Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
FSU upset in debut by James Blackman
TALLAHASSEE — With just two games played in the first four weeks of the college football season, Florida State coach Jimbo Fisher and the Seminoles find themselves in a peculiar position.
After a 21-day layoff to Hurricane Irma, the James Blackman era got off to a rough start as the Seminoles lost suffered a 27-21 defeat to NC State in front of announced crowd of 73,541 at Doak Campbell Stadium on Saturday.
FSU scored only one touchdown in six red-zone attempts while its defense struggled as the Seminoles lost their home opener for the first time in the Jimbo Fisher era, and dropped to 0-2 for the first time since 1989.
“It’s one of those things that happens — we just have to bounce back,” said standout safety Derwin James. “There’s still a lot of football to be played. I’m showing up and I’m not quitting on them or this season.
“It’s bigger than just 0-2. We came to Florida State for a reason, and the tradition. We’re trying to finish strong.”
Losing incumbent starting quarterback Deondre Francois to a knee injury in the season-opening loss to Alabama was the first blow the Seminoles endured this season.
Growing pains on offense behind Blackman, the first true freshman to start for FSU at quarterback since 1985, will also come the Seminoles’ way.
Blackman looked the part with accuracy issues and problems finding his targets down field. He finished completing 22 of 38 passes for 278 yards with a second-quarter touchdown to Auden Tate, who left the game with a shoulder injury in the third quarter.
“The things he did were very intriguing and something we can build off of,” starting running back Jacques Patrick, of Orlando, said of Blackman. “I’m really proud of him and how he stepped up for our team.”
Before Tate’s departure, Blackman was on target, completing 16 of 22 passes for 190 yards with several long completions, including the 51-yard pass to Tate before he suffered the injury.
After Tate left the game, Blackman completed only 6 of 16 passes for 88 yards as the Seminoles struggled mightily to keep up with NC State’s steady scoring pace, depending solely on sophomore kicker Ricky Aguayo to score points.
Outside of the Tate touchdown, FSU’s five other trips in the red zone ended with Aguayo converting 4 of 5 field-goal attempts.
Jaylen Samuels’ 14-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Ryan Finley with 9:16 left put the game out of reach, but the Seminoles tried to make a comeback.
FSU trimmed NC State’s lead to 27-21 after forcing a safety, and a field goal by Aguayo with 3 minutes left, but the Wolfpack offense put the game away in the final minutes.
“They were always one play ahead, and we didn’t make the plays that we needed to make,” Fisher said.
Florida State rebounded from a 3-2 start last season after losses to Louisville and North Carolina to finish with a 10-3 record and victory in the Orange Bowl that set the stage for high expectations in 2017.
FSU hopes this season can have an ideal finish like the 1989 Seminoles, who started 0-2 and finished with a No. 3 ranking and Fiesta Bowl win over Nebraska.
Such expectations have become difficult for the Seminoles to realize with a new quarterback, faulty offense and shaky defense after the hurricane layoff, but FSU will begin its pursuit against Wake Forest on Sept. 30.
“There was a lot of good still there, but there was plenty of bad,” Fisher said. “We got to get that cleaned up to have a nice football team. It’s been done around here before with this kind of start. We just got to line up and go play.”