Florida State Football: 7 Things That Need to Be Fixed Before 2012

With the bowl destination finally being revealed (headed to the Champs Sports Bowl to face Notre Dame), Florida State fans are eager to put the finishing touches on the 2011 season and look ahead to 2012. 

The expectation levels that preceded the 2011 season is sure to be tempered a bit for 2012, but in reality, the ‘Noles may be better equipped to handle them next season. 

For them to reach their goals of winning the ACC and reaching a BCS bowl, there are several lessons to learn from their failures this season.  

Here are seven things that need to be fixed before the 2012 season. 

Turnover Margin

Despite ending up on the right side of turnover margin for the season (plus-two), that number is skewed a bit considering the ‘Noles trailed in that statistic until the season finale at Florida. 

In fact, the defense grabbed 14 takeaways over the last five games (offense only had four in same period), including collecting a season-high four interceptions against the Gators. 

However, FSU was minus-seven in turnover margin (10-3) in its four losses this season. 

While the offense deserves its share of the blame for its miscues, the defense has to step up and make the better opponents on the schedule look ordinary.  

Intangibles

In watching the ‘Noles all season long, fans probably have lost count at how many times FSU committed a mind-boggling penalty at the worst times.  

ITS error-prone habits undoubtedly contributed to ITS four losses, all of which were decided by 10 points or less.  

For years, the ‘Noles got away with their mistakes due to their talent advantage over most of their opponents. However, for a team trying to regain its place among the nation’s elite, FSU has to improve its discipline, especially against the tougher teams on the schedule next season. 

In-Game Adjustments

FSU’s offense only had six quarters all season where it failed to score (three in the last two games), but the main part of the game it struggled all season long was at the start of the third quarter. 

The ‘Noles only scored 57 points in the third quarter this season (more than 100 in every other quarter), by far their lowest output in games this season.  

The defense fared better than its offensive counterpart in the third quarter, but instead allowed the most points to come in the fourth quarter. 

Thirty-four of the 75 points allowed in the final period came in their four losses. 

Clearly, the ‘Noles have to make better second-half adjustments if they want to take the next step forward in 2012.  

Sense of Urgency

Even though the Seminoles lost their marquee non-conference showdown to Oklahoma, ‘Noles fans cannot fault their team’s effort in a hard-fought close loss to a quality opponent. 

Even losing to Clemson on the road a week later can be forgiven by most rational Seminole fans.

However, the losses to ACC foes Wake Forest and Virginia are simply unacceptable. 

With the talent that Jimbo Fisher has assembled on this team, there are no excuses to justify losing games to teams with inferior rosters.

Situations like those is where leadership and the demand to play consistently at a high level has to come into play. The coaches, players and everyone involved in the program have to hold each other accountable to a championship standard week in and week out in order to accomplish their goals.  

Short-Yardage Offense

Another sight for sore eyes of Seminole Nation was the team’s struggles in short-yardage situations. 

The series that perhaps personifies this best was FSU’s inability in three tries to score a touchdown from the 1-yard line in the third quarter against Virginia. 

Up 10-7 with its defense stifling the Cavaliers offense, a touchdown would have given FSU a two-possession lead that may have been enough to put the game out of reach, but instead settled for a field goal and, ultimately, a 14-13 loss.   

Between now and September 2012, the ‘Noles offense has to develop a physical mindset to win in the trenches in critical situations.  

Chemistry and Consistency

Without trying sounding like an excuse, a painful fact of the 2011 season was that the injury bug destroyed the Seminoles’ roster after the physical loss to Oklahoma. 

The biggest casualty was the loss of starting quarterback E.J. Manuel, but as the season went along, the offensive line was constantly being shuffled because of various guys being lost to injury. 

It is no coincidence what position groups ended up struggling as the year went on. 

Looking forward to 2012, the Seminoles will need the breaks to fall their way, and that starts with staying healthy in key spots. 

Offensive Line

Anyone who followed FSU closely this season knows that it offensive line was the unit that mostly accounted for the ‘Noles struggles this season. FSU struggled to run the ball consistently all year long, and towards the end of the season, it could not throw it or pass-protect either.  

Injuries decimated the line, forcing FSU to rarely use the same starting lineup from week-to-week, but there could be a silver lining as it relates to next season.  

First of all, their play cannot get much worse.

But more importantly, several young players got their feet wet and gained much-needed experience to help them learn from their mistakes in the offseason.  

If they can elevate their level of play to consistently match the rest of the units on the team, Florida State will undoubtedly take a huge step forward into meeting its lofty expectations next season.