The 3-2-1: Taking stock after FSU's latest ugly loss; midpoint of season
In the wake of Florida State's disappointing loss at No. 2 Clemson on Saturday, which dropped the Seminoles to 3-3 on the season, it's time for a new edition of the Warchant 3-2-1 -- where we share three things we've learned, two questions we're asking and a prediction.
Three thing we learned
1 -- Not quitting beats the alternative, but it won't close the gap
If there was one substantial positive from Florida State's 45-14 loss to Clemson on Saturday, it was the fact that the Seminoles never seemed to quit -- even when the game's outcome had long been decided.
Willie Taggart acknowledged that in his postgame interview, and I'm sure most of us felt the same way while watching the game. If the Seminoles had surrendered mentally -- the way FSU teams did at Louisville in 2016, at Boston College in 2017 and against Clemson in '18 -- this thing could have been historically ugly. Instead of just really ugly.
The best example of FSU's desire came at the end of the first half, when Clemson had two red-zone trips that could have pushed its 28-0 lead to five or six touchdowns. The Seminoles got a fourth-down stop on one, and then forced a failed field goal attempt on the other.
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If FSU had packed it in early, as we've seen some teams do in the past, it easily could have been 42-0 at halftime. And who knows what the final score might have been?
So that's definitely worth acknowledging. And it may even provide some solace.
But good grief is that a really low bar.
Praising a college football team for not quitting against a rival is like complimenting a spouse for not cheating. Or a police officer for not stealing.
Yeah, things could be worse. But it's nothing to feel great about.
Congratulations, guys! You didn't quit!
You also didn't really block. Or tackle. Or cover. Or run with authority. Or pass with accuracy.
While I agree that effort wasn't a major concern in this game, there were so many other things going wrong that the effort didn't really matter.
Before we go any further, I'll agree with the assertion Corey made in his column -- that this game was never going to make or break Florida State's season. The vast majority of us went into that game expecting a loss, and that expectation became reality. As 27-point underdogs, no one should have been surprised that the Seminoles lost Saturday night in Death Valley. The problem is how it happened.
On offense, FSU looked completely overwhelmed. The quarterbacks were clearly not prepared for that stage, and the running game looked a lot like it did in 2018 (until Khalan Laborn broke free for a long touchdown against Clemson's backups).
The defense, meanwhile, had no answers for anything Clemson dialed up. The best thing you could say about their first-half performance was that they made Clemson work for some of its points. The Tigers needed nine plays for one score and 11 plays for another.
But again, that's a really low bar.
By the end of the night, the Tigers had rushed for 320 yards and passed for 232 more. And that was after pulling Trevor Lawrence early in the third quarter.
FSU recorded zero sacks and zero quarterback hurries. The Seminoles did create a couple of turnovers -- an interception by Hamsah Nasirildeen and a fumble recovery by Dennis Briggs Jr. -- but that was about the extent of their big plays.
The rest of the first three quarters could be used as a Clemson recruiting video.
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