Florida State Football: Winners and Losers from the Seminoles' Spring Game

For the second year in a row, Florida State's spring game featured the Garnet squad upsetting Gold—this time by a shocking final score of 35-20.

Starting quarterback E.J. Manuel saw almost four full quarters of action after struggling for much of the first half. His offensive line did not give him a lot of time to work, nor did it provide a running game, which resulted in more outlet passes and forced decisions than Seminole fans would have liked.

Both starting defenses performed exceptionally well, as neither team compiled more than 165 yards of offense within the first half.

Although it's very early, many expected a lot more from the FSU offensive units. Still, it's not uncommon for the defense to dominate the offense in a spring game; this is not the first time these players have met.

After the longest spring game in Florida State football history, here are the winners and losers from today's performance.

Winner: The Entire Starting Defense

For much of the first half, neither offensive unit could do much with the ball. Kudos to the defense on both Garnet and Gold, who dominated the offensive line, pressured the quarterback and limited downfield plays.

Both offenses combined for a total of 32 rushing yards through the first two quarters, while forcing multiple three-and-outs and just seven offensive points for each team.

The Seminoles are poised to have a top 10 defense in 2012.

Loser: E.J. Manuel

Fans placed a magnifying glass on FSU quarterback E.J. Manuel heading into the spring game after a disappointing 2011 performance.

He'll be under a microscope from here on out.

Expecting a turnaround from last year with improvement in accuracy and decision making, we got the opposite from Manuel today. In fact, you could almost make the case that he took a step back.

Although the offensive line deserves a lot of credit for his poor outing, Manuel seemed to have reverted to his old self, throwing into traffic and completing just under 55 percent of his passes (28-of-51), while one of his two interceptions went for a touchdown.

For him to play all four quarters and attempt 51 passes in a spring game is not a good sign. Most starting QBs are lucky to get three series of action in this situation, so this means Fisher wanted him out there to grasp some sort of rhythm and success.

He never found it.

After the way Clint Trickett performed, I won't be surprised if there is an open quarterback competition leading up to Week 1.

Winner: Nick O'Leary

Remember the name Nick O'Leary because his name will be called a ton this upcoming season.

The sophomore tight end had a great day, finishing with four receptions for over 70 yards as a member of the Gold team.

An extremely versatile option at TE, O'Leary is a nightmare for safeties with his natural athleticism. There isn't much he doesn't do well, and it really showed in today's performance.

Loser: The Offensive Line

You know you have a problem with your offensive line if your head football coach benches the entire unit for members of the defensive line.

Wow.

The line struggled to make any room for running backs and did not allow E.J. Manuel or Clint Trickett to finish pass plays from under center.

There's a lot of time from now until September for some much-needed improvement but expect some shuffling on the depth chart in that span.

Winner: James Wilder Jr.

The Seminoles have a bright future with James Wilder Jr. in the backfield.

Without looking at his yards per carry, which suffered due to the offensive line's ineffectiveness, the sophomore running back had an eye-opening spring game.

When he actually got the ball, his overwhelming physicality and toughness was an obvious factor as he was seen lowering his shoulder and dragging defenders every time.

Not only will he be a big part of Florida State's running game, but his presence will be felt in the pass offense, too. Wilder's elusiveness showed today as he impressed with yards after the catch and had a nice touchdown reception on a bootleg at the right corner of the end zone.


Follow this reporter on Twitter: @Tyler_Waddell