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College Game of the Week: Seminoles @ Cardinals

CFF-REFO-WK10-FSU-LVILLEThis week PFF took on their first Thursday night game of the #PFFGoesToCollege season. This one saw Florida St. notch their worst start in a season full of painfully slow starts. After five offensive possessions the Seminoles were down 21-0 and Jameis Winston had already thrown two picks.

All was forgiven, though, in the second half by Louisville’s equally dreadful offensive output. The Cardinals managed 10 points on eight drives and watched their 21-7 half time lead evaporate in no time. In the end, a pair of long touchdowns runs from Dalvin Cook proved too much and Florida St. finished off a comfortable 42-31 win.

Florida St. Seminoles – Performances of Note

Jameis Winson, QB: -4.9

Breakdown: Just far too many misreads and mistakes down the field for Winston in this one. He had three interceptions on the day, all three the result of forcing throws into coverage. The quarterback was at his best when letting his talent do the work for him and had 56.4% of his yards (226 of 401) come after the catch.

Signature Stat: Winston went 0-8 with a cumulative grade of 2.8 on passes outside the hash marks more than 10 yards down the field.

Dalvin Cook, RB: +3.0

Breakdown: The five-star freshman had just 270 yards on 59 carries going into the game, but left looking like the best back on the Seminoles roster. Cook broke three tackles on three carries and added 40 yards on four catches through the air. Louisville just wasn’t accustomed to Cook’s speed and he took advantage of bad angles on both his long runs.

Signature Stat: Cook averaged a ridiculous 7.11 yards after contact per attempt

Eddie Goldman, DT: +4.3

Breakdown: Disruptive is probably the best word to describe Goldman’s performance against the Cardinals. If it weren’t for his efforts Will Gardner would have had all day to throw. Goldman collected five of the teams 13 pressures and their lone sack.

Signature Play: With 7:39 to go in the first quarter Goldman executed a swim move so well that center Tobijah Hughley almost touched his toes from being off balance. Within 2 seconds of the snap Goldman was in the quarterbacks lap and he was forced to throw it away.

Louisville Cardinals – Performances of Note

Jake Smith, OG: +4.7

Breakdown: Smith was the bright spot on an offensive line that held up fairly well against the stout Florida St. front. The guard did some great work on fold blocks on the edge which Louisville ran repeatedly. The tackle would block down while Smith kicked out the outside linebacker and created some nice running lanes off tackle. Smith also went unblemished in pass protection.

Signature Stat: Louisville switches the sides of their guards and tackles from play to play and we had Smith down for 46 snaps at left guard and 28 at right guard

Keith Kelsey, ILB: -5.2

Breakdown: Kelsey was the most egregious offender for Louisville’s lapses in run defense. The sophomore’s issues boiled down to poor gap discipline. He wanted to play downhill, but often didn’t wait to find the point of attack before attacking the line of scrimmage.

Signature Play: On Dalvin Cook’s 40-yard run midway through the third quarter Kelsey gambled by attack the A-gap as soon as he read the run. Florida State ran power left and the inside linebacker didn’t get home in time leaving a tone of space off the left side for Cook to run in for the score.

DeVante Parker, WR: +2.7

Breakdown: He was the Cardinals aerial attack on Thursday from the first snap to the last. Parker had an absurd 16 targets for a 45.7% target rate. Was the only receiver on Louisville able to challenge the Florida St. secondary down the field. Got away with an obvious push off on his 51-yard catch early in the fourth quarter, but still went for seven catches for 163 yards outside of that play.

Signature Play: On the first play from scrimmage Parker glided right past Tyler Hunter on a post route for a 71-yard gain.

PFF Game Ball

With two game-breaking runs on nine carries, Dalvin Cook is your game ball recipient.

 

Follow Mike on Twitter: @PFF_MikeRenner

 

For full Florida State and Louisville player grades, click over to Page 2…

Florida State Offense

FSU O WK10

Florida State Defense

FSU D WK10b

Louisville Offense

Louisville O

Louisville Defense

Louisville D

 

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