Fisher: ’Noles fall inches short of a win
CLEMSON, S.C. — Florida State football coach Jimbo Fisher as often referred to inches during this college football season.
He says the Seminoles have often been just inches away from success, with a few close plays or near misses shifting a game in the direction of one team over the other.
After Saturday’s 31-14 loss to No. 4 Clemson, he once again spoke of inches.
“Again, I hate to say it, but you’re inches away from making plays. You have to find them,” Fisher said. “You have to keep scratching and clawing.”
The difference was that the inches that didn’t break FSU’s way against Clemson, in a game that was far closer than the final score indicates, feel like some of the most important inches of the Seminoles’ season to date.
True freshman quarterback James Blackman, playing in by far the most hostile environment of his young career, had a few throws early which were thrown just past the fingertips of his wide receivers.
Blackman’s targets were also unable to fully execute at times, with as both of FSU’s most established wide receivers — Auden Tate and Nyqwan Murray — dropping passes.
Murray, an Orlando native, finished the game with four catches and a game-high 73 receiving yards.
However, the play he didn’t make will be his lasting memory from this game.
With FSU trailing 17-7 early in the fourth quarter, Murray got behind the Clemson defense on third-and-14, but Blackman’s pass bounced off his hands and fell to the turf on what should have been a touchdown.
“I lost it in the lights. I didn’t know where it was,” Murray said of the ill-fated play. “I feel like if I would have made that catch, it would have been a different game, different momentum swing. I put all the blame on myself.”
FSU’s defense put together a special performance to keep the Seminoles in the game, holding Clemson to 4.6 yards per play, the Tigers’ second lowest average this season.
That being said, the defense was also guilty of coming up a few inches short in key situations.
With the Seminoles trailing 14-0 in the second quarter and the Tigers on the goal line, sophomore defensive end Brian Burns stripped Clemson quarterback Kelly Bryant. The ball bounced right towards senior linebacker Matthew Thomas, who tried to pick the ball up instead of falling on it. Thomas was unsuccessful, Clemson recovered, and what could have easily been an FSU touchdown the other way became a Clemson field goal.
“I just ran and saw the Clemson end zone. I was gonna take the ball and run it back to Tallahassee,” Thomas said. “But you have to pick the ball up first and secure it. I beat myself up about that.”
These are just a few of the inches that didn’t break FSU’s way, preventing a win that would have been a major spot during the Seminoles’ disappointing 2017 campaign.
“I really think we should have won this game. It’s a disappointment, but this was a game we let slip again,” Burns said. “We can’t find those inches yet.”
Added Fisher: “We just can’t seem to make that play when we need to make it."
The loss puts 3-4 FSU in a precarious position. The Seminoles must win each of their final three games against Delaware State, Florida and Louisiana-Monroe to become bowl eligible and keep the nation’s longest active bowl streak alive.