3 UP, 3 DOWN: Syracuse

Who is trending up or down after FSU's first win of 2021?

Nate Greer | Oct 5, 2021

For the first time this season our weekly ‘3 Up, 3 Down’ comes after a Florida State victory! There were a lot of plays back and forth, as several new contributors helped the Seminoles in the 33-30 win versus Syracuse.

The FSU vs Syracuse game this past weekend was a weird one - Florida State’s defense came out and dominated most of the first half, while the offense left some points on the board allowing Syracuse to stay in the game. The second half was more of what we’ve seen so far from the Noles - poor defense and a strong running game offensively.

This week’s ‘3 Up, 3 Down’ will feature some new names - a refreshing site to see as the coaching staff at FSU continues to tinker with their lineups to see what works best.

3 Up

Jordan Travis

While I’ve been a vocal proponent of Travis, he deserves props for the effort he gave Saturday, especially when the teams were trading scores late in the game. The game plan early was to get the ball out of Jordan’s hands early and get it out wide to the playmakers. That was working to keep Syracuse off balance. The downfield passing game continues to be a struggle that Travis and the offense need to fix, but what made Travis’ effort so great was the fourth quarter, and the last drive. His 19 carries for 113 yards led the team, and it was his final two runs that put the 'Noles in field goal position to win the game.

Cam McDonald

It was nice to see McDonald featured more in the passing game. He’s been underutilized in 2021. His stat line of 5 catches for 41 yards and a score isn’t going to make headlines, but it was the clutch catches and plays he made, as well as GREAT EFFORT to punch the ball in the endzone.

Jarques McClellion

We saw the former Arkansas Razorback defensive back for the first time this season, and he played very well. He was a major contributor to the defense in the first half, and was subbing in and out a lot in the second. Simply put the defense played better with him on the back end. He was good in coverage, and showed to be a sound tackler. He cracked the depth chart as a co-starter for this week’s game, so it’s clear to see the coaches were pleased with his effort.

3 Down

FSU’s defensive ends in the running game

While the FSU defense has been all over the place this season, their defensive line play has been good to great in 2021. Syracuse took advantage of the inability of the defensive ends to set the edge Saturday, getting absolutely gashed by Syracuse quarterback Garrett Shrader. 16 carries, 137 yards and 3 touchdowns is what kept the Cuse in the game.

FSU’s Wide Outs

My co-host at ‘The Post Game Chop-Up with Nate and Steve by the Voice of College Football” Steve Poyner put out a great stat Monday about the game - FSU ran 69 plays against Syracuse, 50 of them were runs and passes to Travis, Treshaun Ward, Jashaun Corbin and McDonald. 72% of the offense went through 4 players. On the season FSU’s wide receivers have 46.8% of the total catches, while FSU running backs and tight ends have 53.2%. Who’s going to step up and be a consistent threat?

Amari Gainer

Amari is an enigma - he’s athletically one of the very best FSU has on its roster, yet he continues to struggle on the field. He wasn’t on the field very much against the Orange, and when he was he struggled. Syracuse went right at him. He had just two tackles in the game and continued to be a liability in coverage. This is the one player FSU needs the light to come on for and the one player that, if he can realize his immense potential, can really help an inconsistent and struggling linebacker corps for FSU.

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Published Oct 5, 2021

NATE GREER

Recruiting and Football Writer