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Published Sep 27, 2020
The 3-2-1: Time for new approach for rest of FSU football season
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Ira Schoffel  •  TheOsceola
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@iraschoffel

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. -- After Florida State's embarrassing 52-10 loss to rival Miami on Saturday night, it's time for another sobering edition of the Warchant 3-2-1, where we offer three observations, two questions and one prediction.

Among the topics discussed are the need for a youth movement on both sides of the ball, what has gone so wrong for this defense, what to expect at quarterback going forward, and where the remaining wins might come on this schedule.

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Three things we've learned

1 -- Time for a new approach with veteran players

When a new coaching staff is hired to take over a struggling football program, there are two general approaches when it comes to dealing with veteran players on the roster.

Some coaches come in and go with a scorched-earth approach -- laying down the law from the very beginning, running kids off to set an example and essentially making those older players prove that they deserve to stay in the program.

Others try to salvage as many of the older players as possible, giving them a second chance to resurrect their college careers and flourish under new leadership.

I personally don't like the scorched-earth approach.

It's easier. It often produces quicker results. But it also is extremely unfair to players whose previous struggles were likely the result of poor coaching in the first place.

As much as well all know that college football is closer to big business than it is true amateurism, at the end of the day we're still talking about 18- to 22-year-olds. It's an awful practice to come into an organization filled with young people and immediately treat them like they're guilty until proven innocent. When you, as a new coach, have yet to invest any real time into them or the program.

So I appreciate the fact that Mike Norvell and his coaches have tried to make this work with the older players. That guys who have struggled in the past -- either with their play or their attitudes or both -- have been given a fresh start and an opportunity to enjoy the type of college career that they hoped for when they signed with Florida State University.

And if that approach had worked -- with all or even most of those older players -- it would have paid off with improved play in the short-term. In almost every instance, a team is better off with older, more physically mature players in a game than younger ones.

Alas, it has not worked. Not even one bit.

What we witnessed Saturday night in Miami, amidst the wreckage of a 52-10 defeat to rival Miami, were many of the same problems we have seen over the past several seasons.

Embarrassing emotional outbursts. Selfish penalties. Undisciplined play. Even a lack of effort in some cases.

At one point in the second half, wide receiver Tamorrion Terry got into an altercation with a Miami player after the whistle, and the two players were flagged for offsetting personal fouls. When Terry was pulled to the sideline and admonished by receivers coach Ron Dugans, the junior wideout went back at Dugans verbally. And the exchange didn't end there, as Dugans turned his attention to the field and Terry kept jawing at him from behind.

There's no way for any of us to know what was said, but Terry didn't get back on the field. And he spent most of the next several minutes standing on the sidelines with his arms folded, as if he had zero interest in the game being played.

That was the most glaring example, but there were plenty others.

And my guess is this wasn't a total surprise to Norvell and his staff. While they have consistently spoken positively about the "buy-in" of the older players and praised them publicly, one has to assume they got a sense in that season-opening loss to Georgia Tech that this wasn't going to work. But what do you do at that point?

Send a bunch of young players out there on Saturday to try and make something happen against the No. 12 team in the country in a heated rivalry game?

The time is now.

I'm not saying that every older player needs to be replaced. That's not possible or necessary. I'm sure some are still salvageable and can even be part of the solution.

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