In this Q&A we have FSUncensored of Tomahawk Nation as our guest blogger. Our thanks go out to him for helping us get exposure for the new site. He's always been our greatest supporter. Below you'll find answers on why FSU has struggled this year, the Chest/Fisher escapade, and why Jenn Sterger had a brain fart and removed her breast implants, destroying erections everywhere. You can find our answers to their questions here.
FSU has been able to keep defenses fairly honest with their rushing game. I have noticed a lot of big plays/highlights coming off of play action and have heard the gusy at Tomahawk talk about even running a few screens off of PA. How important is this to their offense and how important is it for the Seminoles to have some success running the football to set these types of plays up?
As you noted in your excellent preview of our offense, Fisher will take what an opposing defense gives them. A lot of teams elect to play soft 2 or 3 against the 'Nole's offense, because they are scared of FSU's 4 very capable wideouts. In those situations, Fisher will run the ball on them, and when he expects them to creep up from the soft alignments, he will do the PA stuff. FSU hasn't abandoned the run all year, as he's called 28, 49, 22, 28, 28, 23, and 33 run plays in their 7 D1 games. FSU has run the ball well in most games, and has really run it well of late, (GTech: 28 for 193), UNC: 23 for 53 (included is a -14 yard reverse though, which obviously counts.) We used the run game early to keep them honest later., and NC State: 33 for 277. Note that I take out sacks when calculating run numbers, because it's really a failed pass play.
Also, wouldn't you think that Fishers ability to stay patient and take what the defense gives you/play to strong suits combined with FSU's offensive talent make Clemson's degense lose some aggression?
Yes. I do think Clemson should play off and hit FSU's wideouts. The only things that has stopped FSU this year are 1) Ponder's MCL injury in the USF & BC games, and receiver fumbles (also BC and USF). Fisher doesn't get over-anxious with his playcalling and neither does Ponder. That's remarkable to me because FSU's defense is so shitty that they are often behind. Sometimes the wideouts have pressed, however, trying to take a simple hitch and make something out of it that simply is not there. Wideouts have had 8 fumbles lost, though none in the last two games if my memory serves. However, when FSU holds onto the ball, it can be pretty frustrating for the opposing defense, and then I guess the ball is back in Kevin's court. Will he risk FSU going downfield and screening Clemson to death?
Who has had the most success defending your offense? Why?
USF and BC. I fashioned this handy chart for you:
Opponent Miami BYU USF BC Ga Tech UNC N
Opponent Miami BYU USF BC GT NC NCSU Plays 71 77 64 71 66 65 73 Yards per play allowed 5.7 6.6 4.5 6.8 8.2 6.7 7.6 Rushes 28 49 22 28 28 23 33 Yards/rush allowed 4.5 6.4 2.8 2.9 6.9 2.3 8.4 Passing Plays 43 28 42 43 38 42 40 Yards pass/allowed 6.4 7.1 5.4 7.7 9.1 9.2 6.9
5.7 yards per play (400 yard pace) against everyone except USF. 6.6 (460 yard pace @ 70 plays) against 4 teams, and a 530 yard yard pace in the last two. So what happened against USF (7-17 home loss)?
First, Ponder had an MCL sprain and was kinda hobbling around. Second, receiver fumbles. Third, when the offense doesn't convert on the goal line, the defense should get you the ball back in realistic field position. That did not happen, as USF had a 99 yard drive for TD on the ensuing possession. So FSU had 1st half drives of 79, 43, and 39 yards, and 200 yards total in the 1st half, with no points. Fourth, Jason Pierre-Paul. He's the best player we've faced all year (Allen Bailey of Miami was close). Mel Kiper moved the relatively unknown Juco product up to 10th on his big board, and the kid is only a junior. He was unblockable and it was the best defensive performance I've seen against the 'Noles since the early decade Miami teams picked on Chris Rix and co. USF rushed 4 and got there. FSU came in overconfident and then sleptwalked thorough the game. This was USF's biggest game in their history and the intensity levels were not comparable. They didn't blitz much and played a lot of cover-2.
