On warm but cloudy afternoon here in Tallahassee at Doak Campbell Stadium, the Florida State Seminoles lost to the Boise State Broncos by a score of 36-31. It was a tough loss for the Seminoles in the first game of the season, especially after a disappointing season last year and a crazy last couple of days that resulted in the game being moved from Jacksonville to Tallahassee, due to Hurricane Dorian. Florida State head coach Willie Taggart spoke about the loss after the game.
“Tough loss,” said a serious Taggart. “Let one get away as a team. I think everybody played a part in the mistakes we made in that ballgame. But I will say one game will not define this football team. We lost to a good football team. Credit Boise for their grit. Our guys will bounce back. Our guys will get back to work and I believe we’ll have a good football team this year.”
This game was a tale of two halves for the Seminoles. In the first half, they looked like a powerhouse team and a Florida State team that we haven’t seen in the last few seasons. The offensive was explosive, big play after big play. The offensive line both pass and run blocked well, the wide receivers and quarterback James Blackman were on the same page and there were hardly any offensive mistakes. Defensively, they tackled decently at times, covered fairly well, had constant pressure and forced a couple of turnovers.
At one point in the first half, Florida State led Boise State 31-13. By the end of half, they led 31-19. The only major issues in the first half for Florida State was that they could tackle better and the time of possession disparity. Boise State had the ball for roughly 20 minutes and Florida State had the ball roughly nine minutes. The second half was a completely different story for the Seminoles.
In the second half, specifically the third quarter, the Seminoles fell apart. Offensively, they couldn’t get anything going. The offensive line started to struggle a bit more with the pressure from Boise State, the receivers and Blackman weren’t on the same page and multiple mistakes like turnovers and penalties. The worst mistakes were probably the dropped passes from wide open receivers, the turnovers and the complete inability to capitalize off of a turnover.
Taggart addressed the offensive struggles in the second half after the game and spoke about what led to the struggles.
“Execution,” said a disappointed Taggart. “We executed really well in the first half. In the second half we didn’t do as well. One guy here or there that maybe should have stopped on a route kept going. We should have threw the ball out at times, and we didn’t. Those mistakes, little mistakes, little detail things… Especially when you’re in a pressure situation, when the other team has momentum, someone has to step up and make a play for us. Instead of making plays, we made some mistakes in the second half. It was just lack of execution. Credit Boise, but our guys have to do a better job of executing.”
The second half struggles weren’t only limited to the offense, the defense struggled heavily as well. All of the issues the defense had in the first half, were compounded in the second half. Multiple players were out of position, players couldn’t get off of blocks, miscommunication ran rampant and the tackling was absolutely dreadful. The number of missed tackles there were in the second half is astounding. Far too many to keep track of. These mistakes led to Boise State to score 17 unanswered points in the second half to get the victory.
“A lot of missed tackling,” said Taggart in regards to what led to Houston’s offensive success in the second half. “A couple blown assignments in the secondary, especially third down, not getting off the field on third down. We gave up some third-and-longs quite a bit. Second down, third down, got to get off the field and not give up too many good plays. We weren’t able to get off the field.”
Taggart added that the thing that surprised him the most about this game was the tackling struggles of the defense and the lack of focus.
“Just how we didn’t finish. The lack of tackling. Then a couple of blown coverages. That was disappointing because we had a lot of coverages in there. Just a lack of focus. If there’s any doubt, you need to have some focus is third down. We wasn’t locked in a couple of times. Gave up some big pass plays there. Extended drives where our guys could have got off the field and we didn’t.”
Boise State dominated Florida State. The defensive struggles led to Florida State making Boise State look like one of the greatest offenses in the country. Boise State finished with 621 yards of total offense and they were led by running back Robert Mahone, who finished with 24 carries for 142 yards and two touchdowns. Quarterback Hank Bachmeier also had a great game, withstanding constant pressure from the Florida State pass rush and completed 30-51 passes for 407 yards, with one touchdown and one interception. Boise State dominated the time of possession, possessing the ball for roughly 40 minutes.
For Florida State, their offense was extremely productive in the first half but couldn’t do anything in the second half. In the first half, they had 333 yards of total offense and in the second half they only had 68. Blackman led the team offensively, completing 23-33 passes for 327 yards and three touchdowns. It was only the second time in his career that he threw for over 300 yards in a game. Running back Cam Akers also showcased his ability with 15 carries for 116 yards and a touchdown.
Next week, Florida State has the chance to fix things and “get right” with another game at home against Louisiana-Monroe before starting ACC conference play. Though the team struggled and didn’t finish today, Taggart recognized that and was confident that the team will bounce back based on what he has seen all offseason from both a mental and physical aspect.
“Well, just the way they’ve been practicing, the way they’ve been playing, the way these guys have come together,” said Taggart. “You don’t see some of the things we saw last year from a mentality standpoint, understanding how to overcome things. Guys are still trying to stick with it. Again, we laid an egg in the second half. Things that we need to get better was finishing. We didn’t do that today. We got to get back and look at what we did wrong and correct those things. Our football team has got to learn how to finish. Our football team has got to learn how to win again. I think that’s important, too. It’s been a while since we won, won big. Our guys got to understand and learn how to do the little things that it’s going to take us to win in the second half.”
Florida State will face off against the Louisiana-Monroe Warhawks on September 7th, at 5 PM EST at Doak Campbell Stadium. The game will be televised on the ACC Network.
Written by: Erik Slaby
