Florida State will face its next opponent on Saturday, and while this is no Alabama, every game counts the same. The East Texas A&M Lions (0-1) will be looking for some upset magic of their own as they roll into Doak Campbell Stadium to face the fourteenth-ranked Seminoles. Although the Lions play in the Southland Conference, this will be their second consecutive game against an ACC opponent after facing SMU in week one.
For FSU, this is an opportunity to clean up some of the mistakes from game one, continue to get in sync as a team, and build depth by getting snaps for the younger players on the roster. As we learned in 2024, no team should be taken for granted; however, this is a game FSU should win in a convincing fashion against a lesser opponent. However, that will require them to start fast and play a clean game so as not to let them hang around and make a game out of it.
As I previously mentioned, the Lions took on the SMU Mustangs in game one and lost 42-10. However, that game was only 28-3 entering the fourth quarter. SMU committed 8 penalties and had 3 turnovers, which allowed ETAM to hang around. Had an ETAM running back not stepped out of bounds by less than an inch on a touchdown run, the game would have been even closer. This just shows you can’t “play with your food” if you’re Florida State. You don’t want to find yourself in another North Alabama-type of game (sorry for bringing that up).
The ETAM offense was without its starting quarterback, Ron Peace (unknown why he did not play), and the offense struggled, putting up only 3 points throughout the first 3.5 quarters. They scored 10 of 13 points in the final three minutes after SMU pulled their starters. ETAM put up 351 total yards (244 Pass I 107 Rush). It’s unclear if Peace will return for Saturday’s game against FSU. He threw for almost 3,000 yards last season with 20 touchdowns but also had 16 interceptions.
The two quarterbacks they used to replace Peace struggled against the Mustang’s defense. They both completed under 50% of their passes, neither threw for a touchdown, and they combined for two interceptions and 2 fumbles. Senior Will Madonna got the start, but was quickly replaced by Eric Rodriguez, who is more mobile than Madonna.
The Lions’ offensive line allowed 21 pressures and 3 sacks against the SMU defense. FSU had 19 pressures and 3 sacks against Alabama, so that number should only go up. They also averaged just 3.1 yards per carry on the ground. I know they were clearly overmatched, but they will be on Saturday as well, so it’s a good barometer of how things should go.
The Lions defense wasn’t half bad against the SMU offense. The Mustangs scored 14 of their 42 points on defense, so the offense only put up 28 points. They were also held to just 400 yards (only 18 more than FSU put up against Alabama). A lot of those yards came as the ETAM defensive backs played very soft coverage because they could not match the speed of SMU’s receivers. This will be a take what they give and keep the chains moving type of game. Both teams played sloppy with ETAM racking up 11 penalties and 3 turnovers.
For FSU, you need to use this to clean things up with the first team and get the second and third teams reps. I’m particularly interested in seeing Brock Glenn and Kevin Sperry at quarterback. With Roydell Williams and Randy Pittman out this week, we should also see more reps for the talented young back and tight ends like Ousmane Kromah, Landen Thomas and Chase Loftin.
FSU’s biggest challenge will be bringing the same effort and energy they used to beat Alabama in a sleepy noon game against a lesser opponent. But I have said before, with the mentality of this team, I don’t think they will play down to the competition. As my high school football coach used to say, you have to smash a gnat with a sledgehammer. There’s not much that you can prove in this game that we did not already learn against Alabama, but this is still an opportunity to win, get better, and build depth. I think FSU wins comfortably to hit 2-0 as they head into the bye week. Thanks for reading, and Go Noles!
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