No. 10 FSU Football vs. Georgia Tech Instant Reaction

32 one not a happy Wednesday not a happy Saturday not a happy day overall not a happy week zero not a happy anything for any Florida State fans or anybody probably on this show as well because we just start off the season one1 as well after going 141 our predictions last season Florida State Falls number 10 ranked in the Country Florida State Falls to Georgia Tech in Dublin Ireland 24 to 21 ugly game overall both sides of the ball in so many areas I know I know we'll probably talk some good later on but some good parts of the game in Florida State not many to really find it's not easy but uh a lot of ugliness gentlemen in this one and a lot of uh I would say positions that we talk very highly of were absolutely atrocious atrocious in the way that they played against Georgia Tech which came fired up ready to play played disciplined they brought it to Florida State this evening over there in Dublin and uh they get away with the win y'all's uh first thoughts um first thoughts uh not a lot of not a lot of stuff to take away that was positive like you said uh time management was pretty gross on the offensive side of things you know even if you just look at the end of the first half where they're you know two-minute drill and they're really taking their time to to get up to the line and snap the football kind of got away with it with that long Ryan F sheld bomb but then it kind of came back to bite them in the fourth quarter as well when they take up a seven-minute drive when Georgia teeken been e clock all game you needed to just preserve as much clock as you could there there's a lot they need to get fixed going into the Boston College game in a little over a week yeah I'm working on the recap over here but very disappointing performance from Florida State I mean that defense that we talked up all offseason just got Flatout ran through by uh by Georgia Tech whether it was the running backs or the quarterbacks and they obviously had some really timely plays on Third and Longs you know that was an area where Forida State struggled I mean really from beginning to end j detected whatever they wanted uh as far as far as offensively and then you go over to the FSU side and you know you're able to see some of the diversity out of that running back room five different running backs see in action today but with the way the passing offense was constructed you know just especially in that first half a lot of passes that were within that five yard range you didn't really get to see DJ take any deep shots and then when you did in the second half um obviously for the most part you missed on them had two really good fourth down conversions on that 15-play touchdown drive but you know pissed it all the way in the end yeah there are two ways it's going to come back to bite Florida State one was the Miss deep shot to jakad Douglas where he had to come back to the football and almost made a great play but the ball was short and DJ needs to put that ball on the money otherwise Jak's Walking In The End Zone and the other one's not falling on the fumble they're in the third quarter I think it was if you fall that if you fall on that fumble you know you get the ball back instead Georgia Tech converts a third and 12 the next play comes down to that yeah yeah have flashbacks FSU fans do with that Boise State game man just get on the ball ball on the ball please that is something that has just been an absolute nightmare for Florida State football they can not get a hold of the ball when it's out there and you see three and it's usually three or four Personnel too around the ball and just can't fall on it can't fall on it feels like they're playing just too cute in that situation I mean it's an ugly play get on the ground and muck it up and you know you go back and look at that replay it looked like uh someone it obviously you know bounced away from C I mean that would have been hard for him to kind of coral there but then you had like Logan said multiple Defenders around it two three guys that seemed to have a shot at it seemed like one of the linebackers was trying to scoop rather than maybe try to dive on the ball and yeah that that was a killer for Florida State because obviously you force them into that third long and then Georgia Tech comes right back hits that completion over the middle Marvin Jon Jr actually had really good pressure on that play but I mean a better throw from H King yeah uh where do we kind of just want to start off here I mean I think we start off with uh the offense you know you see that drive there you're like oh my goodness all right they're clicking this looks good the Run game is rolling I mean the offensive line showed such great force physicality I was showing them Tons of love early on in this game and go down there you score LA Lawrence TOA Philly one of your top Playmakers on the team and then after that steam things start to dull out a little bit and I know Alex Atkins wasn't on the sideline when we'll have in the next two games as well but you did some shuffling too on the offensive line you moov some guys around you had Robert Scott at right tackle which he got absolutely blown up and and had a big sack there on DJ from Georgia Tech you know it just seemed seemed like things just started to fall apart there at the front you just saw it again where you saw signs of last year this is one of my worst you that had big question marks we could not see the same offensive line that we saw last year and we saw that same offensive line if not maybe even worse as we got further into this game which makes me very very worried and then you kind of had to work magic with DJ on fourth down to do things it just that not getting the running game going in this offense is going to really hurt Florida State as this season continues and it it was just a little puzzling to me because like you said Florida State comes out on that first possession and I mean everything is clicking you know seols go right down the field the short passing attack at that point it surprised Georgia Tech a little bit and the running game you know all the running backs getting involved there Lawrence TOA Philly ending it off with a touchdown then you then you get the little surprise two-point conversion there from Brian Courtney which I mean goes on to ultimately not really matter in in the final outcome of this game but