Boston College 14, FSU 6: Halftime thoughts, stats

Boston College 14, FSU 6: Halftime thoughts, stats

For the second game in a row, Florida State's offense looked stagnant at best, struggling to get any sort of momentum going outside of two field goal drives.While last week saw the Seminoles at least storm out to an early score, FSU failed to register a first down until its fourth drive of the gamethe first of those aforementioned scoring drives that began on a short field but only saw Florida State net three points after stalling out in the red zone.The defense had its own slow start, letting Boston College dominate the time of possession with over 14 minutes in the first quarter as the second started with an Eagles touchdown. An inability to shutdown the wheel route saw two huge catches by former FSU back Treshaun Ward first put Boston College in scoring position and then secure another touchdown, making it 14-0 with 9:48 in the second.After Florida State got its first points of the game off Ryan Fitzgerald's 31-yard field goal, the Seminoles' defense forced its third punt of the night and gave FSU another shot at points before the close of the quarter.It started off slow, but big completions to Ja'Khi Douglas and Malik Benson helped push Florida State into scoring position. Once in the end zone, however, Uiagalelei failed to hit open receivers on first and second down, then missed again when trying to thread it to Kyle Morlock.The Seminoles currently trail 14-6 and will receive the ball to start the third quarter. Boston College 14, FSU 6: Halftime thoughtsThis is a little too "generalized handwriting angry sports columnist," but on both sides of the ball to start the game, it did not look like Florida State had any true interest in winning one-on-one battles or executing without hesitation. Staring down receivers, uncertainty when filling gaps, failing to fill any gap whatsoeverthey're issues that we saw plenty last week against Georgia Tech and any hopes of them being a single-week issue quickly evaporated as the Eagles got to do whatever they wanted on offense and its defense shut down anything that FSU tried to do. As Florida State finally started to exert its will late in the second, we saw some positive results, and now the second half is a chance to keep that momentum going.DJ Uiagalelei failing to get anything going in the pass game is one thingyou can chalk that up to receivers, if you really want to give benefit of the doubtbut the aspect of his game that had been lauded as unique was his ability as a runner. We haven't seen that emerge, with the quarterback seeming unsure in his ability to take off on several occasions, and his sack on FSU's first goal-to-go drive of the game played a part in the Seminoles being forced to settle for a field goal. If it's a matter of scheme needing to further cater to his capabilities, whether that's pulling back or letting loose, then the time for Norvell to switch it up and let his playmakers make plays has long come. There were some bright spots on that final FSU drive of the second quarter, but those moments need to become the norm rather than flashes, as we also saw him miss three easily convertible touchdown tosses on consecutive plays. It might be a bit hyperbolic to say after just one-and-a-half games, but if the results of the offense are because Uiagalelei has truly reached his ceiling, there might be a need to see what the future holds in the rest of the room.The Florida State defense, maybe, is getting into a groove? I won't get too congratulatory, since those first two touchdown drives were just further evidence of a defense that has a lot of work to get done, but the Seminoles seemed to settle a bit as the second quarter wore on and managed to get the offense a few more possessions https://www.floridastatestore.com.


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