Florida State Football: Deondre Francois’ injury ends ‘Noles Playoff hopes

Defense is fine, offense not so much

The Florida State Seminoles defense is fine, for the most part. Their defense gave up one big play all game in the first quarter. The play came on 53-yard pass from quarterback Jalen Hurts to wide receiver Calvin Ridley in the first quarter.

In the Seminoles’ defense (pun intended), they left true freshman cornerback Stanford Samuels III by himself in coverage on one of the best receivers in the country.

Other than that snafu, the defense held quarterback Jalen Hurts to 96 passing yards and a passing touchdown. On the ground, the Crimson Tide ran for 173 rushing yards and just one touchdown as a team. The Florida State defense held them to just 13 first downs and 3-for-16 on third down conversions.

Here’s the bad news. The Seminoles offense had two turnovers and just 250 total yards in the game. They went 4-for-13 on third down conversions and had just 15 first downs. Granted, it was against the best defense in the nation, but the Seminoles did all of that work and will now be without their starting quarterback for the rest of the season.

Without Deondre Francois at quarterback, it puts the Florida State offense in a bit of a flux. Behind Francois is 6-foot-5, 185-pound true freshman James Blackman.