Georgia Tech

 It was a Spring game without tents. It was a 9 month buildup to a letdown and it was a 6 hour slog on a Saturday that somehow felt longer. But, if you want to just wallow in misery and think that everything is still the same in Nole nation, stop reading now. 

First, the awesome. Yes, I know you are questioning what could possibly have been awesome about Saturday afternoon, but awesome happened and it took place about 10 minutes before kickoff. Coach Norvell brought back the Bowden-era tradition of marching to the goal line with helmets raised while the FSU Standing Chiefs played The Good, The Bad & The Ugly. And for those of you who think a spark can't start a fire - you are probably not from Northern California - and you would be wrong. Back in June, I was introduced to Coach Norvell's operations director. A few weeks ago, because I have well chronicled obsession issues, I reached back out to this get er done guy, and forwarded a plea to bring back one of my favorite pregame rituals that our last two head coaches have seemed to have been tossed on the pile (along with winning). Now, I understood Willie's issue. Seeing his pregame organizational skills, the odds of being able to get the whole team in a straight line seemed like a tough putt. But, the current Aggie front man just dumped the tradition quietly soon after he lost his razor, belt and home life. So, Norvell reached out to Coach Bowden, asked about the validity of my request, then quickly coordinated with the Chiefs to bring chills to my spine before Osceola ever lit the spear. For that - Coach Norvell and my new favorite human Jeff Kupper - this old Nole will be forever grateful.

Now for the good. I warned you before that if you are angry and want to kill orange puppies this morning, this is not the blog for you...and there was a fair amount of good. As advertised, this team was mostly organized, had a helluva offensive script to open, played remarkably well on special teams, and maybe my favorite attribute - acted like respectable young men after making a routine play. If, right now you are still very frustrated, and you want to skip to the baby seal bludgeoning, it will be four paragraphs hence. If not, hang with me because there is only hope for the next 200 words or so...

We almost made it to the second quarter before our first penalty, and every offensive coach in the country has 15-25 plays prescripted to run at the start - or the start, lightning delay, start, delay and start again. Our first two drives were that script and that first penalty and the first of 6 wideout drops were the only things stopping the offense from 14 quick points. I am not sure any position group was more disappointing than Ron Dugan's charges, and I would expect a healthy dose of new on the field by the time we get to Miami. I was only mildly surprised that Warren didn't go on twitter after his second drop and blame the HC for a bad pregame meal. 

The special teams were crazy good. We may not see another block this year, but three in one game! This Marvin and J-Rob block party gave the rest of the boys a chance to win and has to be the most impressive ST performance I have seen since the 1984 Citrus Bowl tie with Georgia when our only offense was blocking punts. The coverage units were incredibly sound, and every return but the last one looked like it had a chance to go. Our freshman punter was solid, and we made a 53 yard field goal. 

The offensive line was not awful. In fact for much of the first half when four of the five weren't taking turns trying to lay pickup lines on the female trainers in the tent, they were almost good. There were no negative runs, and a nominally functional FSU QB would have had plenty of time to find wide open receivers. The screen game was solid, and if these five can stay together and upright, we may have something to build on here. 

Finally, the good column can not ignore Asante Samuel and Amari Gainer, who just played lights out. Someone needs to whisper to Asante that offensive lineman should not be able to tackle him in the open field, and if Josh Kaindoh stays out, we may have to move Gainer to DE, because the powder puffs that came in got massacred after #13 went out. 

Ok, you win. Time to pounce. I have two coaching complaints and we won't ignore the skinny hippo in the room. We knew that GT had an atrocious OL, and a freshman QB. What could have possibly convinced our defensive braintrust that we should play 10 yards off the ball and make every damn throw an easy one. It was not until literally the last drive of the fourth, after the turnover gave the Jackets the ball at the 20, that we played in-your-face aggressive man beating defense. That is coaching malfeasance that I did not think we would see from this staff. Yes, we have figured out how to play zone on third and forever and Asante and his eventual paycheck thanks you, but our lack of aggressiveness on the edges was unexplainable. Once Josh got hurt, and it was apparent that they were just going to sweep every run to that side - you have to adjust. Did not happen. Linebackers could not tackle in space all game. Dump the vets and go with the freshman. Emmit Rice had one pass breakup and it should have been a TD. Jarrion Jones was not ready for prime time. All of this speaks to a staff that relied on their own evaluations in limited practice, and now they have game tape to allow for major changes. The second coaching blunder is now the hindsight move to not put a non-contact jersey on freshman phenom Chubba Purdy. Holy smokes - does this sting right now.

James Blackman was never supposed to play meaningful minutes at QB for FSU. He was a roster-filling project that we would have enjoyed watching come in late in the 4th as we pounded Wake by 40. Instead he is a four year starter that has a ceiling slightly shorter than the Peter Dinklage living room. He will never magically be able to feel a rush, find a second option, or show any real athleticism. So, with Chubba on the DL, and Travis able to throw slightly worse than my daughter, what are your options? Tell JB that he has one read, then dump it to the back - no exceptions. Or go with another marginally recruited freshman QB against your rival in two weeks. Good luck. 

This is the right staff for the job. If you are doubting Mike Norvell as the answer, stop. No one could have handled this disaster of an offseason any better. As sure as I was that Willie was a Titanic in Nikes, I am just as sure that Norvell is the right guy to lead us. Patience sucks and you may not know anyone that is less patient than I am. But we are about to be 0-2, and that may not be as important as how we improve every game this season. Recruits need hope, and so do alums. So, let's slow our roll with the fire hashtags and ridiculous pronouncements. It was mostly bad and ugly, but we had a whole lot of good. Enjoy football because most of the country does not have it, much less in person! It's Fall y'all!