After watching the Showtime series last night and having rewatched portions of the game no less than ten times since Saturday, something occurred to me last night...on the first drive of the game Petrino went after every single defensive question mark and had to like the answers he got. How would Sweat factor into their gameplan, how would Derwin James be replaced, how would FSU handle TRIPs, how would they handle the zone read (i.e. would they dive down with the defensive ends, pinch their linemen or loop people to the outside gaps?), who would cover the slot and how would they react to a crossing route (i.e. would it be a safety or an LB that covered the slot receiver). The Sweat and James questions were answered on the first play from scrimmage; Sweat would be a non-factor and McFadden wasn't going to make the play taking a very bad angle. On TRIPs they flunked with the inside route getting completely free for what would have been a TD. Demarcus Walker was lost on zone reads early. Jaylen Smith was completely lost by FSU's secondary on consecutive downs in the slot.
NONE of those end results were the product of flukes; they were carefully constructed pop quizzes within a midterm exam.
NONE of those end results were the product of flukes; they were carefully constructed pop quizzes within a midterm exam.
