FSU Seminoles

With several of the nation's top football recruits taking both official and unofficial visits last week, our experts at RecruitingNation made some major tweaks to our top 10 recruiting battles with five new entrants in the fold. The top two remain the same, however, as Robert Nkemdiche and Laremy Tunsil maintain their spots as the two most impactful players on the recruiting scene.

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TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- Devonta Freeman knew what he was getting into before fall camp began.

A year ago, he was at the head of the pack by default, the last man standing amid the wreckage of injuries and poor performance in Florida State's backfield. This year was going to be different. His role would be smaller, his carries fewer and, in some games, he might not see any action at all.

As it turned out, the latter has become commonplace. In Florida State's last three games, Freeman has played sparingly. He hasn't had a carry since Week 3.

"It's tough because of the playing time I had last year, but it's a long season," Freeman said. "We've got a long time to go. I'm just being patient, staying humble and waiting on my opportunity."

For a while, Freeman had been elbowed out of the picture by sophomore James Wilder Jr., whose role had blossomed during the first few weeks of the season, culminating with a punishing second-half run to help ice a win over Clemson.

But like Freeman, Wilder has quietly faded from the offense the past two weeks, too. After struggling with goal-line carries against USF two weeks ago, Wilder got just one touch against NC State, while senior Chris Thompson carried the load, racking up a career high 25 carries.

"Thompson is hot and averaging 7 yards a carry," Jimbo Fisher said. "Chris is just playing so doggone well."

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TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- There were days this summer when Leonard Hamilton would shuffle into his office not long after the sun came up, and he'd hear the familiar sounds of sneakers squeaking and balls clanging off a rim.

On the court, he'd find a slew of veterans and rookies, elder statesmen instructing the kids on how things are done and what's going to be expected of them this season.

It was music to Hamilton's ears.

"That speaks volumes," Hamilton said. "Whenever we have a workout, you look in the gym, and you have six freshmen out there with six different goals, working on their game. That gives you a feeling that attitudes are right and they understand the work ethic. Now what we have to do is make sure we're patient with them."

There is still a long road to travel before Florida State's reshuffled roster is clicking on all cylinders, Hamilton said, but as his team kicks off the 2012-13 season at 7 p.m. ET with Seminole Madness, some solace can be taken in knowing a sizable portion of the groundwork has been laid.

The defending ACC tournament champions lost a healthy dose of veteran talent from last season, but Hamilton thinks the influx of five freshmen and three transfers have infused plenty of talent onto the roster.

The group is led by big men Kiel Turpin, a 7-foot center who transferred from junior college last year before redshirting, and 7-1 forward Michael Ojo, who is raw but immensely talented.

The question now is, how quickly can Florida State turn all that potential into production?

"The thing we have to do as a staff is maintain a certain level of patience," Hamilton said. "You look and see the potential of how this team can develop, but when you put five on five, you realize that we still have a ways to go."

The development started early, however, and All-American Michael Snaer raves about the drive and determination of his new teammates. Hamilton said he has been impressed with how developed many already are, while junior Terrance Shannon called the newcomers a group of gym rats.

"They're like sponges," Shannon said. "They're always looking to learn."

When the members of last year's ACC title team got their championship rings during the FSU-Clemson football game last week, it marked something of a turning point in the program's history. It was, of course, a memento of the team's first conference championship, but more importantly, it served notice for what the expectations would be moving forward.

In the days that followed, the freshmen talked about little else. They got a chance to see the rings handed out, and now they wanted rings for themselves.

"That's the best thing about creating a culture, creating a tradition," Snaer said. "The next generation expects to do that and more. Hopefully that's where our program is going. I'm seeing great signs of that from our young guys."

The journey begins in earnest tonight, but Hamilton understands these first few weeks will simply be building blocks.

The goal of repeating as ACC champions won't be easy to achieve, and Hamilton has his sights set even higher. But the beauty of this season's team, he said, is that the work it will take to get there should be a pleasant chore.

"This is the type of challenge that as coaches, you look forward to," Hamilton said. "You have a group of returning players that are fairly mature and focused and hungry. They've passed that wisdom they've learned along to the new players."

