Notre Dame

 The greatest man to ever coach college football was honored on Sunday night...and he described the climb to greatness in college football as a simple process. Lose big, then lose close, followed by winning close then winning big. It was a four year cycle for most teams that Coach Bowden nailed in 3 upon arriving at FSU. I think the 60,000 plus that were cheering as the defeated Noles left the field last night can attest that Coach Norvell is trying to speed up that timeline as well. This was not a gut punch or even a reason to be upset; for even the unrealistic dressed in garnet could not have expected what unfolded.

We lost the turnover game and every one of the oskies was on the wrong side of the 50. Our transfer lineman from Notre Dame tried to set a single game record for penalties while welcoming his former mates to Tally. The Irish had no meaningful turnovers and two fumbled backfield snaps by the green guys both ended up in their hands. Meanwhile, our boys that practice looking between their legs got all Simone Biles on us and the twistees resulted in a half dozen bad snaps. Despite all the above against a legit top 10 team that is coming off of a playoff appearance, this game almost played out like a Disney movie with the ball in the almost-amputees hands with a chance to win and his parents and surgeon weeping in the stands. 

But alas, Disney is still owned by ESPN and only SEC scripts are approved for these kind of storybook endings. Kids, if you left in the last three years, and I certainly understand it if you did, it is officially time to get back on the bandwagon. We have the right coach at the right time, and being a part of the ride now is going to be awesome. Norvell threw every recruiting chip he had on the table for this game. 80% of our official visits for the year were present, and I thought the students had rushed the field pregame until I realized that the FSU meal plan could not be that good. There had to be 300 kids and parents on the field. They repurposed the Renegade ropes to keep this crowd off the field during warmups. If you were the HC, would you have bet on yourself to this degree against a top 10 team that blew your doors off last year? This huge gamble paid off spear, spear, spear on the slot machine. This night was a mirror of Oklahoma in 2011 when Jimbo put the Noles on notice that the lost decade was behind us. Jameis and the kids of 2012 came right after...

The improvement was not immediately apparent. The best offensive player for the Irish was shockingly uncovered on the first series on two huge plays while Kalen Deloach and Brendan Gant communicated like angry tweens after their parents took away their Xbox. Our first two offensive series netted a minus 24 yards as Jordan missed 4 straight screen passes so badly, I was looking for Willie on the sideline. Then, after the Irish lined up their backers in the A gaps for the 3rd series in a row, we pulled the guard and sprung Jashaun loose for 89 lightning yards and Doak, our warchanting elbows and the Noles were alive. This O line was not together almost at all this Fall, and Mo Smith did not practice all week and it showed. I still think in a few weeks, we will like this group. Jordan's athleticism saved a half dozen sacks and his throw to Douglas was an absolute dime. But, his decisionmaking was not nearly quick enough and he has to make the short throws on target. It felt like he might have scored on the one late run when we escaped down the sideline, but it was clear that he came up lame, and an uncalled helmet shot one play later ushered in a helluva entrance for McKenzie. 

His presence is palpable. The feet are calm, the decisions are quick, and clearly the team responds to him. He makes the entire QB room better and Chubba could be the biggest long term beneficiary, but realistically, he does not have all the tools that he once had, and expecting him to be a full time answer is a tough putt. But without a few bad snaps, this night might have been magic. The continent of backs is legit with Corbin showing speed we did not see in '20, Toafili is a star and our little Warrick Dunn clone in Treshaun Ward gives us a bunch of marshmallows in our lucky charms. Helton was the answer in the slot and both freshman MClain and Borell looked the part of future stars. 

Crazy enough in a game where you gave up 41 points, the defense was actually good enough to win. Jermaine Johnson was the best player on the field most of the night and is 1.5 sacks away from the 2020 DE total. The line was stout all evening and the Irish had to work for every ground yard they got. The back end looked vastly improved with Dent, Brownlee and Jay all in phase all night. Brownlee, Gant and Williams all hit like FSU safeties of yore and except for some incredible throws from the supposedly pedestrian Badger transfer, this group may have dominated. But the generosity of our offense to the visitors and our desire to constantly give the Irish short fields made this an impossible task. But the Oreo still has no filling, and the linebacker level is an issue. Lundy is a run stuffer, and DeLoach can run, but Amari needs to be a game changer in space, and he had a poor night. We are not gonna find answers there this season, so we have to cover this boo boo with a Hello Kitty band Aid or extra safeties on every down. Coach Fuller calling a blitz on 3rd and 17 when the line was already living in the backfield without help will go down as a game changing blunder that I hope he learns from. His troops looked coached and coordinated this game, and that is a crazy improvement, but that one call was a headscatcher. 

No one outside of Frank Beamer spends more time on special teams that Mike Norvell, and I thnk we need even more. Bad snaps, a missed extra point, awful snap into the end zone on a punt that Alex somehow speared and running to his right hit it 54 yards. Two poor KO return decisions resulted in 12 lost yards and obviously, we are not locked in on short field goals. Although the 4 minute delay and moving the ball to the hash was about as solid an icing job as I have ever seen. 

All of this to say. Yes! We have hope again! This is a vastly improved group of kids wearing gold spear adorned helmets. True our ceiling may be 7-5 with this schedule, but if the recruiting classes stay on track and we develop kids at this pace, Bobby's fourth 11-0 season finishing in the Orange Bowl is all of a sudden not impossible for our new leader.