you know after that first drive felt like things were clicking a little bit and then Florida State I mean they start to do some of that shuffling with the offensive line you know you you have Robert Scott who we mentioned going there at right tackle uh he's blown up on that one play instantly gives up a sack on DJ luckily it was a face mask penalty on romelo height but I I just didn't really understand the the substitutions um at that point and Florida I mean they they do have multiple guys along that offensive line that you know they want to get involved in this attack but but at that point where you had just established a really good drive I mean why why make those changes so early in the first half yeah that first Drive Florida state had 58 rushing yards for the rest of the game they'd have just 40 it's just it's it's inexcusable especially with how good this running back room is and I think a lot of it started when Robert Scott entered that right tackle because he got blown up a few times I don't know if the injuries just sapped his athleticism he just he didn't look game ready I don't know what it was but that's a theme with him I mean yeah yeah it's just that's question why are we seeing him out there you know yeah I mean that that was one thing the the rotation in the linebacker room is something we're used to seeing but it clearly didn't work because Omar Graham wasn't very good in this game uh he didn't even register a single tackle in this game which isn't surprising if if you watch it's surprised start to interrupt you but it surprises me because he was around the ball so often I mean there were so many chances to make plays and he took some really poor angles today yeah and then only three tackles for loss as a team when this team dominated the line of scrimmage last year racking up tackles for loss no sacks on the game which granted jorgia Tech was getting the ball up pretty quickly H Kane wasn't sitting back there very long but um Lots got to get cleaned up yeah and it all started too on the defensive side with not tackling the tackling was really really bad and that's something Adam Fuller talked to us about after I think it was the second or no it's the first scrimmage where he said you know and I thought it was just coach speak trying to get his defense you know getting into this NE next week of practices working on you know getting better at tackling but seems like that was a total theme throughout you know and you know DLo you're at the practices I know you're working right now but you know they're not you're not going into full tackle you know it's not like uh these guys are going have to start doing some tackling and some practices man I mean it's just point blank at this after what we saw today and I know it was raining blah blah I don't give a damn you're in college football you got to make these tackles and it hurt Florida State in so many areas man you'd have a guy up on him you'd have a guy in the back field and you got a body on them and you can't take them down there for potential tackle for loss and he ends up getting eight yards on you and that was uh hurting Florida State very early on in the defensive side I was disappointed there in the trenches with Daryl Jackson and Joshua farmer I mean no no recorded sack right gentlemen on the stat sheet the seminal that no sacks and only half of a tackle for LS for the entire defensive line and it was Daniel lions and that was in the first half yeah I want to say it was like the second or third series like it wasn't even like it came later in the game the only other tackles for loss came from shy Brown who had a solid game 13 tackles DJ Lundy had one and then Blake Nicholson comined with uh lions for that other half tackle for loss but they got to get more pressure from that front four especially if if they're going to be as good as we think they are and you know they'd ran that college game day segment before the game where they're saying all four of these guys could go on the top 100 next year's draft not with this film yeah and the tackling thing I mean it kind of goes back to player safety because you know obviously trying to make the game safer for players and that's kind of led to I would say less full tackling in these preseason camps not just for four to St but for college football teams across the country and I mean that's kind of the the the flavor in the NFL um as well so I mean you can come into these early season games and have some tackling issues but for for to say that was that was atrocious I I haven't seen I haven't seen one like that in a while I mean just we'll have to go back and and count up the number but it felt like a ton of Miss tackles and even at the point of attack where Forida State wasn't able to technically attempt a tackle because the Jordan Tech skill player made such a move that he put two guys on the ground at one time I mean it was uh it was a pretty ugly display and I would have to imagine imine I mean that's something fora state is going to have to drill repeatedly now going into this next week and you got to think you got Boston College coming to town another quarterback Who uh can run with the very best of them two very good running backs and they just saw what Georgia Tech put on film against Florida State you're probably GNA get a similar game plan from Boston College what are y's thoughts on DJ's play overall this evening our first really good look at him outside of practices for you D but what were yall's thoughts on him because yes there was some big time plays made from the veteran guide there in the fourth quarter getting those two fourth down conversions with his arm but seemed like kind of you know I don't know if Mike Nell was handcuffing him at times and you know not wanting to take those shots you'd go run run run and then you'd punt run run run you know I feel like sometimes it was limited until it just became where you had to you you had to actually take those shots but overall thoughts on uh DJ performance this evening yeah I would say honestly I felt like he seemed like he was a little indecisive at certain points and that might have led to some of those checkdowns that we saw um you know early in the game and then as things progress you know opening up those deep shots in the second half he just couldn't couldn't get there you know under through the one to jakai Douglas you had the one that missed to Malik