Colleges

Fisher: 'Inept' FSU offense is trying patience

By BRIAN LANDMAN, Times Staff Writer
Published September 17, 2007

BOULDER, Colo. - A week after the Florida State offense took some steps forward, albeit baby ones, it seemingly lost ground Saturday night against Colorado.

And new offensive coordinator Jimbo Fisher sure sounded like he had lost his patience.

"That's the most inept, ridiculous demonstration of football I've been around in my life," he said outside the locker room shortly after the 16-6 win. "It's ridiculous the mistakes we keep making and it's my fault, it starts with me. If you're not coaching it, you're letting it happen and I'm not letting it happen anymore. We're going to find a way to fix it, and we're going to find 11 guys who want to do it."

Coach Bobby Bowden wasn't thrilled either, but without the perspective of evaluating the game film, he stressed that a coach can often be more critical and prone to a heat-of-the-moment reaction.

"I think it's like every game," he said Sunday afternoon. "When you look at the film, you get an entirely different impression. Maybe one guy breaks down on one play. It's not like the whole offense broke down."

Still, after one-fourth of the regular season, the Seminoles 2-1 are guilty of the same mistakes that, unlike the days of their dynasty and top-five finishes, they can't overcome:

Too many dropped passes, including one by senior receiver De'Cody Fagg on what looked like a touchdown. He did have two catches for 31 yards on the next drive that ended with the first of three Gary Cismesia field goals.

Too much heat on quarterback Drew Weatherford, who was sacked three times and hurried three more.

Not enough big plays or a penalty that wipes out a long gainer, such as the holding by right tackle David Overmyer that nullified a 41-yard run by tailback Jamaal Edwards to the 1 in the final minutes.

"I'm not happy with the way I played at all, by any means," Weatherford said. "I didn't react to a lot of different things they did. ... We're definitely close, but getting ready to go into our fourth game, we can't be close anymore. We've got to be clicking on all cylinders."

"We've been having the same problem since we played Clemson," added tailback Antone Smith, who had a 36-yard touchdown run but just 30 more yards on 18 additional carries, prompting Bowden to say he had him "pegged for more" of an average than that. "The defensive lines have been doing a great job and getting the running backs in the backfield. It's one of those things we have to get to the drawing board and fix."

It didn't help that Charlie Graham (hamstring) played sparingly at tight end, one of the thinnest positions. Bowden said former Land O'Lakes star Caz Piurowski, a tight end turned offensive tackle after last season, might have to be used in his old spot.

The best thing for the offense is FSU is off until it faces Alabama on Sept. 29 in Jacksonville. Bowden said that might give coaches and players who need to step up and take responsibility time to correct mistakes and perhaps come up with "some different ideas" to solve the problems.

"It better," Fisher said, again in the heat of the moment Saturday. "We might need nine off-weeks."

Brian Landman can be reached at landman@sptimes.com or (813) 226-3347.

[Last modified September 16, 2007, 21:59:12]