Florida State Film Review: Third Quarter

While there weren’t a lot of plays that were made in the third quarter, this is when Louisville started to get things going. The running game started getting some chunk runs. The passing game hit a couple of nice throws. More than anything, the defense started to stop FSU’s running game.

LOUISVILLE BALL, THIRD AND 5

Scott Satterfield decided to take another shot down the field to Justin Marshall here and 75% of the play worked out perfectly. Malik has a solid pocket and Justin Marshall gets the best of his man on his route. Malik also identifies the correct receiver.

Unfortunately, the throw is off the mark and Marshall doesn’t do a good job adjusting to it. Malik needs to put this out in front of him a bit more and it should be closer to the numbers. Marshall also does a poor job of tracking the ball. He should be able to throttle down and make this catch over his shoulder. Part of his role on this team is as a deep threat and he has to get better at adjusting to the ball in the air.

LOUISVILLE BALL, FIRST AND 10

Tutu Atwell dropped two passes in the first half on passes over the middle of the field. This is the type of play that they need from him as their slot receiver. He has the quickness and speed to flash into open spaces very well, so they will have to utilize him over the middle. It was good to see him make a hands catch when he knew he was going to get hit.

This is also a good example of why the play action is so key. The defensive line doesn’t even try to pass rush and buys into the movement of the offensive line. The linebackers all take steps forward and then pause even when they see it’s not a run. This is intermediate passing working as desired.

LOUISVILLE BALL, FIRST AND 10

I noticed a bit of a trend that started in the third quarter that I don’t think I saw early on. The line started clearing out the run side of the play while cutting the nose guard. You can see that really well here as T.J. McCoy and Caleb Chandler double Marvin Wilson and McCoy moves up to the middle linebacker. Robbie Bell cuts Robert Cooper so that Hassan Hall has just enough room to get to the second level.

LOUISVILLE BALL, SECOND AND 5

This is the type of play that Malik brings to the table. Lavonta Taylor is a former five-star player who has a ton of athleticism and he has him dead to rights. Malik just makes a simple move to get around him and then uses his speed to get enough space to get off a 50 yard throw on the run. When he’s this guy, you see why they feel good with him as the guy. He just needs to be this guy more consistently.

LOUISVILLE BALL, SECOND AND 6

This play stood out because you can see that the FSU defensive line started rotating guys and they started to show some signs of fatigue. Louisville’s line is able to push the FSU line off the ball for the first time and they’re able to dictate where they go. Hall sees a crease and uses his great burst to get through.

As the game went on, the rotating helped a bit as the FSU line bounced back and got some penetration later in the game. But, the line found some real success in the second half and the backs did well to see the running lanes.

LOUISVILLE BALL, FIRST AND 10

This is the section of the game where Louisville really started clicking on offense. The running game saw some positives and Malik started to hit some throws. Scott Satterfield also found his grove with the play calls. They mixed the run and pass really well but he also started using misdirection in the passing game.

This play is a h-back wheel to Marshon Ford off of play action. The play also has a natural pick with the outside receiver and it works perfectly. The FSU safety gets caught up in all of the eye candy and ends up pretty much freezing right where he is to start the play. That allows Ford to slip outside the defense and pick up a huge gain.

FSU BALL, SECOND AND 8

The Louisville defense really flipped the switch up front as the game went on. The FSU line was blowing guys off the ball in the first quarter but you can see that guys really started to show better effort and better technique later in the game.

Jared Goldwire holds his ground so well here that I gasped when I first saw the play. Dayna Kinnaird slants left past two blockers to force Cam Akers to work side to side and slow him up. Then you have Robinson right in the path of the play. They weren’t great all day, but they really showed up to slow down Akers as the game went on.