Dublin, Ireland - August 24: Roydell Williams of Florida State Seminoles is tackled during the 2024 Aer Lingus College Football Classic match between Florida State and Georgia Tech at Aviva Stadium on August 24, 2024 in Dublin, Ireland. (Photo by Mario Hommes/DeFodi Images via Getty Images)
Getty Image / Mario Hommes
Florida State entered Saturday’s college football opener against Georgia Tech in Dublin, Ireland as pretty substantial favorites after a 13-1 season last year that resulted in an ACC Championship and a controversial playoff snub. But, they were beaten by the underdog Yellow Jackets, 24-21.
Much of the problem for Florida State was a lack of dominance in the trenches. That was an area they were expected to dominate Georgia Tech in, but one stat shows just how poor of a job they did on the offensive line.
The box score statistics on the Seminole rushing attack are not good. Overall, they had 31 carries for 98 yards, just 3.2 yards per cappy. Sacks do count against rushing totals in college football statistics, which can skew totals. But, Florida State quarterback DJ Uiagalelei was only sacked once, so those stats are pretty indicative of how they ran the ball.
Compare that to Georgia Tech’s rushing attack, which had 36 carries for 190 yards, good for just over 5 yards per carry.
What was the issue for the ‘Noles? Simply put, the offensive line wasn’t getting any push. Florida State running backs Roydell Williams and Lawrance Toafili were getting hit right at the line of scrimmage!
Yards Before Contact per Rush
Georgia Tech: 2.56
Florida State: 0.32— Tom Fornelli (@TomFornelli) August 25, 2024
As you can see, Florida State backs were getting hit just one foot past the line of scrimmage on average. There isn’t a running back on the planet that can consistently be productive getting hit at the line of scrimmage every play.
Part of the issue had nothing to do with the running game, however. Instead, for most of the game the Florida State passing offense led by Uiagalelei was absolutely no threat to punish Georgia Tech down the field. That allowed the Yellow Jackets to load the box and create numbers advantages at the point of attack to stop the run.
It’s a long season, and with the 12-team playoff a loss doesn’t eliminate Florida State by any means. But, if they want any chance of making to the College Football Playoff they will need to get much better up front on offense.