Benson I believe there was another one that ended up being missed as well but Force they just couldn't connect um on some of those big plays like we had seen throughout the preseason which I mean was certainly disappointing in itself but then you did see dju settle down on that 15pl drive making a couple of terrific plays on those fourth Downs to keep Florida State's chances alive in this football game but I I would say the overall product you know it leaves a lot to be desired um coming out of this season opener for fora State and you know we've talked about this passing attack at length on the show uh since the spring and into the preseason and you know we felt like things were starting to ascend a little bit um the last couple of weeks but that certainly uh wasn't the case out there on Saturday yeah like if you look at his raw numbers like if someone's just watching the box score and you see 19 for 27 193 yards like okay he had a fine game but especially for the first half it felt like they just didn't want to let him loose and you kind of saw that in the third quarter when they did start to let him throw down field and it looked like I was watching Vikings Josh Freeman and if you get that reference we can be best friends and suffer together uh but it's not good he was overthrowing badly like I think it was one Benson on the outside he just he missed him by 10 feet over his head just he's too experience of a quarterback to be making a throw that bad but I don't know they can definitely make things easier for him but at the same time he's got to process things a little quicker yeah he just looked a little flustered at certain points and I mean there was a play I can't remember if it was in the third quarter or maybe early on in the fourth quarter but shortly after that deep shot to to jakai Douglas he took a throw to the sideline to I believe Darion and I mean the throw was yeah really high out of bounds I guess I was I'm thinking it was probably a throw away but when they put the replay back on that one you had Jaylen Brown open over the middle there and if DJ brings his eyes back you know maybe you're able to hit him for a completion and a fourth down so it it just seemed like he was going through his progressions a little quickly I mean and Georgia Tech to their credit they were bringing a lot of pressure had gotten to DJ couple of times you know had hit him a little bit but you want to see more uh from a veteran quarterback that has done so much at the college level I was just about reading up the pressure Tyler Cuchi Georgia Tex new defensive coordinator did a great job disguising pressures you know he brought the safeties down a lot to to Blitz DJ and they didn't FSU didn't do a great job of of recognizing those blitzes they didn't do a great job of aligning and there was more than a handful of times when DJ had a free rusher in his face and he had to make a play like that early fourth down call in the first or second quarter and you know Mari Harvey comes up and makes a great tackle on fourth down but you know DJ made the right read but he had a free rusher on his face and that kind of was a theme on third and fourth Downs where he just had someone his face and had to make a decision at the same time he needs to be better and you're seeing too I think fans saw it it's not Jordan Travis anymore it's DJ back there you got a different build of a quarterback and yeah you got to get the the these these shots that you had open you got to make those for veteran QB like you were saying there D um but we're seeing what this offense could potentially look like moving forward there's definitely going to have to be some adjustments I I'm still going back to the very beginning of the show and talking about the offensive line and the shuffling round I I I I know Atkins told us that in the preseason that that was going to be happening so it wasn't a shocker to see that this evening but I am I don't like that man I I don't I don't get it sometimes and I don't think it really worked well consistently last season and I understood you had health stuff but you came in healthy into this game and you had a really good dve offensively with those guys in the trenches on that drive to go score why are we switching things up and moving guys in different places and all of that I don't I don't know how you build consistency with the front on a front there uh at the power five level that's just something that I am not a huge fan of gentlemen I don't I don't know I've never I don't understand it and I mean I understand that they have a game plan and you know they're looking at this too deep you know like we talked about uh on Wednesday when we were previewing the show nine of the 12 guys listed across those five offensive line positions ret shirt Juniors or seniors guys that Forida State feels like they could be able to rely on throughout a long season but when we're talking about coming out of the gate week zero uh a a new offense and I mean a lot of new guys on defense as well but I know we're focusing on the offense at the moment I mean you've got to think you want to establish that consistency early on I mean get your unit into a rhythm and yeah I mean I agree with you Logan just seeing the constant in and out it's it's a little surprising to me because a lot of a lot of football teams obviously play all five starters the whole game if they can in Florida State they've adjusted that strategy a little bit here these last two years and I mean it it certainly it certainly didn't work out today it's worked in the past at times but today it it just didn't feel like those adjustments were needed at the points that they were made and it kind of kind of took things uh off page and honestly part of the reason why the Run game didn't work after the first series is because Geor te just started putting seven eight guys in the box and said throw it on us and Florida State didn't throw it on him I I I don't know if Mike's just not trusting DJ or if there's something with the plane surface I don't know but especially when you look on the flip side Florida State can stop the run and they're only putting five or six guys in the Box whereas Geor T like oh they want to run the ball we'll just put eight guys in the box and it was working for him it was sloppy and that was what I was worried about coming to this game sorry to cut you off but you know we've talked about this four