Insider Report: Big passes put hurt on FSU defense; more on 4th-down calls
There was plenty to like about Florida State's defensive performance Sunday night.
The Seminoles completely shut down Notre Dame's vaunted running game, limiting it to 65 yards on 35 carries. They racked up four sacks and came through with three big stops in the fourth quarter, which allowed the offense to rally from a 38-20 deficit and send the game to overtime.
But as good as FSU's defensive players and coaches felt about the way they stopped the run in the season opener, they felt equally bad about the staggering number of big plays they surrendered through the air.
Notre Dame quarterback Jack Coan completed 26 of 35 passes against Florida State for 366 yards and four touchdowns. But it wasn't the number of completions that was the problem; it was the fact that so many went for huge gains.
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The Irish connected on 12 passes of 15 or more yards against the FSU secondary. All totaled, those 12 completions accounted for 318 yards. Coan's other 14 completions went for a grand total of just 48.
"We allowed too many big plays," second-year defensive coordinator Adam Fuller said.
Two of the biggest passes were not entirely on the secondary.
The first one -- a 41-yard touchdown strike from Coan to tight end Michael Mayer -- was a result of a blown coverage that might have involved a linebacker. And a 55-yarder in the third quarter was more on the coaching staff than the players, Fuller said.
With the Irish facing a third-and-17 from their own 24-yard line, Florida State blitzed and sent six defenders into the offensive backfield. But before those pass-rushers could get to Coan, the veteran quarterback lofted a perfectly timed screen to running back Kyren Williams, who then raced 55 yards to the Seminoles' 21-yard line. The Irish would extend their lead to 31-20 four plays later.
"We could have executed better, but at the end of the day, that's on me," Fuller said of the third-and-long blitz.
On several of the other long completions, Florida State had defenders in position to make plays, but they lost one-on-one battles.
Cornerback Travis Jay, in particular, was involved in two long scores by the Irish. On one, he was running step for step with receiver Joe Wilkins Jr., but when Jay turned and tried to snare the interception, Wilkins leaped and snatched it away from him.
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