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

A season without Francois likely means no Playoff

It helps next week’s opponent is the Louisiana-Monroe Warhawks. However, the Florida State Seminoles face the 18th-ranked Miami Hurricanes a week later on September 16. There’s not much time to prepare for another tough defense. It also puts a damper on the Seminoles’ Playoff hopes.

They won’t drop too far in the rankings after their loss to Alabama, but a loss to the Hurricanes in two weeks or the 16th-ranked Louisville Cardinals on October 21 could derail all of that. FSU also faces the fifth-ranked Clemson Tigers on the road on November 11. A lot will have changed for this offense by then.

They will certainly look like a different team with Blackman at quarterback, perhaps leaning heavily on running backs Jacques Patrick and Cam Akers. Patrick had six carries for 17 rushing yards against the Crimson Tide. Akers ran the ball 10 times for 30 rushing yards in the game.

The gameplan is sure to change next week as it always does but going forward, the load could increase for Patrick and Akers. Teams are sure to take advantage of the Seminoles inexperience under center if they were to remain a pass-heavy team. The ceiling for an offense without Francois isn’t expected to be very high.

It will be back to the drawing board for head coach Jimbo Fisher and the offensive coaching staff as they hope to remain in the College Football Playoff picture without quarterback Deondre Francois.

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There will be a lot of challenges and their defense will certainly play top-ranked football. Blackman at quarterback, however, puts the offensive leadership in serious doubt. There’s no telling if this offense will still be the same.