ChantRant

What's the problem with FSU's Offense? The 3rd quarter for starters

Quick, name two things that fell off this autumn. That's right, leaves from trees and the Noles offensive output. By late November, both were pretty much gone. But at least with leaves, we expected their demise and know the reason why.

So as a public service to Nole fans everywhere, our crack staff is working overtime to find some answers (they gave up on heavier questions, like where does deep space dark matter come from and if ACC referees are actually an alien life form).

The first problem area identified is not play calling or OL injuries. It's the black hole of points called the third quarter. The most FSU has scored this season in the fifteen minutes after halftime is 14 (see below) -- and that was against Charleston Southern, the weakest opponent in years. In a blowout of N.C. State they scored early and often -- until the 3rd quarter when the box score read zero.

Whether the Noles were ahead or behind at the half, they more or less sleep walked through the third. Five times the best they could muster was a field goal. Twice, including Saturday against the reptiles, they laid a big goose egg.

It's like a brown out, when your power inexplicably cuts off for a short but frustrating interval. No storms wreaking havoc, no warning. Just ZAP, you're in the dark.

In the case of FSU's 3rd quarter power outage, we question the coaches more than the players. Is the staff not making halftime adjustments and tweaking the offensive game plan? Does Jimbo suck at inspiring halftime speeches? Is it a conditioning problem?

The coaching staff must at least be aware of FSU's dead zone dilemma. Aren't they? With numbers like these, how could they not be.

Third Quarter Points Scored Against 2011 Opponents

Louisiana Monroe - 7
Charleston So. - 14
Oklahoma -  3
Clemson - 7
Wake Forest - 3
Duke - 7
Maryland - 7
N.C. State - 0
Boston College - 3
Miami - 3
Virginia - 3
Florida - 0

Gator kicks a Seminole instead of the football

In case you missed it Saturday night, here's a screen capture of a nasty incident. Look close and you'll see gator Nick Alajajian (no. 84) kicking an FSU player lying on the ground. That player is Anthony McCloud, who would jump up and have a word with Alajajian, but not retaliate. This example of gator sportsmanship came late in the second half, right after the reptiles faked a field goal attempt and ran for a first down. In the ensuing pile-up, Alajajian appears to precede his kick by twisting McCloud's head by grabbing his helmet or facemask. Stay classy, Nick. 

Ecstatically Random and Particularly Meaningless Thoughts

1. So that's what winning in that town in the north central part of the state looks like. Somewhere Chris Rix and PK Sam are smiling.

2. Let's see here ...... FSU lost to Wake Forest .... Wake Forest lost to Vanderbilt ..... Vandy lost to the gatros (their ...) aka crocs of XXVI ..... therefore the logical conclusion going into the game was that FSU should lose to the lizards right? So much for logic.

3. Headline from every FSU fan's favorite sports columnist, Mike Bianchi: "This year, there are no winners in Florida-Florida State rivalry .... Neither team has anything to celebrate." Hey, Mike .... there's this new fangled invention called a scoreboard. It keeps track of who won the game. As I recall at the end of the game it read FSU 21 Florida 7. I'm relatively certain that means FSU won the game. Now pardon me while I go celebrate.

4. Apparently the Florida State offense took copious notes in watching their compatriots on the FSU basketball team against Harvard. An A+ for comprehension guys!!!

5. A common statement I've seen or heard over the last week and even following the win on Saturday night was that the gatros (their ...) are not very good. And that's a bad thing?

6. Sign seen at the game: "Eat Mor Gator".

7. Great INT by Mike Harris. It's off to the blocking sleds for Nigel Bradham though.

8. Jimbo Fisher at the half after his offense racked up a whopping total of 39 yards: "We need to fix some things up front." Mission accomplished as FSU's offense rolled in the second half with ................ 56 yards!!!

9. You know ..... it's not every day you see a quarterback sneak go for an 11 yard loss. Memo to Trey Burton: when the coaches say they want to see a runner go north and south, I'm pretty sure they would much prefer the direction of north in this case.

10. On E.J. Manuel's touchdown called back by a (surprise) holding penalty, 58 yard TD runs to put your team up by three touchdowns are vastly overrated. That's what I told myself anyway.

Noles versus Irish in the Champs Bowl?

"All indications point to Notre Dame accepting an invitation to the Champs Sports Bowl regardless of the outcome of Saturday night's game against No. 4 Stanford. Although there will be no official announcement until after the final BCS rankings are released next Sunday, the Irish are expected to play in the Dec. 29 game in Florida Citrus Bowl Stadium in Orlando, Fla, likely against Florida State."
--The Chicago Sun Times

Mission Accomplished: New Streak established against Muschamp's miscreants

• Two straight against the lizards for the first time in over a decade.

• Four for four against two biggest rivals.

• State champs -- again!

• Obvious recruiting advantage to FSU.

• Dominating D with four interceptions, including one for a TD.

• Bragging rights for 365 days with your gator friends, family and co-workers.

• Only ACC team to uphold league pride by defeating its hated out of conference rival or SEC opponent on Saturday.

