November 11th, 2018 By: Euan McCreath South Bend- Ind.-- Entering the 2018 football season both Florida State and Notre Dame had high aspirations of making some noise along the college football landscape. To say that the Florida State Seminoles have struggled under the tutelage of first year head coach Willie Taggart would be an understatement. The Seminoles entered the game 4-5 overall and 2-7 in the conference but more so for the Florida State faithful it's really been about a lack of consistent competitiveness. Coach Taggert addressed how his team handled adversity this season heading into the Notre Dame game. "I think we've been up and down. We haven't handled it like I would have liked for us to. I knew it was going to be an issue. The key was how we fight back from it,"Coach Taggart added. So just how would the Noles and their 127th ranked rushing attack fair against the # 3 ranked team in the nation after loosing to N.C. State last week by 19? Could the Noles possible somehow grind out a win to salvage their season and keep their bowl hopes alive while throwing a wrench into the college football playoff standings? On the other side of the fence the Notre Dame Fighting Irish have been playing great football in amassing their 9-0 record thanks in large part to starting quarterback Ian Book. Book, who was sidelined because of a rib injury for Saturday night's game was playing great. In fact he's the only quarterback in Notre Dame history to complete at least 70% of his passes in his first four games. So entering the game Notre Dame had some questions of their own particularly under center where Brandon Wimbush would return as the Irish starting quarterback, a role he was familiar with the first three games of the season. Wimbush lacked in production as evidenced in the Irish only scoring 24, 24, and 22 points in their first three games although they won each of those games. However, it wasn't good enough for head coach Brian Kelly who has seen a dramatic increase in big play production since making the switch to Book. Book has thrown for 15 touchdowns and only four interceptions. He accounted for five touchdowns in his debut against Wake Forest as he led the Irish to a blowout win 56-27. One of the reasons Florida State is struggling is because they rank 101 out of 130 division one team's in first half scoring averaging just 10.6 points in the first half. They fall behind early and often making their offense one dimensional and therefor predictable. Speaking of offense the Seminoles and their new look, quick pace offense has simply been dreadful this year and playing from behind all the time doesn't help. Junior Deondre Francois would lead the Seminoles charge into South Bend looking to pull off the upset as an almost three touchdown underdog. After receiving the opening kickoff disaster would strike on the Seminole's second play from scrimmage when Francois threw a shallow out pass that was tipped and intercepted by Notre Dame safety Nick Coleman who sprinted 27 yards to the FSU 3-yard line. Wimbush would start his senior night by lofting a touchdown pass to Miles Boykin to open the scoring and the Irish would never look back. After a three and out by the Noles offense Wimbush would cap a 14 play 81-yard drive buy hitting Alize Mack in the back corner of the end zone to put the Irish up 14-0 midway through the opening quarter. They would add a field goal and at the end of the first quarter they would lead 17-0. Francois couldn't get anything going all afternoon, he completed 23 of 47 passes for 216 yards and one interception while Brandon Wimbush finished 12-25 with 3 td's (all in the first half) and 2 interceptions. He didn't have to play great because the Irish defense stymied the Noles offense all night. The Irish offensive line played great, they pushed around the Seminoles all night opening gaping holes for senior running back Dexter Williams. Williams was a beast on the ground amassing 202 yards rushing and scoring two touchdowns. With the score 17-0 Seminole running back Cam Akers sprinted in for an 8-yard touchdown but the extra point was blocked and returned by Julian Love for a defensive two point play increasing the Irish lead to 19-6, instead of 17-7. This play is a microcosm of Florida State's entire season. Seminole running back Cam Akers had a good game on the ground. The sophomore had 12 carries for 63 yards and scored both Seminole touchdowns. Chris Heidel caught up with Seminoles Head Coach Willie Taggart after the game, "Coach any thought of replacing Francois with James Blackman to perhaps give your team a spark? After all it was Blackman threw for over 400 yards and four touchdowns last week in a loss to N.C. State and was named ACC Player of the Week. "No I didn't think that, I mean any quarterback is going to struggle when you have a lot of drops and you can't get any rhythm. It's another tough loss for our guys. We did what we said we couldn't do in this ball game. We came in and wanted to start fast and we didn't. The interception early in the game on our side of the field, you just can't do that against a good football team." The once revered defense of the Seminoles has now given up more than 40 points in three consecutive games. "We have to tackle better and be better in our gaps,"remarked Taggart. The Noles offense better get it together or it's going to be another long day as they move on to face a tough Boston College Eagles team who leads the ACC in sacks and interceptions and will be hungry for a win after loosing to the Clemson Tigers 27-7. Meanwhile the Irish just keep on rolling towards the college football playoff. The perfect 10-0 Irish have a big test against the Syracuse Orangemen who are 8-2 and ranked in the top 15 in the country.
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