Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
FSU coach lights a fire under the defense.
FORT LAUDERDALE Charles Kelly is well aware of the criticism the Florida State defense has drawn under his leadership at times this season.
It’s a challenge Kelly has not back down from after a rocky start for the Seminoles that will end in a prestigious New Year’s Six bowl game.
As FSU began its 2016 campaign with two losses in its first five games due to shortcomings from its porous defense, the pressure started to mount for Kelly, who is in his third season as FSU’s defensive coordinator.
“When don’t play well, people are going to say you don’t play well,” Kelly said of outside criticisms Tuesday during an Orange Bowl press conference at the Renaissance Fort Lauderdale Cruise Port Hotel.
“Hey, that’s an observation. There’s nothing wrong with that. As a coach and a player, your job is to get better and be productive.”
How much have the No. 11 Seminoles (9-3) improved this season, heading into Friday’s season finale against No. 6 Michigan (10-2) in the Orange Bowl?
After a loss to North Carolina, where the Seminoles surrendered a game-winning field goal in Doak Campbell Stadium, FSU was the worst Power 5 team in the nation giving up 6.98 yards per play and 9.4 yards per pass. To end the season, FSU cut those averages to 5.45 yards per play (48th nationally) and 7.4 yards per pass (75th).
FSU was surrendering 438.4 yards per game (94th nationally), but improved to 357.2 yards (29th). The Seminoles are also getting off of the field on thirddown more efficiently, limiting opponents to 33.75 percent of conversions (16th), compared to 43.9 percent (102nd) earlier this season.
“There are times during the game, from a fan’s perspective, you guys would think it’s the coaches,” said defensive end and senior leader DeMarcus Walker. “But from our perspective, we know who it was. It was some the players.”
As Walker, and junior defensive back Trey Marshall plainly stated, Kelly “lit a fire” on all the Seminoles. Walker said it was a wakeup call for his teammates.
Marshall said it was simply an ultimatum: “He basically said ‘if you don’t produce, you ain’t going to play.’”
Seeing Kelly so fired up, and hearing the outside noise themselves influenced the Seminoles to buy in, and turn their season around defensively.
“[It was] for him, and for us ourselves,” Marshall said. “We’re the ones out there playing. All he can do is go out there, and call the plays. We had to look at ourselves in the mirror, and see if this is what we want to do. Do we want to be Florida State?”
FSU has had the luxury of ending the season against inferior offenses like Wake Forest (125th nationally), NC State (64th), Syracuse (44th), Boston College (127th) and Florida (115th). But Kelly said the momentum and confidence gained cannot be understated.
Kelly hopes his defense steps up to its last challenge of the season in Hard Rock Stadium against Michigan, which was on the cusp of the College Football Playoff with the 46th best offense in the country.
“I’ve been really pleased with how the guys have practiced and worked hard,” Kelly said. “This is an amazing challenge for our football team. That’s a great football team we’re playing … We know it’s going to be a challenge, and we have to play our very best.”
Sophomore cornerback Tarvarus McFadden, the nation’s leader with eight interceptions, hopes the lessons learned can propel the Seminoles in the Orange Bowl and in the future.
“Honestly, I didn’t think we would be in such a big bowl game, but I knew we would be somewhere,” McFadden said. “It was just a learning experience and we’ve got to go up from here.”