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FSU Football: 3 Takeaways From Florida State’s Loss to NC State

By Justin Dottavio

RALEIGH, NC - NOVEMBER 19: Ryan Finley #15 of the North Carolina State Wolfpack scrambles out of the pocket against the Miami Hurricanes at Carter-Finley Stadium on November 19, 2016 in Raleigh, North Carolina. (Photo by Lance King/Getty Images)
RALEIGH, NC - NOVEMBER 19: Ryan Finley #15 of the North Carolina State Wolfpack scrambles out of the pocket against the Miami Hurricanes at Carter-Finley Stadium on November 19, 2016 in Raleigh, North Carolina. (Photo by Lance King/Getty Images) /
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(Photo by Grant Halverson/Getty Images)
(Photo by Grant Halverson/Getty Images) /

3.  NC State’s defense is for real

The Wolfpack brought a tenacious defense to Doak Campbell Stadium. We know that Bradley Chubb is a stud, he had seven tackles and two sacks against the Noles offensive line. Stopping a talent like Chubb is hard to do and he dominated this game. FSU hasn’t had an elite offensive line since Jameis Winston left for the NFL.

The Noles and Rick Trickett became a re-known entity because of elite offensive line play but four sacks and five tackles for loss doesn’t look good on the box score. FSU has had struggling offensive line play for the past three years and you can only hope they can recover and start using max protection to keep Blackman more upright than the Noles did Deondre Francois. Francois was constantly sacked too many times and today’s experience for Blackman proved it wasn’t a Francois issue but an FSU offense issue as a whole.

A weak offensive line will cause all kinds of issues with an offense. Your running backs start to cut too soon and look around and pause versus just hitting the hole and then cutting off the actual look. The quarterback will see ghosts and scramble or throw the ball away when it’s unneeded. Blackman, being a freshman, will especially need protection and to feel comfortable in the pocket.

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