Florida State's beleaguered defense and its under-fire coordinator, Charles Kelly, could relieve some of the pressure they're facing if they can suppress South Florida quarterback Quinton Flowers this Saturday.
Kelly's defense, which struggled in last year's bowl game and the first half of the season opener against Ole Miss, has come under further scrutiny following FSU's 63-20 loss to Louisville last Saturday. It was the most points allowed in school history while further reinforcing the team's struggles against dual-threat quarterbacks.
Louisville's Lamar Jackson accounted for 362 yards and five touchdowns, and he became the fifth dual-threat quarterback to beat a Kelly defense since the former linebackers coach became defensive coordinator in 2014.
All five of FSU's losses since its 2013 national championship season have come against dual-threat quarterbacks. And No. 13 FSU (2-1) will face another dual threat in Flowers and USF (3-0) at noon Saturday at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa.
"We're just focused on ourselves," Seminoles senior defensive end DeMarcus Walker said about mobile quarterbacks. "Going back over the film, it was self-inflicted wounds. That's one thing people don't see. That's something we have to fix."
Walker said an example of a "self-inflicted" wound is not setting the edge, which resulted in FSU losing any sort of grip on Jackson getting into open space.
Another problem area Walker cited was having players out of position. He said there were times against Louisville when two players were incorrectly occupying the same spot.
Flowers and Jackson are different quarterbacks but could continue a trend of similar results. Both players lost to FSU in 2015 and entered 2016 on a torrid start.
Jackson is a Heisman Trophy frontrunner. Flowers has thrown for 716 yards, seven touchdowns and an interception while rushing for 150 yards and two touchdowns. Although USF has not played great competition -- FCS opponent Towson, Northern Illinois and Syracuse -- the Bulls are averaging an impressive 49.6 points.
"We've been focused, but now we have to be way more focused," said senior defensive back Nate Andrews. "Because going into the Louisville game, we thought we were going to win. But they beat us, and now we have to take practice way more serious."
The Seminoles have encountered mixed results against dual-threat passers since Kelly was named defensive coordinator.
