Florida State hits rock bottom with historic loss to Syracuse

Florida State is an absolute mess.

A week after needing a fourth-quarter rally just to beat Samford, an FCS team, the Seminoles were completely dominated on the road against Syracuse. The Orange won, 30-7, and the game wasn’t as close as the final score may indicate.

And the final score doesn’t even indicate a close game. It was that bad.

A touchdown in garbage time prevented FSU from being shut out for just the second time since 1988. That touchdown also marked the team’s first against an FBS opponent in 2018.

There was actually a point late in the first half Saturday when FSU had more penalty yards than offensive yards. It was that miserable of a performance by FSU and Syracuse’s first win over FSU in 52 years.

The defense kept things close, but the offense was a disaster

While the FSU offense continually scuffled, the defense kept things close in the first half. Syracuse drove into FSU territory on five separate occasions, but could muster only six points, both of which came on chip-shot field goals.

After the second field goal made it 6-0 with 1:40 left in the second quarter, FSU put together its best drive of the half. A few nice completions by Deondre Francois got the Seminoles to the ‘Cuse 20-yard line with 15 seconds left in the half.

However, in a play that summed up the afternoon, FSU squandered the opportunity to score by throwing short of the first-down marker on third down. Francois found Keith Gavin for eight yards, but Gavin was tackled inbounds. FSU had no timeouts left, so the remaining 11 seconds on the first-half clock expired and FSU could not get the field goal unit on the field in time.

From there, Syracuse scored on two of its first three drives to start the second half, extending the lead from 6-0 to 20-0. That was far too large of a deficit for FSU to overcome.

FSU’s issues start with the offensive line

Quarterback Deondre Francois is plenty talented, but when you get protection like this, there isn’t much you can do:

Like in Week 1’s loss to Virginia Tech, Francois had very little time to throw. Pressure was constantly in his face. Syracuse had four sacks, but it felt like Francois was getting hit almost every time he dropped back to pass.

Poor offensive line play leads to stats like this in 41:05 of possession:

• 240 total yards

• 62 rushing yards on 23 attempts

• 1-of-14 on third down

• 11 total first downs

• 11 penalties for 90 yards

That’s not a recipe for success.

Syracuse looks like an improved team

Syracuse has been a mixed bag since Dino Babers took over as head coach. The Orange have put up lots of points and mustered a few big upsets, but were just 4-8 in Babers’ first two seasons. Now, in year three, the Orange is off to a 3-0 start. With a home game against UConn next week, a 4-0 record entering ACC play looks like a near lock.

Babers was ecstatic in the post-game locker room.

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