to State rushing attack feel like it could be a real strength for this offense but I think I brought it up on Wednesday like what's going to happen when defenses start putting seven eight in the box and fource for to state to throw and beat them that way and I mean the seminal they they just couldn't take advantage of those opportunities and you know the Deep shots were limited but the ones that they took were potentially open if those passes uh end up being accurate yeah Malik Benson was open on more than a few occasions he had he had the corner beat up the sideline and DJ threw it out of bounds and you know Benson showed up jakai for the most part played pretty well but you got to take your chances and trust your guys yeah with the speed we were talking about so highly of take advantage of those opportunities and yeah it was a missed one there whenever DJ missed out amalik Benson he he scores right there um and then also to the jakai Douglas that pass right there you were tweeting at du where that ball was underneath Too Short you know jakai Douglas with his Gadget he could probably score with that and shake off that last Defender so a lot of missed opportunities offensively there on the error uh uh going over to the defensive side I brought this up on the show throughout this whole offseason and you know I'm looking for leadership on that defense guys that are gon to come up to you we're GNA hold each other accountable have some you know talks we got to tackle better we got to communicate you know defense is huge for communication I felt like that lacked quite a bit in this game that was something I was a little worried about and it showed with a lot of bad tackling but like some guys were in some bad spots in linebacker room we sometimes didn't even know that they were on the field with the way that they was playing on the defensive side of the ball but I I think you're lacking some leadership there and that's something that I was worried about you have Shaheen Brown who I think is probably your most you know vocal guy and he can show he can make plays for you as well but just off of I I want guys in the trenches those are the guys that I think are your bigger leion you lost that with Jared ver you lost that with brayen FIS get some other guys veteran guys that are no longer on the team too that were in the trenches as well but I I think that's something that kind of hurt them a little bit in this game and can continue to do that until someone is willing to step up and be a leader on this defense and uh I need to see that moving forward for this defense to find success yeah I don't know if leadership is necessarily lacking but it's definitely got to be an aspect that some of these veteran Defenders who have been around Florida State for the years you know shaheim Brown Josh farmer Pat pyton DJ Lundy AZ and fin trell can step into that conversation I mean there's some other guys as well but they've got to embrace that aspect more and you know obviously we weren't able to see the sidelines uh watching the game from home not sure how the communication was there but at least on the field you know after these some big plays from Georgia Tech and even on some of the short runs where Georgia Tech was trying to get back to the line of scrimmage uh quickly you just weren't seeing a whole ton of communication from this for to State Defense not a lot of fire not a lot of passion um out there in my opinion and I mean that front four they they got straight up dominated and then like you guys said the linebackers um missing missing an action for the most part on Saturday Mia Omar Graham Jr I mean he was there but he couldn't couldn't make those plays for the most part and I mean even at a certain point we know Florida State runs this 4-25 defense uh when Jordan Tech was pounding that ball in the second quarter it got to a point where for state had three linebackers on the field and they still had no answer for the yellow jackets and to me that just comes down to toughness discipline physicality and you know Florida State they look like the softer the softer team in Ireland to me I I don't know if Omar Graham was actually there if there was just someone wearing an Omar Graham Jersey uh because you can't see him on the stat sheet as I was just saying earlier but like there is times when they're getting outran by H Kee and I'm like if you're if you're a linebacker getting out ran by Hanes King what are we doing and it happened on more than one occasion where he was getting around the edge and they couldn't complete the tackle I think the biggest issue was Fuller tried to call the defense like it was last year's defense when he had kayin deoa linebacker who just ran a 4440 in last year's NFL combine and he's trying to do that with DJ Lundy who's athletic but he's not that fast and we saw that in that fourth quarter when he tried to get out to the flat on Jamal Haynes and instead Haynes gets the first down it's just not the same defense you got to call it a little bit differently and um Lineback room has to be a lot better and I thought and you miss tat bth a lot badly but in general I mean Jord Tech was getting what they wanted up the middle but I thought they were really taking advantage of Florida State on that perimeter and off tackle you know some of those quick uh quick little screens right there at the line of scrimmage and then getting the running back working there off tackle in space and I mean they were exploding up that sideline on a couple of plays so this defense you know it starts up front with the defensive line and linebackers but these these defensive backs they've got to get involved in run support as well and you know I thought we'd see more from AZ and fin trell in this game and you know it it just didn't all it didn't transpire uh for Florida State tonight I mean shaheim did everything he could with 13 tackles nine solo the corners I mean I don't really expect Corners to make plays in The Run game obviously it'd be nice but you know they're out there to defend the pass and Hayes Kane just didn't throw the football I mean he threw maybe what 15 passes think 16 16 passes like and that's what I said on Wednesday we were preview in the shows if Florida State doesn't stop the run all Georgia Tech wants to do is is run the football yeah uh can we go to a good thing Ryan Fitz Dr is fsu's best player on the team can we all agree there