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To Move On, FSU Must Move Ball

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 19, 2007

TALLAHASSEE - The first quarter is officially over. Florida State has played three of its 12 regular-season games, and Noles fans seem a little on edge for this early in the season.

Consider this message-board headline Tuesday on Warchant.com, a popular fan Web site devoted to FSU sports: Chris Rix or Drew Weatherford?

You know when the personable and steady Weatherford is being compared to Rix, one of the most reviled players to come through FSU in recent years, that the season is not off to the kind of start the garnet-and-gold faithful expected. Another popular thread discussed a column by ESPN.com writer Pat Forde, who labeled FSU as part of the Fraudulent Four, grouping the Noles with UCLA, Auburn and Oklahoma State as the nation's most disappointing teams. Forde wrote:

'The Seminoles have converted just 10 of 44 third downs into first downs. That's 22.7 percent. That's terrible. That's worse than Notre Dame (24.4 percent) and all but four other Division I-A teams. How much money did they pay Jimbo Fisher to fix the offense?'

You know what's really scary?

Not everyone on Warchant's message board immediately hired a hit man to take out Forde the next time he shows up in Tallahassee. Hey, as someone once said, numbers don't lie, and in the case of FSU's revamped offense, they reveal a very similar story to the one that fans are tired of hearing: the Noles' offense stalls as often as a 1976 Pinto.

Still, despite FSU's poor rate of converting third downs, and despite the fact the Noles are averaging nearly the identical number of yards in three games with Fisher calling the shots (332.3) as last season when Jeff Bowden's offense averaged 330.3 a game, and despite Weatherford (47 of 87, 600 yards, 4 TDs, 1 INT) seemingly always in a play-it-safe mode, the Noles do own a winning streak for the first time in more than a year.

With that said, there's no doubt FSU has a lot to improve on if it's going to have any chance of beating Alabama on Sept. 29.

'There are certain things that we just have to get fixed, and there are certain guys that just have to quit doing the same dadgum, same knucklehead things,' Fisher said. 'We have to find a way to move on and move past those mistakes.'

Part of Fisher's solution is to re-evaluate every player before FSU attempts to move down the field against Alabama and Crimson Tide defensive coordinator Kevin Steele, who coached FSU's linebackers the past four years.

Fisher wants to get sophomore receivers Preston Parker and Damon McDaniel the ball more. He wants to challenge Weatherford by taking a more serious look at reserve quarterbacks Xavier Lee and possibly even redshirt freshmen Christian Ponder and De'Vontrey Richardson, if for only a few snaps.

Whatever tweaks Fisher makes, until the players start producing and the numbers start looking a lot different than what they have, the story will remain the same.

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