****            ****            ****            ****            ****

[Negatives? Well, it wasn't pretty.
But screw it, nothing can dampen a win
over the lizards.]

 

Seminoles come up short against UConn

by Bill from Tampa

Florida State wanted a shot at the fourth ranked Connecticut Huskies and they got it. And the Seminoles almost beat them. Had one or two late free throws gone down they just might have.

A game that was expected to be the championship game of the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament, but was instead the consolation game for third place, turned out to be a 78-76 heartbreaking loss in overtime.

Leading 71-68 with just 7.3 seconds left, victory for the 'Noles seemed to be a real possibility. That is, until Jeff Peterson was called for running into Ryan Boatright while the Huskie guard was attempting a three point shot. Boatright calmly sank all three and a last second jumper from the right baseline by Michael Snaer was off the mark.

“Before Boatwright’s free throws, I was banking on him missing that,” FSU's Bernard James said. “I was surprised he even got fouled. The refs don’t usually make a call like that with the game on the line. I figured he’d miss at least one.”

Even then FSU nearly pulled it off, but Andre Drummond pulled his hand down while almost blocking Snaer's shot and certainly would have been called for goaltending.

But in the end it was just too much Shabazz Napier (26 points), who hit the game winning shot. After James sank two free throws giving FSU the lead back at 76-75, Napier as he had done all game long, only needed a little daylight and a brief glimpse at the basket before releasing the three pointer from the right wing that found all net with 1:06 left to play.

Noles out to bag big game on hunting trip

Harvard? Seriously, HARVARDDDD!!?????

by Bill from Tampa

Florida State basketball fans are used to their team struggling on offense the past few season.But to use that word in describing the Seminoles offense in Friday's game against Harvard would be a severe understatement.

The 'Noles missed their first sixteen shots before finally scoring any points. Terrence Shannon's spin move in the lane for the layup at the 8:50 mark finally put FSU on the scoreboard. Amazingly however the Seminoles only trailed Harvard 7-2 after Shannon broke the scoring drought.

That's what a great defense will do for a team keeping them in the game until the offense can get on track.

But in the end FSU's defense never did and suffered their first defeat of the season 46-41.

Going deep on the gators with Pat Dooley of the Gainesville Sun

It's our annual chat with the foremost gator beat writer and columnist, Pat Dooley of the Gainesville Sun. As usual, Pat pulls no punches.

How fired up are the guys in orange and blue?

Dooley: I think they're as fired up as any Florida team is for FSU. They've played against these guys, and they don't want to go back to their home towns and hear about it. But I think the game has lost a lot of luster with nine combined losses. Look, nobody's playing for anything. FSU's going to the Champs Sports Bowl and Florida's going to the Gator Bowl. That's not exactly what we expect out of these games.

The gators looked out of sync last year against FSU. Is the team more united now with a new coach and system?

Dooley: One thing Will (Muschamp) had to deal with is, there are a lot of players on this team who came to play for Urban Meyer. So they've got some issues, certainly. And I don't see a lot of leadership on this team right now. They are a team that makes mistakes at key times. A team that struggles in the red zone. A team that isn't bad but isn't good. They've been through 11 weeks of tough, physical games. And their schedule's been brutal.

But (to win) they need to get off the field defensively and need to stay on the field offensively. The problem is, they're not very good on third down. A lot of that's because they're in third and long. And that's because if their running backs don't have a crease they're not going to move the chains.  

What do you think of the job Muschamp is doing?

Dooley: I've told people this a million times: Urban Meyer wasn't recruiting for Will Muschamp, he was recruiting for Urban Meyer. Will Muschamp would not have recruited a lot of guys on this team because he believes in a different kind of offense and defense...

Noles Clock the Minutemen

by Bill from Tampa

The TV play by play commentator summed up Florida State's basketball team pretty well when he compared it to the Mona Lisa. Beautiful defense. Ugly offense.

And if you like defense it was beautiful to watch as the Seminoles shut down the Massachusetts' defense in a 73-53 win in game one of the Battle4 Atlantis tournament.

In a game played at breakneck speed almost all game leaving both teams gassed at the end, FSU held UMass to 28% from the floor including just 2 of 23 from three point territory. Add in 14 steals and 9 blocked shots and it was just your typical Florida State defense that Seminole fans have come to expect over the last few years.

Key in the victory was shutting down the Minuteman's leading scorer Chaz Williams way under his 17.3 ppg average. Williams managed just 8 points on 3 of 14 shooting, thanks to a perimeter defense that rarely let the speedy guard drive the ball inside. And, of course, in those rare occasions when he did he was met by the tall timber in the frontcourt, namely Bernard James who had five blocks.

Leading the way in that defensive effort was Michael Snaer who was given the assignment of guarding Williams. The junior guard was just about Mr. Everything on the floor for FSU. Snaer managed a double double with a game high 18 points, scoring in a variety of ways, and 10 rebounds. He even delivered three of FSU's seven assists.

What made Snaer's performance even more impressive was that he had to log 32 minutes on the floor.