Seminoles on pace to allow most sacks in Fisher era

Clemson's final two sacks of Deondre Francois did more than seal the Tigers' 37-34 defeat of Florida State on Saturday. They provided another reminder of how the Seminoles have failed to protect their first-year starting quarterback.

Francois, a redshirt freshman who has taken a slew of hits in several games this season, was sacked a season-worst six times by the No. 3 Tigers. That brought the Seminoles' season sack total to 27 in eight games -- only seven teams in the FBS have surrendered more. And the 227 yards FSU has lost in sack yardage is actually the worst in the country.

Perhaps even more surprising than the raw numbers is the fact that four of FSU's five offensive linemen started for much of last season. And in 13 games, that unit surrendered 26 sacks -- one less than the current group already has given up.

"They weren't doing anything [different]," junior left tackle Roderick Johnson said of Clemson's pass rush. "When we gave up sacks, that's mostly because we beat ourselves. O-Line beat themselves."

Clemson (8-0, 4-0) used an array of blitzes and stunts to confuse the line and reach Francois, who still managed to complete 17 of 35 passes for 286 yards with a touchdown and an interception.

Even after the Tigers took a 37-34 lead in the final minutes, the Seminoles had more than enough time to at least march into field goal range and try to force overtime. But after Francois moved the offense to the Tigers' 34-yard line, consecutive false start penalties pushed FSU back 10 yards to the 44.

Back-to-back incompletions set up third-and-20, then Clemson sacked Francois to force a fourth-and-32. FSU called timeout to plan the next play, and then Clemson sacked Francois for another 11-yard loss.

"They had six sacks in the game, two at the end. We had a guy beat inside on one of the assignments, guys weren't where they were supposed to be," FSU coach Jimbo Fisher said. "A couple guys physically got beat on a couple hits. Then we had some on the fullbacks and tight ends. We had the ends doubled, and they split them."