Notre Dame Football: Everett Golson Must Be at His Best Against Florida State

SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Jameis Winston is the quarterback with the Heisman Trophy to his name, but Everett Golson will have to be at his best for Notre Dame football to topple Florida State on Saturday in a Top Five showdown.

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The Seminoles are averaging 39 points per game this season after putting up 52 per game in 2013. It will be hard enough for the Irish defense to slow down Florida State, which is a challenge that becomes even unlikelier if Golson is at anything less than his best.

Against North Carolina on Saturday, Golson gift-wrapped the Tar Heels an early 14 points thanks to two costly turnovers deep in Notre Dame’s end of the field. Two quarters later, he coughed up another fumble—his ninth turnover in a three-game stretch.

Talk about Golson’s ball security has come to the forefront of late.

“It’s a consequence of me turning the ball over, really,” Golson said Wednesday. “If I stop turning the ball over, I don’t think y’all are still talking about it. Definitely gotta do a better job with that.”

On Sunday, following the North Carolina game, Irish head coach Brian Kelly said they’ve gone through each of Golson’s recent turnovers and looked for ways to eradicate them.

For the past few weeks, Golson has worked after practices on ball security with the running backs. In practice this week, Irish quarterbacks coach Matt LaFleur has had Golson experiment with a sensor-laden football that reveals how hard the ball-carrier is squeezing the ball.

However it happens, Golson knows he needs to cut out his turnovers.

“It’s a point where you get to be just fed up with it,” Golson said. “I think that’s where I am. I’m definitely not going to turn the ball over.”

He really can’t against the Seminoles. All three of Golson’s miscues on Saturday gave North Carolina a short field and led to three touchdowns. Take away those blemishes, and the Irish are probably looking at a more comfortable victory.

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Not much will be comfortable for Notre Dame about Saturday’s prime-time tilt in Tallahassee, Florida. The Irish will enter their first true road atmosphere—and a wild one at that.

How will a young, talented team respond in that environment against an elite opponent?

“This group does not strike me as one where they're going to go down to Florida State and be affected by the crowd,” Kelly said Tuesday. “Our problems have been self-inflicted. So I'm more concerned about our self-inflicted wounds than I am what may happen because of the environment.”

The most notable of the self-induced wounds belong to Golson. But to his credit, he’s also made enough plays to overcome the mishaps in each of the last three games.

Against Syracuse, Golson completed 25 consecutive passes and directed a short passing game with precision. Against Stanford, Golson somehow found a way to bring the Irish back and win on 4th-and-11 with just over a minute remaining in the fourth quarter. Against North Carolina, the quarterback threw for 300 yards and three touchdowns while adding 71 rushing yards.

According to Odds Shark, the Seminoles are favored by 12 points—and rightfully so—but Golson does have the ability to lead the Irish to an upset victory.

He’ll just need to be crisp and efficient—nearly perfect—to keep pace with Winston and the Seminoles.

All quotes obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted.

Mike Monaco is a lead Notre Dame writer for Bleacher Report. Follow @MikeMonaco_ on Twitter.