Essentially, USF played the perfect game of their lives on defense.
I dont understand how Mickey's defense can be as BAD as it is. Its the worst I've ever heard of FSU having. What is the major malfunction?
Ok, check out how bad they are: http://www.tomahawknation.com/2009/11/2/1110686/florida-states-defense-the-cure 98th in the country is just not acceptable. So what has happened? They are too small. Mickey is still playing a bunch of cover-1 and cover-0, and they've never been a good zone team. The defensive ends are coached by a former wide receiver who never coached or played defense before Bowden hired him to replace the universally highly regarded Jim Gladden (the man behind the terrors off the edge for many years). Amato is more concerned with screwing with Jimbo Fisher than he is coaching the linebackers. He implemented the freedom system which just tells the backers to go make plays. As you might expect, a system which encourages FSU's guys to be more undisciplined has failed miserably. Nobody plays with anything even resembling decent technique. Fundamentals are completely absent. Linebackers don't take good angles. Other teams have figured out FSU's signals (my opinion). Andrews hasn't wanted to coach since his son's suicide (and who can blame him) and he didn't want the aforementioned coaches! Coaches who don't want to coach, refusing to adapt, and players who don't buy into the garbage the lame duck coaches are selling, and you get FSU's defense.
I will say that they do play really hard, however, which is scary.
Why does K. Mangum start? He's absolutely awful, and a senior? I think a monkey can do better in pass coverage.
I think it's an evil plan between Amato and Bowden to make Jimbo crack and Kill someone, thus costing himself the shot at the job. Mangum knows some of the assignments, which is better than some others can say, but he is definitvely the worst starter at FSU since 1980, and it is not even remotely close. I know for a fact that the offensive coaches tried to repeatedly embarrass him in fall camp to have Mickey bench him and he just wouldn't. Andrews is a great man but he is in love with Senority.
Whats the story at Defensive End with Jody Allen? They have horrible discipline and they never hold their containment. These guys would be 3rd stringers here.
Ah yes, Allen, our defensive ends coach who was selected to replace possibly the best ends coach in the game (Gladden). The players think he is a racist. He won't take advice from Gladden, who graciously offers it if asked. Allen never played defense at any significant level. His practice antics make everyone uncomfortable. Everette Brown ended up teaching our defensive ends last season
What adjustment has Andrew's made schematically to make up for these issues? What can be done when you suck at pretty much every position, aside from one or two good players?
Um, does blitzing everyone into the same gap count? No? That doesn't work? Oh. Hmm. They tried to play some more cover 2 and cover 3 and that was a colossal failure. The defense is really too small to play anything that doesn't involve 8 men in the box, which creates somewhat predictable coverages. The frustrating thing is that while I have been screaming for some adjustments in the past, there are few schematic adjustments I feel this staff can make because they can't or won't teach it. They need to bench Mangum and the upperclassmen who have zero shot to play next season (though some do).
Chuck Amato was once a good recruiter, once a pretty good position coach, but I dont understand what has failed for him since being back at FSU, any ideas what happened to him?
It's all about Chuck's Ego
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He bounces around practice, doing everything but his job. He gets into multiple confrontations with other coaches (some physical). As noted above, the freedom system destroyed the work done by Steele, and I thought Steele had our backers taking good pursuit angles. Amato doesn't have these guys keying anything and they definitely don't take good angles. Plus, like Allen, I think the players know he's toast.
I heard the other day that Jenn Sterger had a breast reduction......GOD WHY?
I always thought Sterger was a bigger deal to other schools than she was to FSU. But I hope she hasn't lost that great set! Ok, upon some investigation:
But other research says different:
Actually the article about Sterger's breast implant removal is in the Dec 2009 Cosmo magazine. I dont wanna know how Figurefour found that out. Someone clearly screwed up, I thought Cosmo was supposed to have "how to make him go crazy in bed", not "how to make him go limp by removing two perfectly constructed breasts."
