Colleges

Regain confidence, and swagger will follow

By BRIAN LANDMAN, Times Staff Writer
Published September 20, 2007

Florida State offensive coordinator Jimbo Fisher doesn't believe in a magic bullet to cure his unit's struggles.

But a shot of confidence wouldn't hurt.

"I don't think our confidence level is very high," he said, "and when confidence comes, then your abilities come out."

The best and perhaps only way to develop a swagger, once the trademark of the Seminoles offense, is to experience some success on the field. Converting just 1 of 13 third-down situations against Colorado and just 10 of 44 22.7 percent overall doesn't do that. Nor does averaging a modest 22.7 points, lower than last year's average of 26.5 and the lowest since 1981 (21.8 points).

Talk about your Catch 22's.

So, what's FSU to do? Make a change at quarterback, from Drew Weatherford to Xavier Lee or at least get Lee into the game? Bench a struggling receiver like De'Cody Fagg and give youngsters like Damon McDaniel and Rod Owens more chances? Go even younger on the offensive line?

With a bye week before the showdown against Alabama Sept. 29 in Jacksonville, the Seminoles could make some personnel moves to be sure, but listening to Fisher and coach Bobby Bowden, it seems as though job No. 1 is mental and not physical.

"You have to fight through demons, as I say," Fisher said. "Block them. Quit worrying about them and go play. Once two or three good things happen, it's amazing how that feeds off itself. Then we will find out how talented we are."

As the Seminoles showed for essentially the first three quarters against Clemson in the opener, the first half against UAB and then for essentially the whole game last weekend, they haven't built any confidence-building offensive momentum. The scoreboard and the stat sheet haven't shown it, but Fisher and Weatherford agree that the offense isn't as far away from doing just that.

"We're very close; we're inches away," said Weatherford, the first to admit he didn't have a good game Saturday (8 of 18, 126 yards) and that he needs to get rid of the ball faster to avoid drive-killing sacks.

The 16-6 win against the Buffaloes could have been more decisive had Fagg not dropped a sure touchdown and had tailback Jamaal Edwards' 41-yard run to the 1 not been negated by a penalty.

"It's funny how momentum works," Weatherford said. "Once you put together a great first quarter, we might play the rest of the game great. But the problem is we're coming out and we're struggling at first and that's making it more difficult for us to play."

Stay tuned to see if the Alabama game is a springboard or more of a plank.

AND NOW FOR THE GOOD NEWS: The defense not only did remarkably well tackling (just nine were missed, down from 31 in the opener), but defensive coordinator Mickey Andrews gushed about his players' ferocity.

He and his staff chart "big hits" each game and have the team vote on the best. The Seminoles had three against both Clemson and UAB.

"We challenged our guys a little bit about playing tougher," Andrews said. "They took the challenge and went out there and knocked some folks around a little bit."

FSU had 10 big hits.

"That's important," Andrews said. "You've got to punish receivers. You've got to punish running backs, people with the ball. You've got to punish the quarterback. The same way with a blocker. We talk about intimidations and intimidation is where you intimidate the blocker; the blocker's coming in to block you and you knock him on his back. We had a few more of those."

SIDELINE OR BOX?: Andrews didn't rule out the possibility of staying in the press box on game days as he was last week while recovering from pneumonia. You do have a better view of the entire field, the reason offensive coordinators are up there, but there's a drawback, too.

"It's a totally different feel upstairs," he said. "You don't get the rush you get on the sideline up there. ... When you play good, it doesn't matter where you are. You can be in the bathroom."

LEAGUE LEADER: Sophomore Preston Parker is averaging 13.9 yards per punt return, tops in the ACC. No other Seminole is the sole leader in the league in any other category.

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

[Last modified September 19, 2007, 20:30:59]