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- The halftime speech at NC State was similar to many Jimbo Fisher has given. He pushed his team to come out strong, to drive a dagger through the hearts of the Wolfpack.

Of course, that didn't happen.

But Florida State's slow starts to the second half aren't entirely new. While the Seminoles have been decent enough in the second half, the opening drives of the third quarter have been problematic.

Florida State has received the second-half kickoff in each of its last four games, and it has punted on all four occasions.

“I don’t know what can be changed," EJ Manuel said. "Maybe we come out with some different types of plays, something to get our juices following, get us back moving and gets us back into a rhythm."

Manuel's call for more of an up-tempo approach is reasonable. Of the 16 plays FSU has run on its opening drives of the second half in the last four games, seven were runs. Those plays netted a total of 4 yards, with none going for more than 3.

But the passing game hasn't been significantly better. Manuel has completed just 4 of 9 throws for 40 yards -- the longest a 13-yard reception.

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TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- The postgame venom from fans has largely been directed at Jimbo Fisher after Florida State's 17-16 loss to NC State, and the ire has largely been spurred by his conservative play calling in the game's waning moments.

But while fans wanted to see Fisher take a few final shots down the field, putting the dagger through the hearts of NC State, the onus for the conservative approach may have fallen more on the blocking up front.

"We could say we could throw it, but then you've got the possibility -- we'd had a few sacks in blitz that we hadn't picked up," Fisher said. "You're up six points, so do you take a chance on [EJ Manuel getting hit]? It goes back to philosophical things at the time and the flow of the game."

Indeed, Fisher was right to be concerned about Manuel's ability to sit in the pocket and make a play.

While Florida State's offensive line has shown marked improvement from a year ago -- particularly in the running game -- consistency in pass protection has been an ongoing concern.

Here's a game-by-game review of Manuel's passing attempts under duress:

(Courtesy of ESPN Stats and Info.)

There have been ups and downs, but through the first five games, Manuel was largely able to steer clear of constant pressure. Against NC State, however, the problems were widespread. He faced pressure on nearly 40 percent of his passing attempts -- which includes three desperation throws at the end when NC State had no reason to rush -- was sacked a season-high four times, and in turn, Florida State rarely threw the deep ball.

"They put a lot of pressure on our offense and we didn’t make them pay," Manuel said. "It’s not the reason we lost but it’s one of them."

There were plenty of explanations for the problems with pass protection.

For one, starting right tackle Menelik Watson missed the game with flu symptoms, and Daniel Glauser got the start in his place. Glauser also started against Wake Forest, and those two games accounted for seven of the 10 sacks FSU has allowed this year. It's perhaps not surprising then that Bobby Hart has taken first-team reps at right tackle during practice this week.

While the rest of the offensive line had a handful of mistakes, too, some of the onus falls on the backs and tight ends who failed to pick up blocks, and some of the onus falls on Manuel for failing to read the blitz and react accordingly.

Fisher said there was only one blitz that Manuel clearly read incorrectly, but there were other throws he failed to complete in the face of pressure -- including a screen to Chris Thompson, a pass to Nick O'Leary and a deep ball to Kelvin Benjamin.

"They were blitzing a whole lot, swarming the quarterback," Rashad Greene said. "Opportunities were there with what we wanted. We just couldn't get it executed."

Here's Manuel's numbers against the blitz from Saturday's game, broken down by half:

(Courtesy of ESPN Stats and Info.)

Manuel said he felt he played a "pretty good" game, admitting he missed on a few potentially big plays.

But when a defense that allowed nearly 1,200 yards in two games against Tennessee and Miami pitches a shutout in the second half, there's certainly more to it than a few mistakes by the offense.

In fact, compare Manuel's numbers vs. the blitz from the first five games of the season to his production Saturday, and there's a clear difference.

(Courtesy of ESPN Stats and Info.)

That last item is particularly noteworthy. Manuel had faced the blitz on 29 pass attempts (23 percent) in the first five games of the season and was sacked just three times. He faced it a whopping 16 times (48 percent) on Saturday, and was sacked four times.

NC State had a game plan -- go after Manuel with force -- and it worked. Other teams are certainly going to follow suit.

