Fisher, offense not satisfied despite 55-point effort

TAMPA – Beyond a wisecrack about having to hold his postgame press conference inside the hallway of an NFL stadium, Jimbo Fisher didn’t say much to the media Saturday afternoon.

Fisher was cordial at first. He opined how Raymond James Stadium – a venue which is home to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and has hosted two Super Bowls – would hold interviews inside a sweltering concrete slab despite two interview rooms being unused just a few feet away.

When the questions started though, Fisher was abrupt. He wasn’t handing out compliments after his team’s 55-35 win over the University of South Florida.

Fisher was asked 21 questions, and with every answer came the reinforced notion the Seminoles can still be better. Not even his offense, which scored 55 points, could garner praise.

“We came out on top with the game, but there’s a lot of things to fix offensively, defensively and special teams,” Fisher said. “We were OK. Just OK.”

The Seminoles raced out to a quick start by scoring 28 points in the first quarter. They ran 82 offensive plays and kept possession for 40 minutes and 19 seconds of a 60-minute game. The offense only committed one turnover - a fumble - only to get possession back instantly after a USG interception.

Situational play was a positive, too. The Seminoles were 6 of 11 on third down and 7 of 8 in the red zone.

All of these things occurred with an altered game plan. Instead of a balanced approach, Fisher went with a more run-heavy approach. FSU rushed 63 times for 478 yards. Six of the Seminoles’ seven touchdowns came on the ground.

“We did some better things at the line of scrimmage,” Fisher said. “The runners ran good, the quarterbacks even ran good on some things. The line blocked good, but there’s still some things there we've gotta get cleaned up.”