The 3-2-1: Alabama postscript, plus looking ahead to future

1 -- Missed opportunities were a silent killer

While most of the attention following Florida State’s season-opening loss to Alabama centered around the mistakes on special teams and the injury to sophomore quarterback Deondre Francois, another less-frequently mentioned factor also played a major role in the Seminoles’ defeat: Missed opportunities on offense.

On Florida State’s first seven possessions of that game, the Seminoles had the ball inside Alabama’s 35-yard line five times. FIVE TIMES in seven possessions. They scored seven points.

One time, they missed a field goal. Another time, they got stopped on fourth down. A couple of other times they went backwards and were forced to punt.

The most costly of those missed opportunities came on consecutive possessions at the end of the second quarter and the start of the third. After taking over at its own 30-yard line with 1:01 remaining in the half, FSU quickly drove to the Alabama 20, with the two big plays being passes of 11 and 24 yards from Francois to tight end Ryan Izzo. But once they got to the red zone, the Seminoles came up empty on first and second down, then they didn’t get a crucial pass-interference call in the end zone on third down.

If the penalty had been called, as it should have been, the Seminoles would have been primed to punch it in for a touchdown and a 14-10 halftime lead. Not only that, but they would have been getting the ball to start the second half with a chance to extend their advantage to possibly two scores. Instead, they settled for a 37-yard field goal attempt, which was blocked.

Then, on the opening possession of the second half, FSU drove from its own 25 to the Alabama 34 in five plays. Again, the Seminoles had a prime opportunity to either tie the game or take the lead. But again, they came up empty on three consecutive plays and were forced to punt.

The Seminoles would never threaten again.

Some of the credit for those stalled drives, of course, goes to Alabama’s defense for rising up nearly every time FSU threatened. At the same time, many of the Seminoles’ problems were self-inflicted -- either missed blocks, errant throws or other miscues. Fisher always preaches the importance of playing good “situational” football, and one of the tenets of that philosophy is executing plays precisely when you have scoring opportunities. FSU’s inability to do that was as costly as anything that led to Saturday’s loss.