Fans weren't pleased with Fisher's answers during Monday's news conference, but his explanation is no less accurate. The problems were both widespread and slightly out of character. Blame falls on the offensive line, on the running backs, on the quarterback and, yes, on the play calling. But at the same time, the line had shown improvement, the backs had blocked well, and Manuel had looked sharp in the face of pressure prior to Saturday's game.

Whether finding solutions to a number of small problems is easier than fixing one huge problem remains to be seen, but the Seminoles are at least giving lip service to the idea this week.

Whether things change moving forward, however, will be the real answer to all those tough questions.

"We've got to figure a way to get it done, and I'm sure that teams will watch NC State and see what they did to us, and it'll open up a can of worms," center Bryan Stork said. "We're going to see more looks like that. Boston College runs a lot of stuff like that, too. I guess we'll be that much more ready for it."

Another week, another one nobody saw coming. NC State’s win over Florida State was an epic upset and an instant classic. It was also another black mark on my record. I finished 5-2 last week for an overall record of 44-11 (80 percent). If I drop below 80 percent this year, I will be very disappointed. I would like to point out, however, that last week I predicted Clemson to win 48-35 and the actual score was 47-31. I should get bonus points for such a close range. Then you guys would be trying to take points away, though, when I’m far off. So we’ll just keep it at 80 percent. The margin of error decreases this week with fewer games. Here are your Week 7 picks:

Florida State 42, Boston College 17: The Eagles are going to be overmatched in this game, plain and simple. Florida State is going to take out its frustrations from last week’s loss to NC State, and it could get ugly in Tallahassee. FSU has the No. 7 scoring offense and the No. 7 scoring defense in the country. BC, meanwhile, hasn’t been able to stop anybody and allowed three 100-yard rushers in last week’s loss at Army. FSU running back Chris Thompson will set the tone in the first half.

North Carolina 35, Miami 31: The Tar Heels are getting it done on offense and defense, now the key is to do it on the road. UNC is 0-2 in road games this year, but it has scored 45 or more points in back-to-back games for the first time since 1993. UNC has the No. 9 scoring offense in the country, and it will be a handful for Miami’s struggling defense, which is last in the ACC in scoring defense at 35 points per game. The Canes won’t be able to stop running back Giovani Bernard and quarterback Bryn Renner.

Maryland 21, Virginia 17: The Hoos have had too much inconsistency from quarterbacks Phillip Sims and Michael Rocco, and Maryland’s defense has quietly become one of the best in the ACC. Virginia has won four of the past five in the series, but Maryland’s defense is holding opponents to just 2.3 yards per carry. The Terps rank seventh nationally in rushing and total defense.

Virginia Tech 28, Duke 21: Make no mistake: Duke can win this game. It would be surprising, though, if Virginia Tech didn’t play better at home. The Hokies are always tough to beat in Lane Stadium, no matter what the circumstances, and at this point, their pride is on the line, not to mention bowl eligibility. This one is going to come down to the fourth quarter, but in the end, quarterback Logan Thomas will come through in the clutch.

Heather Dinich says Jimbo Fisher's game plan in the fourth quarter against NC State was further proof he needs to hand over the play-calling duties to an offensive coordinator. It's not that Fisher isn't good, it's just that he has too much on his plate trying to be the program's CEO AND calling the plays.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- Their demise didn't come from the deep ball or a long run. Instead, the Seminoles were buried by a series of maddeningly short passes over the middle, small chunks of yardage that turned the game.

NC State ran crossing routes with its tight ends, running backs and slot receivers over and over again, and Florida State had no answer. In the second half, Mike Glennon completed 24 passes, but just one went for more than 15 yards. Add them all up though, and it was a recipe for beating the vaunted Florida State defense.

"Obviously we opened up a can of worms," Vince Williams said. "Now people think our linebackers can't cover."

Glennon threw for 218 yards in the second half, but rarely did he look downfield. He tested Florida State's linebacking corps, with 16 of his 30 completions going to running backs and tight ends.

The most effective play for the Wolfpack was the underneath crossing routes, which shifted linebackers out of position and left receivers open for short gains that, when combined with a missed tackle, turned into big problems for Florida State.

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