’Noles hope a faster start will jump-start offense
As Florida State continues to search for answers as to why the team is off to one of the worst beginnings in more than four decades, the Seminoles are hoping a faster game start could help get the offense on track.
FSU has struggled on offense, with the team ranked near the bottom half of the ACC in scoring (23 points per game) and total offense (364 yards per game). Second-year offensive coordinator Kenny Dillingham believes much of the Seminoles’ struggles have been because of their slow launches.
“We’ve got to start faster,” Dillingham explained Monday. “For us, especially in the run game, we struggled with direct runs. … We need to be a little more creative offensively to try to create some explosive runs and some spark runs.”
Florida State has scored 14 total points in the first quarter. The Seminoles had eight plays for 18 total yards on its first three possessions
against Wake Forest. In the loss to Jacksonville State, the team failed to score on its first four possessions. Against Notre Dame, FSU failed to score on its first two possessions.
“When you look at them, the first drive this week, we fumbled after having a decent gain,” said coach Mike Norvell. “It goes back to us being able to finish. As we get rolling in those moments and in some of those critical situations, critical mistakes have shown up. In those times, we want to start better.”
Time after time, FSU has found itself facing a third-and-long situation, including on the opening drive against Notre Dame when the Seminoles were flagged for an ineligible man downfield that put them in a 3rd-and-20 situation.
“I believe in how we prepare and how we plan,” added Norvell. “We never go into it thinking it’s going to be a wasted series, but we’ve got to do a better job of having our guys prepared so that we can go out there and start the game well.”
’Noles continue QB rotation
FSU made the unusual choice to rotate McKenzie Milton and Jordan Travis at quarterback during the loss to Wake Forest Saturday.
“They both have a unique skill set and they’re both different players and they both add value when they’re on the field,” said Dillingham. “We did have a plan early to kind of go drive-drive and then kind of roll with the hot hand from there. That’s something we’re going to continue to evaluate, continue to work through.”
While Milton started against the Demon Deacons, he was replaced by Travis on the second possession. The two rotated throughout until the second half when Milton took the majority of the snaps after Travis went down with an injury.
Norvell said Travis wasn’t available to practice throughout much of last week and his status remains unknown going into Saturday’s home game with Louisville.
“It’s been one of the challenging things here at the beginning of the season; just the availability and the consistency there at that position,” he added. “We’ve got to play better quarterback and we’ve got to coach better and we’ve got to be able to do all those things.”
Milton was 11-of-16 for 119 yards with two fumbles while Travis finished 5-of-6 for 107 yards with two touchdowns. They combined to throw three interceptions.