Florida State Preparing For All Options As Miami Remains Noncommittal On Starting Quarterback

The Seminoles will be ready for whoever takes the reins of the Hurricanes offense.

At this point of the season, teams around the country are bruised and beaten up. That's just the nature of the physicality of college football. 

With rivalry week well underway in Tallahassee, Florida State and Miami both have some questions about who is going to be available to play this weekend. The Seminoles are hoping to get multiple wide receivers back in the lineup, including Johnny Wilson and Keon Coleman, depending on how the week progresses.

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Miami, on the other hand, is dealing with an injury to starting quarterback Tyler Van Dyke, who was noticeably hampered in a 20-6 loss to North Carolina State over the weekend. Van Dyke previously missed the Hurricanes' overtime win against Clemson in October after hurting his throwing hand. He was replaced by true freshman signal-caller Emory Williams in that contest.

Since no official injury reports are required in college football, there's no reason for any team to publicly reveal who will and who won't be able to play during any given week. Call it gamesmanship or tactical advantage, it's just the smart way to operate, especially ahead of a game with ramifications like this.

On Monday, Hurricanes head coach Mario Cristobal declined to go into specifics when asked if the team is considering making a change at quarterback. He said that the team will 'always make the decisions' that give Miami the best chance to win games.

"I appreciate the question and I would respectfully say this. Just from a game-planning standpoint, and a team dynamic standpoint, I wouldn't use this forum to discuss a personnel move, especially at that position, because it affects so many different things," Cristobal said. "What I would always say is that we're always competing at every position, we're always assessing, and we always make the decisions that give us the best chance to win. So again, respectfully, we kind of keep up everything regarding, you know, personnel moves in-house.”

Van Dyke has struggled during this recent stretch while clearly playing at less than 100%. He's thrown ten interceptions to five touchdown passes and has been sacked seven times over his last four starts. That included three picks in the loss to North Carolina State as he completed a season-low 55.3% of his passes.

While replacing Van Dyke in the win over the Tigers, Williams completed 24/33 passes for 151 yards with one touchdown and one interception. Would it make sense to throw the former three-star prospect into the fire on the road against the Seminoles?

“We've struggled, to your question. Turnovers cost us football games. We have progressed as a team in so many different areas. In the last four weeks, we have regressed in the passing game. We have," Cristobal said when asked about turnovers at the quarterback position. "And it's a combination of things. There's no masking that. We certainly don't sidestep that. So when you assess, you know, the passing game you assess how does it relate to the running game? How does protection fit in? How’s the protection as it relates to the backs? How's the route running? So it's a huge area of focus and it's tied into some of the turnovers that we've had as well. And is a top priority for us.”

Florida State, as anticipated, is preparing for every option that is on the table. Head coach Mike Norvell and the Seminoles have faced Van Dyke in each of the last three years. Plus, they heavily recruited Williams out of high school and are familiar with the capabilities that he brings to the table.

"Their quarterback [Van Dyke], I saw him a couple years ago. He's a player, freshman of the year in the conference," Norvell said earlier in the week. "You see the talent that he has. He's been projected as top draft pick for the last few years. He has ability. He has talent."

The Seminoles are expecting Van Dyke to try and gut it out on Saturday. If not, they'll be ready if the reins are handed over to Williams. After all, FSU has played its fair share of backup quarterbacks. Boston College's Thomas Castellanos, Virginia Tech's Kyron Drones, and Pittsburgh's Christian Veilleux didn't enter the season as the starters at their respective schools. 

Plus, the defense locked up Duke's Henry Belin IV after he entered the game for an injured Riley Leonard.

“I mean, Tyler's a really good quarterback. I mean, he’s got good ability, we’ll plan for him obviously,” Norvell said on Tuesday. “Emory played the Clemson game when he was not available. We’ll see how it all plays out.”

Florida State and Miami will face off on Saturday, November 11. The game will kick off at 3:30 p.m. and will be televised on ABC.

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