Insider Report: FSU working to find McKenzie Milton's comfort zone
While enjoying his first full game as Florida State's starting quarterback, McKenzie Milton had his most prolific passing day as a Seminole last Saturday against Louisville.
He passed for 248 yards in the Seminoles' 31-23 loss to Louisville after throwing for 133 in his first start against Jacksonville State and 119 in his second start against Wake Forest.
While that obviously is a positive sign for the UCF transfer, who is playing his first season of football since sustaining a catastrophic leg injury in 2018, it's also fair to note that a huge chunk of that success came on just one of FSU's 14 drives in the game.
In a span of just 41 seconds of game time late in the second quarter, Milton completed 4 of 5 passes for 80 yards and a touchdown. In FSU's other 26 minutes and 18 seconds of possession on Saturday, he completed 20 of 34 attempts for 168 yards and no scores.
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What was different about that drive?
The big thing was the Seminoles were in a true two-minute offense, meaning they were hurrying from play to play without substituting and also not allowing Louisville's defense to make adjustments. FSU works on that scheme early in practice every day, and offensive coordinator Kenny Dillingham said the benefit is that it scales down the options for both teams.
The Seminoles knew they would only see one of a couple of different defensive looks, and they would be running just three or four different offensive plays of their own -- each of which should have a decent chance of success against those defenses.
"So it allowed us to play fast, and everything showed up exactly how we prepared," Dillingham said. "So there was a lot of confidence in that."
That hurry-up, no-huddle approach clearly suits Milton. It's the type of offense he operated during his record-setting days at Central Florida.
That was apparent on Saturday's big drive.
After taking possession with 1:49 left in the first half, Milton connected with Ontaria "Pokey" Wilson for a 20-yard gain over the middle. Then he stepped up in the pocket and found Andrew Parchment for 16 yards near the left sideline.
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