Pete Thamel on FSU's struggles, 0-3 start: 'There's something missing'
There weren’t many people who had Florida State starting off the season 0-3 on their bingo card. That included getting upset in their first three games of the season, most recently with a 20-12 home loss to Memphis, the former team of Seminoles’ head coach Mike Norvell.
Fingers have been pointed in a multitude of directions as to why FSU has gotten off to such a slow start. ESPN college football insider Pete Thamel recently broke down the ‘Nole’s issues on the College GameDay Podcast.
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“I think ultimately when you break down the roster, the quarterback is inaccurate and has lost confidence. The receivers, a lot of whom are transfers, just haven’t hit. They’re pedestrian,” Thamel said. “Tight end had the dropsies, and he might be one of the best players on offense. They haven’t even had their offensive line coach for a game yet, Alex Atkins suspended for three games. Who could have fathomed that they’d be 0-3 in those games? That unit clearly hasn’t played well.”
Florida State’s offense has been a clear issue for the Seminoles, ranking last in the ACC in yards (274) and points (15.3) per game in the ACC through three weeks by a large margin. But their defense that helped lead them to an ACC title win last season has also been a massive letdown.
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“The defensive line Rece, let me just own it with two arms. Scouts were in there drooling over those guys this summer. The Marvin Jones Jrs, and the Darrell Jacksons, they just haven’t done it. Patrick Payton and Joshua Farmer were all ACC guys last year, they just haven’t produced. They have been pushed around,” Thamel explained. “There’s something generally missing there at Florida State, there’s some sort of disconnect, there’s some sort of spark that’s gone.”
The Seminoles entered the season with high hopes, ranked No. 10 in the nation with aspirations to make the College Football Playoff following a controversial omission from last year’s four-team CFP after an undefeated season prior to their bowl game. A talent roster that simply has not been able to execute this season.
“I picked them to make the playoff. I did the spring game, I left that spring game from the sideline thinking that looks like a team that looks like that. NFL guys that went through, I always use as a litmus for a playoff team … There’s some variances there, but that’s my personal, completely unscientific guideline, and they checked that box,” Thamel said. “I think it’s always a confluence of factors when, something like that happens, but it is still jarring and quite frankly, they’ve got a bunch of like hard games left.”
FSU making it to the College Football Playoff is improbable, but not impossible. With the winner of the ACC title game punching an automatic ticket to the CFP. But the Seminoles would certainly need a 180-degree change in a hurry, likely along with some help from other teams in the league.