For the first time since 2021, the Florida State football team finished its home opener against Boston College with a loss, bringing the team's record to 0-2 for the first time. The crowd booed and groaned throughout the first game.
With quarterback Thomas Castellanos and the Boston College offence dominating proceedings, the Eagles were able to secure a 28-13 victory over the Seminoles, who had yet another lacklustre performance from their defence.
A nine-game winning streak at home for the Seminoles was broken as a result of the failure.
"I obviously didn't put them in a position to showcase what I believe that this football team is, and it's extremely disappointing."
"We want Brock" chants could be heard around Doak Campbell Stadium on multiple occasions on Monday night. This was a response to the fact that Florida State University quarterback DJ Uiagalelei had a difficult time getting going and supporters were clamouring for him to be benched.My stomach is in knots because of how the season began. "It is abundantly clear that I did not adequately prepare the team to be able to go out and respond tonight," stated Mike Norvell, the head coach of Florida State University. "The things that were necessary for us, the things we talked about, things we emphasised, obviously in all phases we were not able to execute."
During the previous season, Brock Glenn, a redshirt freshman quarterback, served as the backup quarterback for the Seminoles. He participated in five games, including starting in the ACC Championship game and the Orange Bowl.
There was one touchdown and one interception thrown by Uiagalelei, who completed 21 of 42 passes. During the game, Castellanos completed 10 of 16 passes for 16 yards and two touchdowns. Additionally, he rushed for 85 yards and scored one touchdown on 19 carries.
Castellanos earned two goals for Boston College in the second quarter, one of which was scored by running, while the other was scored via throwing. The first drive that resulted in a touchdown was a 14-play, 71-yard drive that took 9 minutes and 18 seconds to complete.
At one time during the first half, the Eagles had a victory over FSU by a score of 172 yards to 8 yards.
After a late drive for a comeback, Uiagalelei connected with wide receiver Kentron Poitier for a touchdown, which brought the score to 21-13 and cut the deficit in half. On the other hand, the defence was unable to make a stop, which allowed Boston College to score on a short rush by running back Kye Robichaux. The final score was 28-13, and it was determined by the number of points scored.
The following are three things that may be learnt from the football game between Florida State University and Boston College, which ended with a score of 28-13.
DJ Uiagalelei, who is a member of the FSU offence, is unable to penetrate the defence of Boston College.
Having given a lacklustre showing offensively against Georgia Tech in the first week of the season, Florida State University's offence was hoping to get back on track against Boston College.The Seminoles were unable to generate explosive plays for a significant portion of the game, which resulted in a show that was devoid of any sense of direction.
The struggles that Uiagalelei experienced included missing throws, overthrowing and underthrowing, and failing to find receivers on a consistent basis. In the few instances in which he was successful in locating his target, he failed to hit it.
Compared to Boston College's 52 rushes for 263 yards, the run game was a non-factor, with only 16 carries for 21 yards. Boston College came in second place.
"Obviously tonight we went into it a little bit more run/pass," Norvell explained to reporters. Regarding the passing game, we failed to capitalise on a few possibilities. It is imperative that we prevail in one-on-one competitions. Undoubtedly, a great number of distinct elements are connected to that in some way. The run game requires everyone to participate in order to be successful. In addition, we need to be able to make room for ourselves. It is imperative that we are able to stay on track.
"We've got to make sure that we're taking advantage of all positions"
The Seminoles went on a drive that lasted thirteen plays and covered seventy yards towards the end of the first half. They were able to get the ball to the four-yard line and right on the brink of the end zone. Instead of settling for a touchdown to conclude the first half, Florida State University settled for a field goal after three consecutive incompletions, one of which was deflected and two of which were overthrew.
When it came to the offense's performance versus Boston College, the drive and the inability to find the end zone were the defining characteristics.
It did not get any better in the second half of the game. The first drive was unsuccessful when Uiagalelei threw an interception on a fourth-down try by Florida State University on its own 45-yard line.
Poitiers' touchdown drive got off to a shaky start, but a trick play on third down gave the Seminoles a glimmer of hope for a comeback. Following that, the wide receiver had a successful catch, which allowed him to break three tackles made by Eagles defenders and enter the end zone.
