Louisville Football Q&A: How Do Cards Take Down FSU Again?

Louisville football will go head-to-head with ACC foe, Florida State, on Saturday. We talk with a Florida State expert about the big matchup.

Louisville football will matchup against the 2-2 Florida State Seminoles today at Cardinal Stadium. We all know how the game against Virginia went last weekend, so no need to dive into too much, but the Cards and Bobby Petrino have a lot on the line today.

The Seminoles come in with a new coach and very similar struggles to that of Louisville. With veteran QB, Deondre Francois, FSU has yet to put together a great offensive game, and just like Louisville have dropped a game to a bottom ACC team while almost being knocked off by an FCS team.

Both teams need a win desperately to get their seasons back on track. Willie Taggart, who took over as the Head Coach at Florida State after the departure of longtime HC, Jimbo Fisher, has yet to show anyone around FSU that he was deserving of the job.

Florida State comes in with the 81st best offense in college football, the 115th best scoring offense, and the 121st most efficient offense. Louisville’s defense will have a big opportunity and could potentially put together their best performance of the season. If they do, and the Louisville offense, which ranks 100+ in all offensive statistical categories, can finally get going, the Cards could move to 3-3.

We talked with Chop Chat (Florida State) Site Expert, Jason Parker, and discussed the Seminoles a bit more in depth ahead of today’s matchup.

To say that the first four games of the Florida State have been disappointing would likely be an understatement. Do the fans miss having Jimbo Fisher as head coach?

Chop Chat: Disappointing would be a nice way of putting it, but I think it has more to do with all the preseason hype than anything about the whole changing of coaches. If Willie Taggart had come in with just a little fanfare, people would still be mad at a 2-2 start but not as venomous with their distain.

As for the former coach of the Seminoles, I think the way things went down is what has burned a lot of people regarding him – along with the downhill slide once all the great players from that 2013 title team left showing that maybe he wasn’t all that great a coach. No one will fault anyone for taking $75 million guaranteed, but he won’t be the most wanted person in Tallahassee for a few more years.

What has been the biggest reason behind Florida State’s early struggles? Can Willie Taggart be blamed for any of it?

Chop Chat: I think from an offensive side you can blame Taggart for some of it from the sense of how he is literally trying to turn a pro style offense and pro style recruits into his style of offense – which is complete apples and oranges – overnight. If there had been more of a bringing it in step-by-step, things might have gone easier.

That being said, you are trying to change both the offense and defense from one thing to the complete opposite side of the spectrum – there are going to be growing pains and adjustments that people have to be patient with. Sadly, there is a segment of the FSU fan base that still lives in the dynasty era and thinks things are going to be perfect overnight.

The offensive line has been a big weakness for Florida State the last few years – is there any hope to improving? If so how?

Chop Chat: The only way of improving would be to hop in a time machine and recruit some different people. This has been a problem for several seasons now, so it’s a matter honestly of getting some of these players to finish their time with the program and get guys in that will fit with the offense.

Florida State lost Derwin James Derrick Nnadi, and Josh Sweat – all of which were big time players defensively. How have their replacements done this season? Who are the new faces of the FSU defense?

Chop Chat: Sweat was a surprise by some that he went to the pros early, but the defensive end position has been stacked with Brian Burns being arguably one of the best ends in the ACC on one side of the line and Josh Kaindoh on the other side. In the middle, the leadership role has gone to Demarcus Christmas, who missed last week’s game but should be back.

For the Seminoles, several youngsters have gotten early run on the defense side of the ball – the two names to watch out for are safety Jaiden Woodbey, a five star freshman who started the opener and has been an absolute freak, and Asante Samuel Jr. – as the son of the Super Bowl champ Asante Sr. has been a welcome player on the corner.

The QB position seemed to be open in the preseason, and since winning the job, Deondre Francois, hasn’t seemed like himself. Are Florida State fans ready to see a change at the position? Can James Blackman be the guy if so?

Chop Chat: There was a segment of the fan base that would have been happy either way, but fans have gotten squarely behind D12 after realizing that the offensive line is hot garbage and he’s doing the best with what he can.

Having a big game against Northern Illinois last week (yes, I’m bragging about beating a MAC team – that’s how this season has gone) got more people to realize that this offense when it runs well can be led by Francois. At the same time, it’s nice to know that if there is an injury or something, you have a backup in Blackman who has a full season of starting under his belt.

In order to not be taken down for the third year in a row by Louisville, what does Florida State have to do to win on Saturday?

Chop Chat: The easy answer would be to score more points, but for the Seminoles they have to avoid the turnover problem that has plagued them this season. Both Virginia Tech and Syracuse took advantage of it, while Northern Illinois had plenty of chances to make it interesting with turnovers the Noles were committing.

Another things is take advantage of the run defense that the Cardinals have been struggling to have this season – ranking 104^th in the country entering this game. If Cam Akers and company can get more than three yards a carry and do some damage to make the offense multidimensional, FSU football will walk out of Louisville with a winning record for the first time this season.

Louisville will have their hands full stopping Florida State’s running backs, Cam Akers and Jaques Patrick this afternoon. Louisville has already given up 768 yards through four games this season and going up against a unit that has gained 411 yards and four touchdowns could prove to be difficult.

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However, as Jason mentioned, the offensive line of Florida State has been putrid thus far and the Cards will have a big opportunity to gain confidence today. They will need to limit big plays on first and second down, and get off the field on third down.

The Cards and Seminoles will kick of at 3:30 on ESPN2.

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