Florida State Football: Grading the Seminoles against Clemson

Sixth time’s the charm, I hope.

In hindsight, it shouldn’t be that surprising that FSU lost at Clemson for the fifth time in a row. After all, it hadn’t beat the Tigers on their turf since the Dynasty years.

However, how the Seminoles lost causes heartbreak. The Seminole tribe was ill-equipped for fighting an opponent of equal talent. E.J. Manuel, Florida State’s leading rusher, was out for the game. Coming into Death Valley, Jimbo Fisher’s team was 100th overall in rushing offense.

Kudos to the team effort, but Clemson ripped apart the ‘Noles' respectable defense.

It’s sad, actually. Lately, a few second-year head coaches have had a knack for winning national titles. Even with the red flag on the offense, many predicted that Chief Osceola would lead his team to a BCS game.

Now—like last year—FSU finds itself behind in the race, and will only advance to the ACC Championship Game if 1) Clemson loses two conference games, and 2) the ‘Noles run the table for the rest of conference play.

There were two cruxes for this season: If they beat Oklahoma, the crystal football would likely belong to Tallahassee. The second fork in the road was seeing if they could beat a talented opponent outside of Doak Campbell Stadium. However, the Seminoles tasted the bitter sting of defeat twice.

Sitting at 2-2, the Seminoles will define themselves for the 2011 season. The leading seniors will know they will never have a national title, but we can see how much guts the team has without glory.

We can only get clues to the Seminoles’ future, though, by investigating their past.

Quarterbacks

Clint Trickett is a thin Sam Bradford.

Yes, I know that's redundant.

While sports fans gazed across the nation in Week 2 for "prime-time" games, FSU followers got a glint of Clint. The redshirt freshman wowed us against Charleston Southern, going 6-of-7 for 148 yards and two touchdowns. And while it was Charleston Southern, people couldn't help but sense that the 'Noles had grabbed a real talent.

His performance continued to improve against Clemson. Unfortunately, the game also showed how one dimensional Trickett is. He rushed for negative seven yards. Some plays—especially in the fourth—he could have ran for a short gain, but each time he'd prefer to toss the ball short.

Trickett's immobility should be replaced by E.J. Manuel soon. His stats are praiseworthy (especially with the sacks), and deserve applause.

Grade: A

Running Backs

They were bad.

If only that explained it all.

It's really embarrassing to portray Florida State as the next "Running Back U" when the stats are so abysmal.

E.J. Manuel was the team's leading rusher. The quarterback. Not the arsenal of Chris Thompson and Jermaine Thomas. Manuel. Yep.

This running game is pathetic and makes me question both the coaching ability within the offense and the winning instinct the rushers have.

Fortunately, the ACC's best team in rushing defense—by a long shot—is Florida State. Thank goodness. ACC play will be tougher than anticipated, but the 'Noles should win out even without galloping stallions.

Twenty-nine yards rushing. Twenty-nine?!

Grade: F

Receivers

Every receiver deserves a pat on the back.

Since Florida State's offense was as one dimensional as a dot, variety had to be in the passing game. Each man came into the game knowing he had to be ready to catch a Trickett pass on any play.

Man, did they do incredible. The football was like sticky honey. Whichever spear-helmeted player it headed to, there was a completion. The only reason Florida State kept up in its second consecutive losing effort was thanks to the conservative passing game.

When filing through the stats, I thought Rodney Smith deserved a helmet sticker—118 yards on just four plays? Way to lead the team, man. 

Then I saw Rashad Greene, who averaged over 12 yards on double the receptions. Each scored a touchdown.

Then toss in Christian Green, Nick O'Leary and Kenny Shaw. The trio had a respectable outing, as well.

These are the saviors of the Seminoles football team.*

Grade: A+

*For current FSU students: If you see any of the aforementioned receivers on campus, please give them a high five.

Offensive Line

Same old story.

False starts. Can't block. It's very sad.

Though it sounds crazy, maybe some second-string defenders should be on offense. It's pretty difficult to out-underperform the current lineup.

Nothing can be said about this undisciplined group, so I'll zip my lips before something mean comes out.

Grade: F

Defensive Line

This group is the same group that played against Oklahoma.

The defensive line only allowed 49 yards to Clemson, proving it has the best rush defense in the ACC (so far).

Blame does not lie here.

Grade: A

Linebackers

These guys did alright—as in, they didn't let Tajh Boyd score 70 on the Seminoles.

Again, one of the nation's best teams messed it up. Who's the linebackers coach?

Grade: C

Secondary

Tajh Boyd continues to be a factor here. He threw for three touchdowns and over 300 yards.

For each pass Trickett threw, Boyd matched him. Barring the stupid interception he gave up, the final score may have been uglier.

The interception was quite comical.

Grade: F

Special Teams

Okay, I'll be nicer with grading.

I now know how a Clemson fan must have felt like under Tommy Bowden's inconsistent tenure, but at least the Tigers are starting to turn things around.

Shawn Powell and Dustin Hopkins each played their parts well, kicking the ball for over 40 yards on average.

Lamarcus Joyner's big return kept FSU out of the dog house. It was Beamer Ball out there, but a loss is still a loss.

Grade: A

Coaching

Running backs coach Eddie Gran takes a long look in the mirror at night.

Why shouldn't he? How else can an army's load of talent just not perform? I'd hate for him to have to get the axe, especially after he stated how he wanted to have a 1,000-yard rusher every year.

Maybe when he said the team needed "crud" in them, maybe he wanted the players to emulate said crud.

Just a hypothesis.

However, I recommend he not be fired. Special teams is flourishing under his watch. Maybe he just needs to be assigned to special teams full time.

Who would make a good replacement (if necessary)?

I do not want to judge who I think should be the new running backs coach, but let me present you some facts.

Mark Stoops owns it on defense. He will be hired as a head coach within the next year or two because of how awesome the rushing defense does. Now if they could just stop the pass rush...

Grade: B-

Intangibles

FSU last week—at least before the Game of the Week versus Oklahoma—had swag. Real swag. Like Seminole rap swag.

They then proceeded to fall flat, just like that 1988 'Noles team did.

That '88 team picked itself up and finished with only one loss on the year. FSU has already lost two and is in jeopardy of not making the BCS for the sixth year in a row.

Road games against Duke and Wake Forest will energize the team. By the time the Seminoles come home at 4-2 (hopefully), Clemson might have already lost a game or two. Hope to get back in the Atlantic Division race will well up in the player's hearts, and yeah—then we'll win a lot.

Until then, get well from the injuries and get through the pity party.

There's still eight more games to play. Make 'em count.