’Noles down, but still ‘have a lot to play for’
TALLAHASSEE – Florida State standout safety Derwin James never thought his team would be in this position after four games into what could possibly be his final season with Seminoles.
Tight end Ryan Izzo says these recent “rough patches,” soured with natural disappointment because of FSU’s preseason expectations, have caused the Seminoles to shift their focus to playing for school tradition and pride.
“We were down for a little bit, but we’ve got a lot to play for,” Izzo said.
Added receiver Nyqwan Murray, a former Orlando Oak Ridge High standout, “It’s tough. We just gave up a seven-game win streak against Miami. Of course nobody ever thought we’d be 1-3.
“It’s just tough times right now. We just have to get over this bump in the road, and the next challenge up is Duke.”
FSU’s goals of competing for an Atlantic Division crown in the Atlantic Coast Conference and College Football Playoff semifinal berth as a No. 3 preseason team are out of the picture.
But the Seminoles can still salvage their season by winning five of their last seven games to extend their nation-leading 35-year bowl eligible streak.
Despite losing three of their first four games to their disrupted season to Top 25 teams Alabama, NC State and Miami, coach Jimbo Fisher and the Seminoles insist they have plenty to build on.
FSU will continue pursuing its new goals for the 2017 season with hopes of beating Duke for the 20th consecutive time in as many matchups today at noon in Wallace Wade Stadium.
“We’ve played some outstanding teams, but we’ve got to play better,” Fisher said, before
“… The whole key is don’t worry about what the season ends up, and just making sure we have a good day at practice so you can play well this weekend versus Duke, and getting back to the dayto-day process of it.”
The Seminoles have been in this position before. Just a season ago, after losing James to a season-ending knee injury, FSU fell to 3-2 last October before finishing the season 10-3 with an Orange Bowl victory.
Now, FSU is three games into the James Blackman era, as the 18-year-old true freshman has led two fourth-quarter comebacks in relief of quarterback Deondre Francois, who is sidelined for the season with his own knee injury, with a win against Wake Forest on Sept. 30 and a last-minute loss to Miami last week.
FSU’s offense has underachieved mightily with the circumstances, scoring only six touchdowns this season and ranking below 110th nationally scoring an average of 18.5 points with 327 yards per game.
The Seminoles have relied heavily on kicker Ricky Aguayo (10 of 12) to put points on the scoreboard. But FSU remains encouraged based on their last two performances in the fourth quarter during which Blackman led fourth-quarter comebacks by throwing goahead touchdown passes to Auden Tate.
“I feel like we can do whatever we want to on offense. It’s just that mindset,” Murray said of FSU’s offensive aspirations with Blackman continuing to gain experience.
“We have to want to go down and score every drive. ... We have to finish drives. If we finish drives, we’ll have one of the top offenses in the country.”
On the other side of the football, the Seminoles’ top-30 defense has kept their team in contention in each of their four games under the leadership of third-year coordinator Charles Kelly.
James remains encouraged and believes the Seminoles simply have to fix the minor details that have cost them early this season.