we'll start off week zero was saying that's their best player on the team but no for real all credit to that was I mean both kicks but of course that 59 yard was nasty nasty into the Conor McGregor walk afterward while you're in Dublin awesome just had to get some at least some optimistic feelings you got a damn good kicker going into week one it's crazy thinking back on that second series of the or no third series for Florida State when they elect to go for it on fourth down instead of kicking what would have been I don't know maybe like a 48 49 yarder what could have been if they kicked that and instead he hits a 52 Y and a 59 y to end the first half which I'll be completely honest I had no faith in that kick going in until he actually kicked it and it was perfect I mean best kick of his career but it's crazy to look back on if norval actually kicks that instead of going for it on Fourth and short yeah it was unbelievable um by Ryan Fitzgerald you know coming to this game only had made one field goal in his career over 50 yards and then he ends up uh hitting that 52 Yer and I mean the 50 n Yer second longest in FSU program history only behind Gary cesma back in 2007 with a 60 yard against Florida it kind of sucks that it's going to get lost up in the shuffle here as the season goes on but that was a hell of a performance from Ryan Fitzgerald and you think back to what this dude has been through since he went to fora sa I mean he would have been a perfect player for Mike norell to point out if FSU would have won this game but I mean there was a point in 2022 where I think you know some of us on this show a lot of people in the FSU fan base had given up on Ryan when he was struggling he ended up making that gamewinner in the cheese a bowl to cap off the season FSU brought in Tyler Kelner to keep compete with him for that starting job and he ended up rising to the rising to the occasion having a really good year in 2023 and I mean starts off his final season in Tallahassee with a pair of amazing kicks I I want to go offense again here gentlemen and talk about Jaylen Lucas I felt like at the beginning of this game Florida state was Finding ways to utilize him and I think that was something that we hadn't seen in a while Florida state has not been able to find a way to use those gadgety quick Speedy guys to go back like where you had Corey Ren kind of just couldn't figure things out there but Jaylen Lucas you could tell he was a threat to Georgia Tech's defense but that also matched in with geord fsu's good blocking there but it definitely seems like we're going to see a lot of Jaylen Lucas moving forward in this offense we also saw Jaylen Brown to LSU wide receiver transfer he small dude and it doesn't take much to tackle him I I I I want to see deep shot deep shot deep shot deep shot I don't want intermediate stuff I mean I'm sorry use his speed man utilize the speed that you have this is the speed this is what Mike you said you have the speed utilize that speed I don't want quick outs I don't want just you know comebacks I want the goes with Jaylen Brown you can use other things that you want like with Darion if you're going to throw KRON in there um yada yada yada for Jaylen Brown I think speed and go and uh I don't know just some interesting ways they're utilizing some of the talent but you know I think we're going to see a lot of Jaylen Lucas and I saw some signs there that he can you know be a threat to some defenses this upcoming season if they can get some blocking for him up front well it would have been nice if they actually utilized him after the first quarter he had two rushing attempts and one catch both came in the all all three of those came in the first quarter it would have been nice to utilize that at some other point it clearly works where' he go yeah just weren't able to sustain drives I mean that first drive you I can't remember exactly how many plays I think I think seven plays and Florida State able to get all five of those running backs in there and get them touches and then after that it was a it was a slow crawl for much of the remainder of that first half obviously Florida State you know gets those two field goals didn't score in the fourth quarter and then only has that one scoring Drive in the fourth quarter that took 15 plays and at that point you know it felt like epsu leaning on that passing attack to try and get back in it with Georgia Tech so yeah I mean would would have loved to see him get more touches but you know when we do talk about for State taking a deep shot at Jaylen Lucas and utilizing that speed they they tried with jakai Douglas they tried with Malik Benson and it didn't get there so it all now starts to predicate on what Florida state has to improve here after what we saw all starts in the trend is just number you know to me just all begins there both offensive line and defensive line you know I we got to see better out of farmer got to see better out of Daryl because that's all you got there at defensive tackle I know you've got some younger guys and they've shown some signs and you like what you've seen from Daniel lions' fall Camp KJ Sams I don't know if we even saw him out there didn't like look like his jersey got dirty when he was on the sideline so you know you know those two got to step up it's kind of plain and simple there and those are your some of your biggest if not your biggest threats on this team and defense everywhere you know you're those are your top talent talent guys and that's who we talked heavily on going into this game and that's got to see an improvement going into Boston College all of them I mean not just Josh farmer and Daryl Jackson but Patrick pton Marvin Jones Jr C Loa you know we talked about Daniel Lions he was probably the best player along alongside that interior today that stood out the most yeah have to watch it back to to see for sure but I mean he was the one that was getting the most pressure I know farmer had a a quarterback hurry um in that fourth quarter I believe that ended up forcing the punt where fora State got it back and then tied the game up with that touchdown drive but man I mean you know look like Tarzan play like Jane that's that's what we saw today I mean they they got absolutely manhandled out there and you know we can talk about all we W how Florida State's got some freaky players in the defensive line room but until they put that