Fisher sees offense showing progress

Improvement needs to be reflected in more points scored.

TALLAHASSEE — The statis- tics don’t necessarily reflect it, and fans might not see it. But after five games, Florida State coach Jimbo Fisher is confident his beleaguered offense is beginning to gain some steam.

Now, the Seminoles need it to kick into high gear … or at least get out of neutral.

FSU currently ranks No. 121 (out of 130 teams) nationally in scoring offense. The Seminoles rank No. 110 in total offense, No. 84 in passing offense and No. 84 in rushing offense.

This Saturday, that offense will be asked to keep pace with a Louisville Cardinals offense that ranks among the nation’s

leaders in several categories.

Despite the constant misfiring up until this point, Fi sher believes there are real signs of progress. He says those signs were on full display this past Saturday at Duke, despite the fact that the Seminoles scored just 17 points.

“It’s very close,” Fisher said. “The effic iencies of running the football, the balance, runs, throws, mixing the ball around; every receiver c aught it; backs caught it, tight end caught it … difffffffffffferent backs running it. The fullback ( Johnathan Vickers) got involved catching a couple of passes in the game. Vickers did a great job blocking, and he had a big catch for 20-some yards in the game.

“You’re st ar ting to see them evolve in that regard. But you’ve got to put points on the board.”

That last part has been the biggest issue for the Seminoles (2-3, 2-2 in the ACC) all year.

Even in the season opener against Alabama when sophomore quarterback Deondre Francois was still in the lineup, FSU seemed to move the ball well bet ween the 30-yard lines but would get bogged down inside — or even close to — the red zone.

That issue certainly didn’t get rectifified when Francois got injured and Fisher turned the offffffffffffense over to true freshman James Blackman of Belle Glade. Through fifive games, the Seminoles have reached the red zone 17 times and scored only six touchdowns on those trips; that TD percentage of 35.29 ranks 125th nationally.

Th e ro o t of th e pr o b - lem seems to be penalties and other miscues. Partly because of Blackman’s youth and partly because of incon- sistency at wide receiver and the offffffffffffensive line, the Seminoles have not shown an abilit y to compensate for negative plays.

Junior center Alec Eberle said the problems seem to be more mental than physical. Once the offffffffffffense gets hit with a penalty or a difffffffffffferent type of setback, the players haven’t shown the ability to overcome adversity.

“You have to forget about it,” Eberle said. “You have to move on to the next play.”

The junior went on to say that he’s been seeing progress in that area.

Just as importantly, Eberle, Fisher and others believe the Seminoles are beginning to home in on their offffffffffffensive identit y at midseason. In their past two games, against Duke and Miami, the Noles have started to unleash an extremely potent rushing attack.

Freshman Cam Akers has rushed for 115 and 121 yards in the last two games, and junior Jacques Patrick has been just behind him at 98 and 91.

“I defifinitely feel like running the football is becoming a big part of our team, and I like that,” Eberle said. “As an offensive lineman, of course I love to run the football. But I think James is doing a great job passing the ball as well. I think he’s getting better every week.”

As Fisher noted, Blackman completed passes to nine difffffffffffferent offffffffffffensive players against Duke — four receivers, four running backs and a tight end. The offffffffffffense also showed some improvement on third downs, converting on 6 of 13 attempts against a Duke defense that ranks in the top 10 nationally at making third-down stops.

But for all of FSU’s individual areas of improvement, Fisher knows that the real key will be turning those positives into points.

“That’s the next step,” Fi sher said, “and I think we’re headed in the right direction.”