Behind Enemy Lines:The Florida State Seminoles

Year 1 of the Taggart experiment did not go as planned for the Seminoles, as they struggled to a 5-7 record and missed out on a bowl game for the first time in 35 years (1982-2017).In year 2, Taggart must find a way to correct the struggles if he wants to remain in Tallahassee for more than a couple of seasons.

Year 1 of the Taggart experiment did not go as planned for the Seminoles, as they struggled to a 5-7 record and missed out on a bowl game for the first time in 35 years (1982-2017).

In year 2, Taggart must find a way to correct the struggles if he wants to remain in Tallahassee for more than a couple of seasons.Taggart has led remarkable turnarounds at each of his three previous head-coaching positions. In the season before his hire at Florida State, the programs Taggart inherited were a combined 7-29, and the best team he took over prior to arriving at FSU was a 4-8 Oregon squad. His overall record is 52-57, including a 30-19 mark since the start of the 2015 season.

From 2015-17, his offenses had the fourth-highest points-per-game average among FBS head coaches behind only Mike Gundy, Kliff Kingsbury and Urban Meyer.

However, the hot-seat for Taggart has become red-hot this season after his Seminoles opened the season with a 3-2 record.

But all of those nay-sayers could be silenced with a win over the second-ranked Clemson Tigers Saturday—a task easier said than done.

"Really excited, another opportunity to get on the field and compete, and not only get to compete, we get to compete against the defending national champions this week, go to their place, and one unbelievable opportunity for our football team," Taggart said.

FSU on offense

Former Baylor, Florida Atlantic and Houston offensive coordinator Kendal Briles will take over the Seminole offense that struggled for the majority of the 2018 season.

Briles, who will have primary playcalling duties, comes to FSU having served as an offensive coordinator at Baylor during the 2015 and 2016 seasons, Florida Atlantic in 2017 and Houston in 2018.

Briles coordinated one of the most explosive offenses in the nation in 2018. Under his direction, Houston averaged 43.9 points per game, ranking fifth in the nation, and 512.3 yards of total offense, the seventh-highest total in FBS.

Under Briles leadership, this season the Seminole offense has found new life

Florida State has scored at least 24 points in every game this season, only the fourth time in the last 20 seasons and first time since 2013 FSU has reached the 24-point mark in each of its first five games.

Florida State ranks 2nd in the ACC and 10th nationally with 85 plays of 10+ yards against FBS competition, and have scored 59 points in the first quarter through five games this season, and its 11.8 points per game in the first quarter ranks 1st in the ACC and 9th in the nation.

"I think just guys understanding what they’re doing," Taggart said. "Not only understanding what they’re doing, last year was the first time a lot of these guys ran the style of offense that we played. Before they were huddling up in the pro style, and so we brought a different style of offensive play, and it took some adjustment for a lot of them, and a lot of guys were young and playing.

"So there was a lot of mistakes, and now you see guys having a better understanding of what we’re doing now and being able to execute a lot better and more efficient without a lot of mistakes."

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FSU on defense

Harlon Barnett enters his second season as defensive coordinator and defensive backs coach in 2019.

In 2018, he directed a Seminole defense that held opponents to only 3.52 yards per rush. The run defense held nine of 12 opponents under their season yards-per-carry average, kept three teams from reaching 100 yards on the ground and allowed only 16 rushing touchdowns, the fourth-lowest total in the conference.

Through the first five games of 2019, Florida State's defense has allowed an average of 110.7 rushing yards per game the last three games, improving its season rush defense average by more than 51 yards and moving up 49 spots in the national rankings.

The Seminoles held Virginia more than 50 yards below its season average before holding Louisville, which led the ACC in rushing entering the game, nearly 140 yards below its season average. The next week, FSU held North Carolina State to 88 yards, the team's first game with less than 100 yards on the ground in 10 games, more than 120 yards below its season average of 212.0 yards entering the game.

However, Taggart is under no illusions that this will be the most difficult challenge of the season.

"We know against Clemson we’ve got to be at our best to win that game," Taggart said. "I think it’s good to have a bye week to continue to work on some things to see that we can go out there and execute at a high level and play our best football since we’ve been here, and again, we’ve been moving towards that direction, and we know we’re going to need that in this ballgame on the road in Death Valley against the defending national champs. Again, it’s about us and knowing that we’re up against a great football team."

The line

Last season, the Tigers dominated the Seminoles to the tune of a 59-10 beatdown in Tallahassee. While the Vegas prognosticators do not see the Seminoles being 49 points worse than the Tigers this season, they do not see the Seminoles posing much of a threat, as they are currently 27-point underdogs to the Tigers.

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