The numbers themselves aren't going to wow anyone.

The Florida State defense allowed 28 points and 400 yards of offense in Saturday's 28-14 loss to No. 19 N.C. State.

But there is some context needed when trying to address how the Seminoles played on that side of the ball against the Wolfpack.

Only two teams this season have held N.C. State's offense to less than 28 points. Mississippi State beat the Wolfpack 24-10 back in September and then Clemson lost to N.C. State 27-21 in double-overtime.

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N.C. State came into the game on Saturday averaging 416.5 yards per game. So, no, it wasn't as if the FSU defense was horrid in the loss, especially considering how little help it got from the offense in the first half.

But there were those missed tackles.

Several awful, game-changing, score-changing missed tackles.

"We've just got to tackle," senior defensive end Keir Thomas said. "It's simple."

For the majority of the game on Saturday, the Seminoles did that pretty well. N.C. State rushed for less than 100 yards and average just 2.3 yards per carry.

But on three of the Wolfpack's four touchdown passes, a missed tackle in the secondary played a critical role.

On the first TD of the game, cornerback Jarrian Jones allowed a long catch down the middle of the field. (Or maybe he thought he had safety help?) Either way, even after C.J. Riley caught the pass, Jones was in position to bring him down. Instead, he barely touched him, and Riley sprinted into the end zone for a 62-yard score.

The Wolfpack's third touchdown came on a third-down screen pass in which Trent Pennix caught a pass in the right flat — a space Thomas admitted he was supposed to be — and then started rumbling down the middle of the field.

That's when he ran into safety Akeem Dent, who's attempted shoulder tackle didn't do anything to slow down Pennix on his way to a 45-yard TD.

Then, finally, the back-breaker was another third-down screen pass. This one went to Ricky Person, who alluded another tackle attempt by Jones near the sideline and sprinted through the rest of the FSU defense for a 43-yard, game-clinching score.

Those three plays not only accounted for 21 of N.C. State's 28 points, but they accounted for 150 of 400 total yards. Aside from those, the Wolfpack managed just 250 yards on their other 66 plays — an average of just 3.79 yards per play.

Then again, football doesn't work like that. The plays happened. They counted. So did the points. And the Seminoles fell to 3-6 on the season.

"Big plays and third downs really killed us tonight," FSU head coach Mike Norvell said afterward. "We had some missed tackles there defensively and allowed some explosive plays. We had one coverage bust, something we've stayed away from the last few weeks, but it showed up on that first touchdown. It's something we've got to continue to get better at."

Especially considering who's coming to Doak Campbell Stadium on Saturday.

N.C. State's Devin Leary is one of the best quarterbacks in the conference, to be sure. So, too, it would appear is Miami's Tyler Van Dyke, who has thrown for over 300 yards in each of his last three games -- all Miami victories — since taking over for injured starter D'Eriq King.

He has 15 touchdown passes and just four interceptions.

If the Seminoles are going to be able to corral Van Dyke and the suddenly explosive Hurricanes' offense, they'll have to avoid the coverage busts like they had in the first quarter against N.C. State, and they'll have to absolutely be able to tackle better on the back end.

"This group of guys, man, we keep losing and they just don't flinch," said Thomas, who had two sacks and one critical faked injury (which led to an important replay reversal) in the game on Saturday. "We just continue to put in work. So, I'm not really worried about how we're going to respond. I know we're going to fight.

"It's just cleaning up the little things."

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Talk about this story with other Florida State football fans in the Tribal Council