Lucas: FSU Rapid Reactions

By Adam Lucas

1. That looked too familiar. Florida State utilized the arm and legs of Jordan Travis to roll to a 35-25 win over Carolina.

2. Travis led his team in rushing (14 carries for a career-high 121 yards) and passing (11-for-13 for 145 yards and three touchdowns). And you absolutely don't want to hear this, and we'll get to the Tar Heels soon enough, but Florida State can't play much better than that. Travis, who isn't a great passer, was extremely efficient, and the 'Noles averaged over seven yards per play.

"Florida State played well," Mack Brown told Jones Angell on the Tar Heel Sports Network after the game. "It was about as efficient a football game as you can play. We had to stop two tailbacks and the quarterback and we didn't stop any of the three."

3. But Carolina didn't put enough pressure on the Seminoles to get them out of their rhythm. The Tar Heels were plagued offensively by penalties, an untimely turnover and drops. Defensively, the Heels were hit for big plays and couldn't get off the field, as FSU finished 7-for-10 on third down. "We had some miscommunication problems we thought we'd cleared up and gave up a couple of long passes," Brown said.

4. The Tar Heel offensive line, which was an area of concern coming into the game against an FSU defense that has been stout on the line of scrimmage, performed well. They allowed just one sack and opened some gaping holes in the running game early. But the ground game was mostly Sam Howell in the second half, as he again was the team's leading rusher with 11 carries for 108 yards.

5. The penalties were too numerous and too untimely. Carolina was whistled for 12 infractions for 110 yards, while FSU was flagged for five for 50 yards. Of course, the 'Noles also skated on a textbook late hit on Josh Downs, who probably wonders what he has to do to get a call on a late hit--Mack Brown argued the no-call vehemently during the ensuing timeout. "We had too many penalties," Brown said. "It is very frustrating. We didn't play disciplined. We got frustrated and did some foolish things." On one FSU scoring drive, Carolina was hit for both a roughing the passer and an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty.

6. Downs continues to be spectacular, and he had nine catches for 121 yards and a touchdown. That marks the seventh straight game in which he's caught a touchdown pass. But he also was afflicted by the drop issue that plagued the rest of the receivers. No one other than Downs and D.J. Jones (three catches) caught more than one pass, and multiple on-target Sam Howell passes were dropped.

7. The game ended up being the curious case where Carolina was able to move the ball down the field, but wasn't able to turn it into points. Carolina actually outgained FSU 432-383, which only highlights how much more efficient Travis' offense was than Howell's. "We got yards but we didn't get points," Brown said. "We ran the ball better, protection was great, they didn't have many tackles for loss against us. We ran up and down the field but we didn't score."

8. Because of the way FSU controlled the flow of the game, there weren't all that many drive opportunities. A three-and-out midway through the third quarter looms large, as does being unable to score on four plays from the five-yard line early in the fourth quarter (two rushes netted zero yards, and two passes fell incomplete). You might have considered kicking a field goal in that situation to cut it to a two-score game if the defense was playing better, but there was no way at that point you could rely on the defense to hold FSU scoreless the rest of the night.

9. Florida State is now 5-10 over its last 15 games, with two of those wins coming against Carolina. The 'Noles were 1-3 before defeating the Heels last year, and were 1-4 coming into this game. Maybe it's not such bad news that the Seminoles rarely appear on the schedule. The only UNC home win ever against Florida State came in 2001. "Sometimes we look great and sometimes we look very poorly coached, and that's on me," Brown said. "I'm disappointed for Carolina fans and our team."

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University of North Carolina Athletics

Players Mentioned

Josh Downs

Sam Howell

D.J. Jones

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