Florida State Football: Grading the Seminoles vs. the Terrapins

Last week's victory over Duke got the train rollin'.

This week, the Maryland Terrapins couldn't even snap on the Seminoles' heels.

For the first time this year, Florida State is looking like the team many football aficionados expected to storm the trenches.

The home crowd was wild. It was the first game at home in over a month, and that interim month pretty much dampened hopes for both an ACC and national championship.

Jimbo Fisher's team has started to grow, and it's very conceivable that a long home-game winning streak might have started today at Doak.

The highlight reel was spinning out of control on Saturday as FSU improved in nearly all facets in their game. This is a report card your parents would like to see.

Florida State Quarterbacks

Jersey says it all. EJ owns.

The experienced yet inconsistent quarterback improved in his second consecutive start. It's difficult to tell whether his stats (which were roughly the same from Louisiana-Monroe and Charleston Southern) have really improved. Honestly, playing against a pedestrian defense skews the results of the passing offense. In the past two games, Maryland has allowed 100 points. Not a strong barometer.

Nevertheless, the feeling from Doak said that Manuel is gaining confidence. He passed for nearly 70 percent, after all! EJ's only interception was a low catch, which are tough to come by. Trickett came in the final moments, but didn't throw a pass. While nothing really stood out as spectacular (Manuel's 12 rushing attempts garnerned zero yards), Manuel had a strong individual performance.

Grade: A

Florida State Running Backs

Devonta Freeman rushed for over 100 yards!!!! The rush is finally alive!

Honestly, the running backs needed a breakthrough game. Trampling the turf at Duke was impressive, but there is still the stigma that the Blue Devils are still the weakest team in the ACC.

Beating a nine-win Maryland team from last year said something, though. The home win gave Doak a refreshing atmosphere of victory, and having the crowd on their side has built up their confidence.

I have ragged on these guys for quite some time, but I want to acknowledge the the best performance from this unit: freshman Devonta Freeman averaged over nine yards per carry. As expected, this elite recruit from Central Miami High School is starting to take over as the workhorse.

The huge loss of Chris Thompson (may he get well) means more underclassmen gaining experience. Things can only get better from here.

Florida State Receivers

The wide receivers were great today, but they weren't the stars for once.

Maybe they weren't on their toes.

It didn't matter.

Kenny Shaw and Bert Reed had great chemistry with Manuel. They were overshadowed by the rushing game.

Grade: A

Florida State Offensive Line

Finally!

The offensive line blocked well enough for them to gain some applause. E.J. had a sack, especially later in the game, that just came from lazy tackling.

E.J.'s tendency to whirl around in a circle before making his passes makes it rough on this gridiron crew, but at least Manuel had time to throw more than in past games.

Their blocking skills allowed the running game to take off a bit, too. Whether they've improved has yet to be seen, given Maryland's mediocre defense.

Florida State Defensive Line

Last year, Maryland fans were quite happy.

That has, of course, changed.

The Noles only allowed 59 yards rushing. FSU's rush defense leads the ACC. Bjoern Werner is the anchor. Same old, same old.

Except for the last-second touchdown that took less than a minute in the finale, where Danny O'Brien was able to get the pesky Terps into the end zone.

How great this team can be will really be displayed a couple of weeks from now against Miami.

Grade: A

Florida State Linebackers

Line was great as always. Go 'Noles!

Florida State Secondary

Florida State's secondary was not as good on the turf as people thought they would be. They allowed 272 yards to the sophomore slump called Danny O'Brien.

O'Brien's only thrown for five touchdowns compared to six interceptions. Overall, the corners made sure that the receivers didn't find the end zone often.

Florida State Special Teams

Dustin Hopkins is a beast. And a beast he will remain.

But he missed his chance to set the Florida State record for consecutive field goals with a chip-shot opportunity against Maryland. The guess here is that Hopkins might've tensed up just a little with the extra pressure to set a record of his own.

Ordinarily, the guy makes field goals like he's the second Sebastian Janikowski (I know that is quite a stretch, but he maybe the best kicker since Janikowski).

Greg Reid also had a kickoff return for a touchdown called back, a gain that could've made the game 21-0 and created a blowout left the Seminoles at 17-3 at the half.

Sure, 41-16 is a blowout. But who knows how much higher the score could've been?

Grade: B+ (for Hopkins' missed field goal)

Florida State Coaching

Jimbo Fisher's coaches are doing just fine. The team has started to coalesce all together. The young players seem to have a concept on the system.

Devonta Freeman's rushing to the century mark tells me that the Achilles heel of the team, -the blockers on the O-Line and the running game, is on the right page.

Florida State Intangibles

Florida State's intangibles were all on the Seminoles' side. The home crowd, the execution; everything seems to be going up for these guys. Of course, these were my observations from the 15-yard line.

FSU played their most consistent home game since Charleston Southern, gaining nearly 500 yards. Pretty awesome, huh?