physicality on display and I mean play how like they how they can really play you know that that's what you're going to get out there especially going into next week when you're playing against Boston College with Thomas castalanos the line of linebacker room has to be ready because it's gonna be a lot of the same stuff a lot of misdirection a lot of side to side movement and if you can't stop the run then it's not going to matter what matters in the secondary you got to stop the run first and this this was not a good showing whatsoever on paper or on film they've got to be much much better shedding blocks and hopefully they get that figured out hopefully hopefully it'd be a good idea it' probably be a good idea now looking at the linebacker room too got to find some answers there yes Lundy was in there but you know still some signs where you're just not on the field you don't see that unit you got to see that group get better depends on who you're putting out there CA was out there Lundy so Blake Nicholson he was used on some blitzes here and there um you know you're telling us D Justin Cryer had a good fall Camp you know they got to figure out who who who they're going to put out there and I know it's going to change maybe week to week and how you're going against uh Personnel wise against the offenses but you know they they got to find a good fluidity with that linebacker room because it's really really hard to replace vets like you had like we were saying earlier with kin Delo and tat methun and definitely like was saying going against Boston College they have a lot of really good damn skilled players that are not going to be easy to tackle and it's one of them Tran Ward who literally was a breakout star for Florida State in that running back room a couple years ago so you know I look at that linebacker room for another big game ahead and it's not going to be fun it's not GNA be fun but someone's gonna have to step up in that room two people three people are going to have to yeah and I mean now you get a taste of of that reality without Tatum bethon and kayin Deo and you know they were super solid for Florida State in 2022 and 2023 soaking up the the majority of the important reps I know DJ Lundy was in there as well but I mean the way Del and bethon were playing at times next to each other they were a very good tandem at linebacker they were two veterans I mean they understood the system like the back of their hand and you know you're seeing some of that youth uh that inexperience pop up for Florida State in that Lineback room I was a little bit surprised that we didn't see more Justin CER out there I I thought personally in my opinion you know he performed a little bit better throughout the preseason and you know he had taken some good strides in the right direction maybe that'll be something we see more uh moving forward but for to say they're gonna have to figure it out you know I thought this linebacker room was improving um throughout the preseason but as far as the game action today it was really disappointing I know DJ Lundy and Cam Riley both ended up with seven tackles a piece but there were a lot of plays that would like to have back yeah I want to see more Blake Nicholson going forward he had a really nice tackle for loss with lions early in the game and I felt like we never saw him much after that like you said I'd like to see Justin cryer in there I feel like he's a pretty good run stopper from what we saw in limited action last year and based on what you've said in the preseason I I don't want to see nine out there for a little while I know I've know I've said his name a few times but he's just the one play I think it was in the fourth quarter where the Jordan Tex running back gets caught up behind the line and Omar Graham turns around trying to to find him and then the running back goes to the left up the Middle Field I was like what are we doing here this is ridiculous also there's a hes King scramble in that fourth quarter where Omar had the angle and then gave it up and let King kind of Bounce out there for a couple of extra yard so I mean it's just that's what it really comes down to in these tight situations like that I mean a small angle a little window and if you don't hit it it it ends up turning into a big play we saw that a couple well more than a couple times today yeah jakai Douglas here looking on the offensive side led the team and receiving with 55 yards Malik Benson at 39 Rodell Williams 31 Lawrence to Philly with 25 um yeah like you were saying earlier you tweeted it D you had five running backs in this game we saw former five-star Cam Davis in there he had a freshman moment there dropping a P with Mike norell you're going to be put back into the game and going to be asked to respond but uh yeah royell 38 yards rushing La toally 32 Jaylen Lucas had that 30 had 13 yards we saw kaziah Holmes as well um yeah and DJ you could tell I mean he definitely added that size when he got to Tallahassee you know he's not a running threat and he's definitely not going to be that kind of answered everything I mean not obviously not gonna be a Jordan Travis at all at all not anywhere close to that but even just the smallest of it look like a little Big Ben out there uh you know and I understand you got to stay safe and whatnot but uh that that those are your offensive leaders against Georgia Tech here gentlemen yeah those scrambles uh were rough man and you're not going to have that running threat from the quarterback position this year I think it's pretty obvious you know for to say they tried to call that quarterback keeper play on I believe was a third and three where they kind of have DJ go up the right to try and get that first down and he got stonewalled immediately you know they did have a conversion on a third and one on kind of a just just a little sneak play up the middle there that's probably you know where he's going to be the most useful but when you're in those third and short situations like third or third and three or longer I don't know that running him is is really a viable option yeah that QB power was weird because we saw it at times last year with Jordan Travis but Travis is such a Shifty Runner and knows running Lanes DJ's just more of a Seafield go getfield kind of a runner and he's not going to make people Miss he's going to try and run through them and you know credit to Georgia Tech they blew that