FSU offensive coordinator Alex Atkins sees growth but wants offense to 'finish' at Louisville

Alex Atkins knows the stats. Florida State’s offensive coordinator has watched the film of Louisville’s first two games of the 2022 season, so he knows, at least early on, the Cardinals have not been good at stopping the run this year.

He also knows teams can get better from week to week. And he’s not expecting anything easy on Friday night when the Seminoles play a Louisville team coming off an emotional 20-14 win at UCF.

“Historically, they’ve done a great job against the run,” Atkins said of the Cardinals. “Coach (Bryan) Brown does a good job of playing the run, getting those hats down there. And they tackle well. I think they’ve got a couple of new guys. And with the limitations of practice, sometimes tackling (can suffer). But they’ve improved greatly from Game 1 to Game 2.

“So, I expect them to get that problem fixed against us pretty quickly.”

*ALSO SEE: FSU Football team ‘made the choice’ to raise intensity — Tuesday Practice Observations

In their 31-7 loss at Syracuse in the season opener, Louisville allowed 208 yards rushing on 40 attempts. The Orange’s quarterback, Garrett Shrader, ran for 94 yards and a score.

In the 20-14 win over the Knights last Friday, Louisville allowed another 208 yards rushing. But much of that was in the first three to four drives of the game for the UCF offense. After that, the Cardinals shut down the Knights, not allowing a single point over their last 10 possessions.

So, Atkins isn’t expecting anything to be easy this Friday.

He knows his offense, particularly his offensive line, will have to play well if the Seminoles are going to improve to 3-0 on the season. Specifically, he wants the running game to be better than it was in the win over LSU.

Florida State’s running back trio of Treshaun Ward, Trey Benson and Lawrance Toafili managed just 73 yards on 26 carries in that game.

“We always want to establish the run,” Atkins said. “That’s our identity. We’ve got three good backs. We came in and watched the tape, saw why that was the case. And the things we can control we need to do a better job of.”

One of those things is creating a better surge up front from the offensive line.

“There are plays where every O-linemen can block a person, everybody gets a plus (grade), but we didn’t get any yards,” Atkins said. “At the end of the day, we’ve got to make holes. So, just because you’re on the right person, you’ve got to be able to move that other person. That’s the challenge going into it. ‘OK, we’re on the right people. Now what?’ Who are you after we make contact?”

*** LIMITED TIME OFFER: Sign up for one year of premium access to Warchant.com and the On3 Network for only $1. ***

The Seminoles used just five offensive linemen in the win over LSU. Robert Scott, Dillan Gibbons, Maurice Smith, D’Mitri Emmanuel and Jazston Turnentine played every snap in the 24-23 victory. And with Bless Harris out for the year with injury, Atkins has turned to Turnentine as the starting right tackle.

He said the South Carolina transfer’s vast experience played a vital role in him being able to make the switch from guard to tackle and hold down the edge for the Seminoles against a ferocious LSU front-four.

The offensive line’s pass-blocking was key in quarterback Jordan Travis throwing for 260 yards and two touchdowns while converting 11 of 17 third-down attempts.

“It’s just being comfortable,” Atkins said of Travis. “He’s been in the same offense for three years. Now, it becomes not a offense, but his offense. It’s built to fit him. And he’s done a great job of showcasing his ability, which we all knew he had.

“You saw the confidence coming in the offseason with the staff talking about Jordan. I’m just glad he gets to showcase himself.”

And while Atkins was pleased, for the most part, with the way the offense as a whole played in the Superdome, he certainly wasn’t happy with the red-zone offense.

The Seminoles blew two golden opportunities to score touchdowns after muffed punts, failing to convert a fourth-and-2 inside the LSU 5-yard line and then fumbling a pitch on the 1-yard line.

“Finishing in the red zone,” Atkins said. “Winning short-yardage, finishing in the red zone. We’ve got to do a good job of getting touchdowns. So, we focus on that a lot. We’ve got to put a lot of pride into it. We’ve got to finish.”

Talk about this story with other die-hard FSU football fans on the Tribal Council.