It was exciting, joyous and exuberant. It was frustrating, painful and nauseating. It was equal parts orgasm and root canal. In short, it was both Pretty and Ugly. But in the end it was supremely satisfying. Because in the cliffhanger, take no prisoners series that is FSU - Miami, a measley two-point margin is as good as 200.
Breaking it down, the Pretty parts of Saturday included:
Christian Ponder in his breakout game. His first D-1 game in which he was confident, on-target and a devastating runner, shocking the Canes with his clutch bursts -- 144 yards worth.
Antone Smith. Or should we call him Atone for the way he atoned for tentative running in the past by blasting 20 yards through the Canes to score the winning TD. It's enough to forgive coughing up the ball in the 3rd quarter that led to UM's first TD.
Taiwan, Bert, Parker, Carr, Caz and the rest for some sweet catches, bountiful YACs, and solid blocking. One exception: see below.
Jimbo for probably his best-called game since joining the Noles (as long as he shares it with Coley, his eyes in the pressbox).
The second-youngest OL in D-1 for holding their own against Miami's beefy defensive line.
Mickey and the D, which played better than the score would indicate, holding the Canes to 256 total yards. Special citations to M.A. for a creative blitz package that didn't give Marve time to think.
We'll take it easy on the Ugly parts, but must give the stinkeye to:
The usual suspects. FSU's penalty perpetrators who made sure it was raining penalty flags, too (12 for 98 negative yards).
Special teams. They weren't very special on Saturday, giving the Canes 203 return yards and serving up bad snaps that could have let this one slip away.
The butterfingered freshman tight end who fought off a perfectly thrown ball with no defenders around. Okay, J.L., you got that out of your system. Next time, make your Mama proud.
Comments