Clark: Two steps forward, one ugly step back for FSU football
LOUISVILLE -- Just when you start to believe in this football team, when you start to think things are beginning to turn around, a day like Saturday comes and reminds all of us that this thing is nowhere close.
Not yet.
It's to be expected. Bad football programs don't change their spots overnight. Even if you are taking positive steps, there are going to be some slips and tumbles along the way. In the case of Saturday's 48-16 loss to Louisville, well, that probably felt more like falling down five flights of stairs and ending up in a dank basement.
But that's just how it feels in the moment.
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As bad as Saturday went here in Louisville, the North Carolina game did happen. We all saw that with our own eyes, too. So we know this team is capable of playing well, capable of making winning plays when it matters.
It's still plenty capable of looking like 2018 as well.
"That's not a performance that is reflective of what I expected," FSU head coach Mike Norvell said.
He speaks for everyone. On both sidelines. Because there's no way even the most optimistic Louisville players, coaches and fans were expecting anything like that either.
When a defense plays undisciplined, unfocused and seemingly uninspired, well, days like Saturday can happen. And Saturday was just ...dreadful.
Even with the first half starting as well as any half has all year.
The Seminoles marched right down the field on the opening possession, going 65 yards in seven plays. The last eight came on a ridiculous TD run by Jordan Travis, in which the QB fumbled the exchange, then dribbled the ball from his left hand to his right hand while it was still near the ground (like a crossover in basketball), picked it up, split two defenders, and then dove across the goal line for the score.
It was an incredible play by a sophomore quarterback who is delivering at least a few every game now.
Coming on the heels of their upset win against a top-five team last weekend, the Seminoles were already up on Louisville just 150 seconds into the game. They were feeling good about themselves. Confidence was brimming.
Then the defense took the field.
And everything fell apart.
It was an astonishing display of ineptitude, even from a unit that had already given up 35 points in two first halves already this season. Because Louisville's offense isn't Notre Dame's. It's not Miami's. Malik Cunningham had actually been pedestrian all season.
But not against Florida State. No, against FSU, he was 12 of 13 for 233 yards and two touchdowns in the first two quarters. Because why wouldn't he be?
The tone was set on the third play of the game for the defense.
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