Florida State Begins ACC Campaign With 31-0 Win Over Wake Forest

“Warning: objects in mirror are closer than they appear.”

The Florida State Seminoles spent all afternoon staring in the rear-view mirror at Wake Forest Saturday, as they hammered the Demon Deacons to the tune of 31-0.

In a game that featured a 40-minute lightning delay, the Seminoles amassed 485 yards on Saturday—200 on the ground—and brutalized the Deacs with a smothering defensive effort.  Florida State looked solid for four quarters…on paper.

Thomas and Ty Jones evenly combined for 152 yards on 19 carries, averaging better than eight yards a tote.  Chris Thompson chimed in with six carries, none better than a shifty 22-yard run in the fourth quarter.

Christian Ponder had a decent day, completing 24-of-37 for 243 yards and a pair of touchdowns.  The trio of Taiwan Easterling, Bert Reed and Willie Haulstead notched 17 receptions.  Easterling had a game-high 112 yards while Haulstead grabbed two touchdowns.

The defense came up big again.  For the second week in a row, FSU held an opponent under 200 yards of total offense.  Defenders spent plenty of time in the backfield again tallying six sacks and knocking starter Tanner Price out of the game late in the third quarter.

Wake Forest managed 100+ yards on the ground, but it came on 42 stubborn carries.  In a relentless attempt to establish a running game, the Demon Deacons continued in vain to hand the ball off but gained only 2.5 yards per carry.  The offense would only gain 12 total first downs.

Wake’s paltry 82 yards passing is a testament to their unwillingness and inability to put the ball in the air.  In tandem, quarterbacks Tanner Price and Ted Stinachis ran the ball (19 combined attempts) more than they threw it (11).  Neither was a factor throughout the game.

With Christian Ponder’s CP7 Heisman campaign fizzling out, the hype now surrounds this young, hard-hitting FSU defense; a unit that got victimized the moment it stepped off the airplane in Norman, OK, but has since found a stifling groove.

“There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.”

               - Mark Twain (among others)

After studying the closing stat lines, though, one thing’s for sure: the numbers don’t explain FSU’s frustrating afternoon.

The most alarming stat of the game had to be the zeros on the scoreboard for most of the first quarter.  FSU didn’t find the endzone until the final minute or so of the period, thanks in large part to an 18 play, nine minute drive that ended with a CP7 fumble on the Wake seven yard line.

In fact, the Noles’ first six drives of the game looked pretty pedestrian: two scores, two turnovers and two that died of natural causes (a missed FG and the end of the first half).  It wasn’t until late in the fourth quarter that Florida State would finally pull away.

It seemed the weather delay made the Seminoles antsy.  With FSU leading 10-0 in the third quarter, officials suspended play due to lightning in the area.  When the teams took the field 42 minutes later, the Noles wasted no time in getting on the scoreboard, travelling 63 yards on 9 plays.

Through most of the fourth quarter—and Wake Forest on its second quarterback—FSU only lead 17-0.   Christian Ponder and E.J. Manuel would both throw TD passes to spread the margin to 31 in the final eight minutes of the game.

The Seminoles were successful at moving the ball throughout the game, but costly turnovers (are there any other kind, really?) and stupid penalties (ditto?) killed too many drives.  Once again, Florida State racked up an unacceptable number of yellow flags (8-for-85) and bean bags (2 fumbles lost).

Both turnovers occurred on sacks of Christian Ponder from his blind (left) side.   FSU’s  O-line couldn’t stop Wake’s Kyle Wilber from getting to Ponder.

A game that mimicked the 2010 season thus far, as the offense sputtered the Noles D seemed to get stronger and stronger. 

On the Deacons first seven drives, they only gained 77 yards and never crossed midfield.  One of those drives ended in an acrobatic interception, as nose guard Jacobbi McDaniel batted a pass up into the air and then pull it down himself.

The Seminoles now divert their attention toward Charlottesville as they prepare to hit the road for an away game against Virginia.  This will be a big test for the young Noles: not only is it an ACC game, but it’s only their second road test.  FSU’s lone loss came on the road, and this young team has yet to prove that it can play well on either side of the ball outside the confines of Doak Campbell.