Wall of text incoming. TLDR at bottom.

The basic fact that FSU has had a stable system in place on both offense and defense and they had a lot of veteran players who had been in that system became painfully obvious.

FSU had all the bells, whistles, and gimmicks to pull out on offense and used simple one to two read route combos to let Jordan Travis shine.

On nearly every play there was some sort of motion or counter movement to prevent LSU’s DL from being able to play FSU straight up. Their ability to execute that plan was extremely impressive considering how much FSU fans were concerned about their OL.

LSU’s DBs played soft cover 3 or cover 4 early on in an attempt to limit chunk plays. By the late 3rd and 4th quarters, House began to run more man coverage and it worked in combination with the multitude of pressure looks they pulled out.

Both Jay Ward and Major Burns are solid to very good safeties and I think both will be drafted when their times come.

Boundary corners did their jobs well playing deep zone and when asked to play man they did well enough to limit any big plays outside of the deep one handed catch on JBC.

The worst part of the coverage was the lack of coverage in the very middle of the field when LSU was in a 3 safety look with Greg Brooks deep in the backfield or when LBs were put into conflict in zone with a TE going vertical in their face and a crossing route coming across their face.

The DL played well enough but lacked big run stopping ability. Jacquelin Roy and Jacobian Guillory both have turned into above average players but still have a ways to go before they can become true disruptive forces inside. Mekhi Wingo is going to be an absolute force once he settles in and it’s obvious why he was declared the Iron Tiger winner.

BJ Ojulari is as solid as ever but still needs to be coached up on run fits. Saivion Jones and Ali Gaye both look like solid to above average players but need to become more disciplined. Several times both were completely taken out of plays. The emergence of Quency Wiggins will be paramount for the DL if he can get healthy.

Maason Smith at 1 tech was about to become a big problem for FSU. Season changing loss there.

LB corps all seems average. No true standout players. Mike Jones is very good at blitzing but takes himself out of plays often. Greg Penn completely disappears at times. West Weeks had a few very nice plays and a touchdown saving tackle before FSU fumbled on the goal line. Kolbe Fields is spirited but not starter quality. Harold Perkins needs to see the field a ton in the next few games and should be starting by the end of the season.

Greg Brooks and Sage Ryan both look solid at nickel. No complaints really about either of them.

Offensive line was shuffled around all game until they finally settled onto Campbell, Frazier, Dellinger, Bradford, Wire. The left side for the most part held its own and Dellinger was a solid center. The right side was either terrible or average at best. Cam Wire is not starter quality (moreso a liability) and Bradford needs a ton of work in pass sets but can be a bulldozer in the running game.

The very worst player in the entire game was Kole Taylor who seemingly single handedly ended offensive drives at times with horrible blocking. He didn’t see the field towards the end of the game when they abandoned him and 21 personnel and stuck with 11.

Mason Taylor was a very bright spot outside of a few blocking assignments and obviously special teams. WR speed and route running at TE will become a huge asset down the road with him.

WRs looked solid outside of the yips from Boutte. It’s obvious that the WRs don’t have good chemistry with Daniels and their timing/coordination is off. No complaints from me about any of them overall. The passing concepts however were puzzling at times with lots of slow developing plays to the boundaries that FSU smothered.

RBs were hard to evaluate with how little carries they got. Seemed to be solid in pass protection when not left one-on-one with Jared Verse (who I believe will become a first round draft pick)

Jayden Daniels worked with what he was given for the most part. A lot of the passes called had check-downs open that he never even looked for when it was obvious FSU was going to bring pressure. Coaching will fix this and it’s obvious that he’s not afraid to take hits in the pocket if need be. When given time late in the game and operating out of 11 personnel he shined minus a handful of bad throws showing some inaccuracy.

It’s my opinion that Nuss could take the reins the rest of the year if he is given a chance to shine.

Overall it’s painfully obvious that this was a veteran team in FSU that had a full playbook installed and all the checks necessary to take on LSU. On the flip side it was apparent that LSU was working with a limited playbook on offense with a lack of chemistry between the QB and receivers and an OL that needed to be shuffled and reshuffled multiple times to find the right combination. Taking Kole Taylor off the field and staying in 11 personnel was the biggest difference of the night though.

This team will get better if they can avoid more injuries but developing quality depth at DL and continuity on the OL is paramount. I feel that the foundation is good for this team to steal a few wins in their SEC schedule.

Lastly, Boutte seemed more frustrated with his play and the way that the game was unfolding than simple disinterest. I also think his previous injury is always in the back of his mind and is hampering how willing he is to lay his body on the line knowing he’s in his money year.

TLDR

LSU is a talented team with very little chemistry that doesn’t have its full playbook installed on either side of the ball. Lots of things that went wrong can be fixed and they should be able to improve a good amount. FSU was a veteran team with chemistry and a game plan perfectly designed to nullify LSU’s advantages with magician at QB and a defensive line who will all get NFL looks.

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