FSU QB Everett Golson is putting up solid grades so far

Things were looking ugly for Florida State during parts of their 14-0 win over Boston College Friday night, and new starting quarterback Everett Golson didn’t finish with the type of stat line Seminoles fans might like to see: 15 of 24 passing for just 119 yards, 1 touchdown and no interceptions.

However, Golson has actually been quietly playing well for the Noles, earning a +2.4 grade against Boston College, good for a three-game cumulative grade of +8.9 – including +8.0 as a passer.

Those are by no means huge numbers in our grading system, but it’s a solid start. His accuracy has stood out so far, with an 81.8 accuracy percentage (seven drops) over his first 75 passing attempts. He's also stood out under pressure, currently ranking in the top 10 of the country in accuracy percentage when under pressure. If he can continue to be on target at that rate, there’s no reason to think the Noles won’t again be in the mix for the ACC title.

There is room for improvement, however. Golson is averaging a modest 7.61 yards per attempt and has only attempted 13.3 percent of his attempts beyond 20 yards. The fact that Golson has mostly been mistake-free so far is obviously important (he has a 6-to-0 TD-to-INT ratio), particularly for a team with a talented defense like FSU’s that can keep it in most games, but Golson will likely need to become more of a downfield threat for this offense to reach its potential.

One more slight note of caution for Golson: We’ve seen fast starts from him before. He followed the same pattern of a trio of positive grades for Notre Dame last season before imploding the next three games. Facing Rutgers, Michigan and Purdue to begin 2014, Golson produced a combined +10.5 grade by passing for 780 yards, seven touchdowns, and zero turnovers. Over the next three games against Syracuse, Stanford and North Carolina, Golson’s PFF combined grade plummeted to -5.1, as a result of averaging 201 yards per game, with six touchdowns, but 10 turnovers.

Still, though, we’ll focus on the positive for now, which is that if Golson continues his steady if unspectacular QB play, the Seminoles are an ACC championship contender.