play up about as well as you could but it's just more credit to to that defensive coaching staff on Tech side that they just were consistently calling pressure and Florida State didn't have a great answer to it yeah but I mean even even with Georg techs revamp coaching staff I mean new defensive coordinator they've got some new players on that defense but this I mean this was a unit that was Dreadful in 2023 one of the worst in the country allowed over 200 rushing yards per game and you look over at for State they've got 291 total yards of offense against a defense that I believe was ranked like number 118 in total yards last year so just a Flatout disappointment from those Forida State offense you know some promising moments with that first drive the 15-play drive in the fourth quarter but everything in between you know if Ryan feral doesn't bail you out on a couple of long field goals I mean this ends up being a sizable victory for Georgia Tech looking at the defense like you y'all were saying earlier shy Brown led the team with 13 tackles he was all over the field DJ Lundy at seven also Cam Riley with the same number of seven tackles AZ with five and Devonte brown with four Kevin nolles made a play saw that in the game as well but you know when you get to the trenches here it's very brim I mean you got to get down to Daryl Jackson two tackles Daniel Lions two tackles marmer Jones Jr two tackles farmer one tackle there's your answer ladies and gentlemen and what stands out to me Shaheen Brown 13 tackles and that should tell you just how many plays we're getting into that second level of that for to State def defense and then and then it was on to the safeties and the defensive backs to bring these guys down I mean Georgia Tech and we've said it again and again they made it just look freaking easy they made it look too easy the the crazy thing is each team only had seven drives the entire game that's a ridiculously slow pace and Georgia Tech was just milking the clock they had a drive of basically eight minutes in the first half two more of more than six minutes they were just they were just smoking the clock and Florida State couldn't stop them and you know Georgia Tes credit why would you stop if why would you stop running the ball Flor State can't stop you but they were this was a really fast-paced game that was just mudded up by Great Run game by Georgia Tech yeah they did a masterful job controlling that clock and I think that you guys have already talked about it a little bit but for to St on the flip side I mean does just a frankly terrible job and Austin you brought up that uh last Drive of the second quarter for for to State the two minutes well it wasn't even a two-minute situation I mean that drive started with over three minutes on the clock and you look up and it's taken four to state two minutes and 18 seconds to run six plays and go I mean 25 or 35 yards and at that point I mean clock's beaten down on you Georgia Tech knows it's a passing situation uh it was you know that that was rough to watch and then also in the fourth quarter you know after the four to State touchdown georia tech gets the ball back obviously uh you know starting to get into scoring position and clock's running down you're getting into that final two and a half minutes or so and fora State I mean chooses not to call any timeouts until about 110 remaining of the game give or take and I mean by that point georia Tech already in field goal range W yeah Ju Just just real quick that last Drive of the first half nine plays 34 yards three minutes and 13 seconds God that is gross quarter that is gross three minutes and 13 seconds to go 30 yards I want a yak and then it didn't get any better with the with the first possession of the uh second half six plays 22 yards two minutes next possession six plays 11 yards three minutes and 25 seconds just gross show some urgency show some self-respect this Florida State yeah uh yeah I have some I don't know uh but yeah it was ugly ugly ugly ugly ugly on offense ugly on defense shout out to Ryan Fitz Dr Florida State's best player on the team um but there's got to be Improvement I want to see more leader at least for me I want to see more leadership on the defensive side of the ball and by that I got to see the trenches play a lot better that's the way this team is going to get wins on Saturdays and you know it it you go you takeing loss here to start off the season you know it just shakes up everything you know we we predicted Florida State to get back to that ACC Championship and everything and we're not gonna I don't want to do any kind of crazy overreacts but for the first time in a while though we didn't see this team adjust you know the last couple years we've seen Florida State adjust to things and you're like all right Mell we're going to the second half this team can you know we're g to get things clicking here make some adjustments Sub in some guys that are are going to play to the factor that they can keep in this game they can stay in this game and it just kept on feeling like there were we weren't seeing shines of improvement until you saw you know DJ have to go on these fourth downs and make these make these throws that were and you're in Desperate mode at that point you know that that's something that I'm going to keep an eye on moving on into week one for me is just making those simple adjustments and we've seen this team do this in years past it just didn't seem like they were to be clicking over there in Dublin it's been a long time I think since we saw Florida State not only get outplayed on the field but out coach as well I mean in my opinion Florida State lost this game in all facets of the game there's not really a positive a ton of positive takeaways coming out of this one and you know it's it's concerning to see this defense just get blown through you know we talked about in the preseason we thought for state had a strong rushing attack and we joked at the time or do they have a poor rushing defense well now it's not so laughable um yeah you know we'll see how this team responds from here obviously a bunch of new guys in that locker room and this is their first taste of adversity and it's coming so early in the season and you know we'll see what fla state does from here will they stay together will they crumble and fall apart there's there's really no telling you know because these guys haven't