Struggling Noles need win at Wake
TALLAHASSEE — An 0-2 start has Florida State searching for answers.
Coach Jimbo Fisher said his team’s latest game — a 27-21 loss to North Carolina State on Saturday — came down to execution. Fisher promised during his Monday news conference he and his staff will do more so their players can succeed.
Fisher is no stranger to scrutiny, but the latest round of criticism is among the harshest he’s faced. In all, Fisher is 78-19 in his career but just 14-8 in his past 22 games. Two of those wins came against FCS opponents.
So what do Fisher and his assistants need to do to start winning again?
“Keep coaching. Keep coaching,” Fisher said. “Do the things we do. Attention to detail, fundamentals, coach them better, get them to play better.”
Fisher’s news conference was a mixture of reviewing past mistakes with the hope of finding future solutions. He said he liked how the special teams performed, while lamenting his team’s offensive struggles and defensive issues. Out of 128 FBS teams, FSU (0-2, 0-1 ACC) ranks 116th in total offense and 122nd in scoring offense.
“There’s no magic dust or magic thing that makes you meet more, play more,” Fisher said. “We meet and do as much as we can, but we’ve got to evaluate what we’re doing, what works, what doesn’t work, and how to get each player to be more successful.”
FSU’s defense is a curious case. The Seminoles rank 19th when it comes to opponents converting on third down. Where they get into trouble is in the red zone, they have allowed three touchdowns and five field goals in their opponents’ eight possessions.
“It definitely was a tough loss. We prepared hard for that game,” redshirt sophomore defensive end Jalen Wilkerson said of last week. “We had our ups and downs, and we had our opportunities to do what we wanted to do, but we just came up a little short.”
To turn their season around, the Seminoles must defeat an improved Wake Forest (4-0, 1-0 ACC) in Winston-Salem, N.C.
“Basically, just make your mind up: Do you want to lose? Or do you want to win?” linebacker Emmett Rice said. “We don’t want to lose, so we’re going to come out ready to work and just stay focused.”
Rice said if someone fails to stay focused in practice, he’ll hear about it.
“It’s not just the top-tier guys that enforce everything,” Rice said. “Everybody’s on the same page. We all want to work, and if a guy is slacking, no matter who you are, you can talk to that guy like, ‘Hey. Pick it up.’”
The past two games between FSU and Wake were close. FSU held on for a 24-16 win in 2015 and gutted out a 17-6 win last season.
There’s also a matter of how FSU can perform away from Doak Campbell. Five of the Seminoles’ past eight losses have come on the road or at neutral sites.