An all around solid performance by the Seminoles led Florida State to a win over BYU on Saturday. Florida State looked much better on defense, the offense played good as usual, and the Noles made few to no turnovers and mistakes.
Chris Thompson showed why he was the starting running back during the spring, rushing for 123 yards on 9 carries, including an 83 yard touchdown sprint. Thompson averaged 13.7 yards per carry, and looked excellent. He reminded me a lot of Jeff Demps, the running back for that little old school down the road.
Thompson obviously has a lot of potential, and I think this could be a really big thing for FSU. He's not going to get the headlines, but Thompson has shown he is a solid running back the Seminoles can rely on. Florida State hasn't had this since Antone Smith- and that season they went 9-4, one loss coming to the eventual national champions.
The defense obviously went to work this week after an embarrassing performance against Oklahoma last weekend. I was really impressed by the pass defense the Seminoles put on display, especially since that was what killed them against the Sooners. Given, we're talking Landry Jones, Ryan Broyles, and OU's offense against Jake Heaps, JJ Di Liugi and BYU's offense. But the fact that the pass defense was so significantly better from last week was a positive sign.
The win puts FSU in a good position. The Noles play Wake Forest next weekend, and Virginia the weekend after that. The Demon Deacons were demolished by Stanford this weekend, and Virginia was predicted to be the worst team in the ACC this year. FSU still have to show up to these games, but it looks like they'll be 4-1 heading into Coral Gables to play Miami. It's a winnable game, and could very much be the turning point everyone has been expecting from Jimbo Fisher.
One quick side note: let me give a shootout to the Brigham Young fans, giving a good turnout all the way from Utah. Thanks to them for coming down here. And Cosmo the Cougar sure can dance!
An overall good win by Florida State. Hopefully it can propel them to a successful season this year. Go Noles!