been tested together um as a team and you know that response is going to start whenever they get back from Ireland well it starts now yeah we all knew there'd be some hiccups and some adjustments going from Jordan Travis to to J I don't think anybody expected to be this rough of a transition though where at times he just didn't look like he had command over the offense it took a while for things to get set and you know like part of it is him being a new system but he's been in college for five years now this is something he should this is something should be second nature to him and it just didn't look like that whatsoever and that's something that has to get fixed immediately and I don't want to overreact I don't want to overreact get the ready if this passing attack continues a struggle like this where fora state they're not able to stretch the field vertically and they're relying on these you know five yard passes and every now and then hitting something on the sideline or over the middle I mean do we get to a point where we discuss a quarterback change and like I'm saying I'm not bringing it to the table just yet but how long does Florida State wait if the offense continues to look like this where I mean you can't even get 300 total yards I thought it was pretty telling in the first half when six of DJ's completions were to running backs six of his 10 completions I should say yeah not a lot of trust with them right now I think it was pretty apparent through this game when you're running run run run run run run and you're putting yourself in really bad field position to do this as well you know I feel like norell doesn't have full trust in DJ with throwing until it becomes desperate and I don't think sorry to interrupt you Logan I don't think you're at a point where DJ is so far levels ahead of of Brock and Luke you know I mean as we can see even with a red sht senior quarterback fora state is going to be going through some serious Growing Pains unless something changes rapidly uh by next Monday so do you take those lumps with a quarterback who's only going to be here for a year or you know do you start developing some of these younger guys who could potentially be the future of your programs I mean that's something uh Florida State and his coaching staff they're going to have to look in the mirror and ask themselves if this performance continues yep and you know on the on the bright side this is Mel's team we've seen he has this locker room it's all that and it's it's it's game one but you did have some good and high expectations for this upcoming season starting off 0 And1 certainly doesn't help anything but we'll see how this team wants to respond now it's all about respond and you know this team has shown us time and time and time again that they can respond and we'll see but a lot of things a lot of pieces usually it's just one or two things really need to be a change there's there's a handful of things like we just talked about here in the cson reaction that have to change in order to see Florida State put a win uh next Monday night against Boston College it's going to be a team that is going to bring physicality it's new head coach there they've got all kinds of talent like we're talking about which is sha Ward castalanos got another good running back as well they're they're stacked in talent and it's going to be another true test for them luckily they're at home don't have to do all this traveling and all that kind of crap you're home now you know that that's going to really tell us how this season's going to unfold for the 2024 seminal any last uh words here before you know we wrap up but we got a lot of Articles going out on N game day.com the staff is doing a incredible job of getting you guys content there and then also to we go live every Wednesday night at 7 pm giv our last thoughts on the previous game and also to talking about practices and previewing the upcoming game this week will of course be Boston College but any last words on this game gentlemen yeah it's going to be a long flight back from Dublin yeah a lot of time for B for the fans man too feel bad for Emily yeah oh my God brutal brutal for everybody but I mean at least for four to say you know it's it's gonna be a tough pill to swallow um on that plane from Dublin to Tallahassee but yeah I mean I would like to end things off with a fun stat here courtesy of Pete THL ESPN Florida State was 17- one in season openers as a top 10 team against unranked opponents with the lone loss coming in 1989 against Southern Miss hannes King joins Brett Favre and pulling the rare upset against Florida State so that wasn't a fun stat though fun one for poor all you can do is fans to all you can do is laugh at that point I mean so haes ging was Brett Favre against fsu's defense well not really that's you was exact opposite because probably threw 40 passes in that game yeah he went nuts in that game so really it was it was the legs for Haynes King in this one and also those running backs as well I mean Justice Haynes um I thought Forida State you know they I wouldn't say handle him but I thought they do a pretty solid job there especially with him only being 5 foot n but that dude runs a lot bigger than he actually is he's legit yep well coached team they get the win over the Florida state seminal uh as always you can listen this podcast on iTunes Google play Spotify if you're on YouTube right now hit that like button I know you probably don't want to but we'd appreciate it hit the Subscribe button though because then you get notified every time we release a new video hit the Bell button too when you hit subscribe because it will uh ding your phone too when we do go live but we go live on Wednesday nights at 7 pm that's going to do it for us a lot of content coming over to n game day.com appreciate everybody hanging out with us with these instant reactions we'll be doing these all throughout the season so safe travels back to all the FSU fans over there in Ireland hope you at least enjoyed all the beer I was jealous of that so hopefully the beer was really good but safe travels get back over here safe and uh we'll be getting ready to head over to Tallahassee for a night kickoff and do Campbell Stadium interested to see what this team looks like and response all right everybody enjoy the rest of y'all's week enjoy the weekend and we'll talk to you guys next Wednesday at 7 pm peace