Introducing Jameis Winston

Welcome to College Football, Mr. Winston

 

 

     "It's one game, guys..... He has played one game" -Jimbo Fisher in post game conference.

 

    Yes, it's only one game, but WOW what a game it was for a kid who has never played in a college football game. If you saw the post game press conference with Fisher, you could almost see the restrained excitement from Fisher. He did emphasize that it was only one game, and that there was still room for growth.

 

    Now let me put my spin on the game from last night. I hate to say I told you so.....but I told you so. The Media has already put Jameis Winston so high in the sky, it almost sets him up for failure. I said I wasn't going to read into his performance too much, but I have to admit it was a better performance than I expected.

 

 

 

Jameis Winston #5

 

 

25-27   4 TD's 0 INTs 8 Rushes 25 Yards 1 TD

 

 

 

 

 

 And if we really want to get picky, he should have been 26-27 passing. The review booth didn't get to look at a play soon enough.

 

 I get it..... It's only Pitt. Yes, Pitt left guys wide-open most of the night. Having guys open is only half of it, though. It wasn't like they were open and he would put the ball in a five yard area of the receiver...... Winston was putting the ball on the money every pass. Hitting guys in stride and throwing the ball before the receiver comes out of his cut..... Those are the things that stand out. There weren't any misfires. At one point he was about to take a sack and was able to hit his safety valve in the flat. Let me ask a question....  
Would EJ Manuel have had numbers even close to what Winston had last night? And I am talking the Senior version of Manuel vs the Redshirt Freshman Winston. Would Manuel have hit all those receivers in stride? Would Manuel have stayed in the pocket even when his first check wasn't there? No disrespect to Manuel, but..... NO. Manuel was a dynamic QB, no doubt, but Winston has raised the bar.

 

   Okay, shifting gears a little bit, what about the rest of the game? Winston pretty much stole the spotlight, but what about FSU's new defensive scheme under Jeremy Pruitt? Other than Pruitt keeping things a little more on the 'vanilla' side, the defense looked okay. There were a few miscues, but that was expected in a new system. Obviously, there is plenty of room for growth, and the players realize this..... You could see it especially on plays where FSU only rushed 4.... They looked a little too cautious in their pass rush. Almost as if they were worried whether or not they were in the right rushing lane. That will get better with experience and comfort level in the system. The corner blitz looked good on a few plays. Joyner recorded two sacks thanks to those play calls. If there was one area I was more concerned with on the defense, it had to be the running lanes that Pitt was able to create. Again, I hope I am just reading too much into what they looked like on defense. It was the first game, and it was on the road..... Mistakes happen. The defense has its list of things to work on over the next couple weeks, and I think they will make some pretty good progress after being able to watch film from last night.

 

   I want to caution fans. Yes, Winston looked amazing, but please remember it's only one game. I am interested in seeing how he does with better defenses along the way. Don't get me wrong, I am very excited about the way he played, but the more hype that builds, the tougher it's going to be when/if he doesn't perform at the same level as he did against Pitt. Either way, the season couldn't have started any better for Winston or Florida State. Now, let this performance set in for a little while.....11 days to be exact. Florida State plays Nevada on Sept 14.