their wounds and learn from their mistakes. They can’t afford to let that game beat them twice. Fortunately, their next game is at Duke and then they get the broken Terrapins at home. They should be able to win both fairly easily and then get ready for Miami at home. Despite what we saw Saturday night, UVA is good enough to beat the Canes.
Leave a Reply