FSU punted three times and turned the ball over on downs once throughout the second half of the game, with the exception of the one and only touchdown drive it had during the game.
the defence, which is not very good, has trouble stopping the run.
Prior to the game against Boston College, defensive coordinator Adam Fuller was aware that his squad needed to improve their ability to defend against the run.Despite the fact that this was a well-known truth, the Seminoles were unable to make Fuller's wish to improve the defence during the run a reality. In addition to scoring two touchdowns on the ground, the Eagles rushed for 263 yards, with Treshaun Ward, a former player for Florida State University, being a thorn in the side of the defence.
During the game, Ward racked up 77 yards on the ground on 12 attempts. Additionally, he added 61 receiving yards through three receptions, earning one score.
Everyone has a part to play in this team. In addition to that, we need to be able to be aggressive during our fits. It is imperative that we keep our heads out of the clouds. Norvell stated that it is necessary for us to run through tackles. "If you get athletic players -- obviously they have a couple of athletic backs, athletic quarterback -- if you give them space, they're going to make it happen."
Despite the fact that Boston College did not go to the air, they were nevertheless successful, as seen by the fact that they recorded 106 yards receiving and, on many instances throughout the game, they blew open coverages.
When Ward ran the same route on three different third down plays during the first half of the game, he was wide open each time. This occurred during a stretch of two minutes. On the first route, Castellanos failed to throw the ball, and on the second route, Castellanos failed to throw the ball. These were the warning indications that a big play could occur.
It was true that the big play moment occurred. The Eagles were able to score a touchdown four plays later thanks to a catch and run pass from Ward that covered 42 yards on third down.
During the game, the Eagles accumulated 10.6 yards per reception and 5.1 yards per carry, resulting in an average of 5.4 yards per play.
The failure of Florida State University to stop a run gave the Eagles the opportunity to do anything they pleased, which is comparable to the way Georgia Tech dominated the game against the Seminoles in week zero.
The defence of the Seminoles has been hampered by bad tackling, missed assignments, and delayed reaction for the second game in a row. This is because the defence was unable to keep up with the ground attack of the opponent.
Having a game plan that was ineffective and being unable to adapt harmed the Seminoles.
For the Seminoles, a run-heavy offence had a difficult time finding gaps and creating scoring opportunities in week zero against Georgia Tech. In week one, a pass-first approach resulted in a furious Doak Campbell Stadium. Both of these outcomes were disappointing for the Seminoles.
In the first half of the game, the Seminoles threw the ball 21 times while only running the ball six times. This was due to the fact that Uiagalelei had a difficult time finding his receivers from the beginning of the game. There were occasions when the supporters were booing and yelling "We want Brock" before the ball was even snapped, and the volume of those shouts increased even further when the play resulted in an incomplete pass.
While it appeared that the pass-first strategy was not producing the desired results, Norvell continued to allow Uiagalelei to throw the football despite the fact that Boston College had prepared for it with heavy coverage packages. Over the course of the game, Florida State University had a total of only sixteen tries to rush the ball. A few of those attempts came on scrambles by Uiagalelei, who received little protection from the offensive line.
"It was obvious that we were having difficulty offensively. There are a great number of explanations for that," Norvell explained. In every single activity that we are doing, it is obvious that we need to push ourselves and improve. That will be the primary focus of our efforts moving forward. Our first objective is to improve our performance, and we will do all in our power to ensure that our players are in the greatest possible position to achieve their goals.
When compared to the game against Georgia Tech, in which Norvell continued to emphasise running the football, this was a striking contrast. Boston College was able to accurately forecast the performance of the Seminoles on multiple occasions since the game plan was not altered when it was being implemented.
When it came to defence, the Seminoles had a difficult time tackling, and while they were better at establishing the edge, they had a difficult time against runs that went up the middle. An excessive number of instances occurred in which defenders were caught off guard and unable to stop a Boston College rushing back who was making a rumbling sound.
We were unable to make any adjustments to the game strategy during all four quarters on both sides of the football pitch, which ultimately resulted in the occurrence of the loss.