The End of Last Night’s Florida State Game Might Be The Most “Jimbo Fisher-y” Thing We’ve Seen So Far
If you are a soccer fan in America, you might be familiar with the Men in Blazers. If so, then you should be familiar with the term “That’s so Spurs-y” This term is to describe Tottenham Hotspur, a team in the English Premier League who happens to have a penchant for success despite having a tendency for ham-fisting themselves in the most bizarre ways. Florida State head coach Jimbo Fisher is America’s version of the Spurs, and last night was just another example as to why.
Don’t get me wrong, Jimbo has earned the right to get some latitude when he does weird things; after spending so many years emptying Bobby Bowden’s drool-bucket, one is bound to have the occasional mental short-circuit. We all remember the Orange Bowl in 2006 when it was clearly Jimbo’s job to keep Bowden awake as that game stretched toward 1 am by going into three overtimes.
I’m not going to waste everybody’s time listing every great Fisher-y moment throughout out history, but to give you an idea, I will discuss the two that last night’s moment easily surpasses.
First, there’s that classic press conference Jimbo held back in the days when his star quarterback, Rapies Winston, was knee-deep in a sexual assault allegation. Jimbo meant well, but his clumsy defense actually made the kid sound more like a rapist.
This was Jimbo’s first “realization colliding with denial” moment
Then there’s the time that same quarterback showed up on the sideline in full dress for a game from which he was suspended. There was clearly a moment when you could see Jimbo had to come to terms with the fact his star quarterback clearly has a room-temperature IQ.
But what happened last night clearly tops all that. Sure, you might think this was just a blocked kick, followed by a fluke return, but that would be a dramatic over-simplification. Allow em to explain why with another patented Dubsism “break-down.”
As you watch that video, keep a couple of things in mind:
1) Those who know me know I have a mantra about these situations at the end of games. It is a stark measure of the quality of a football team to watch how thye get first downs at the end of games when they absolutely need them. Note the position of the big, green “field goal range” line and where the ball was spotted when Jimbo decided to try this kick.
2) Why is Jimbo trying this kick from 56 yards? Did you notice the score? They’re tied. Florida State isn’t losing; Jimbo really doesn’t need to take this bad risk. Make no mistake, this is a bad risk at this situation. There’s only four possible outcomes here, and three of them don’t help.
- Aguayo makes the kick. Seminoles win.
- Aguayo misses the kick. Game goes to overtime
- The kick gets blocked and ball is blown dead. Game goes to overtime.
- The kick gets blocked and ball is returned for a score. Seminoles lose.
Yes, I understand Roberto Aguayo is the best college kicker in the country. But he’s still a college kicker. With an NFL kicker, this is the quintessential “low-percentage shot. With a college kicker, it becomes even a bigger long shot than drawing to an inside straight. Agauyo might be the best college kicker in the country, but even the best Navy SEAL sniper can’t hit a guy in Syria from his porch in Texas.
So, why does Jimbo take this risk? Because he panicked. He honestly believed this team could get 15 yards closer than they did; which makes this a very make-able kick. You can tell Jimbo wanted to kick and win the game at this point, because he didn’t have any faith in his defense to handle Georgia Tech in overtime. To be even more honest, Jimbo never saw himself being faced with a decision like this; but his team’s inability to handle the triple-option offense meant Jimbo didn’t have his usual two-score lead at the end of the game.
3) Note what happens after the kick gets blocked. The primary duty of the offensive guys on a kick like this is to block the guy in front of them. Somebody didn’t do that. The secondary job is to fan out and protect possible return lanes just like on a kick-off. Nobody did that. Discipline matters, and a big part of discipline is everybody does their job. Look at what happens after that kick gets blocked. There’s literally nine Seminoles running after the ball instead of doing their goddamn job. That’s simply a violation of the cardinal rules of winning football.
Yes, I understand Florida State wins a shitload of games. But this is another case of one they lost because they have no discipline. Seminole fans may never have the brains or guts to admit this, but it’s those little things that make the difference between “good” and “great.” Florida State is good, but that decision coupled with that lack of execution means the Seminoles are now out of any play-off talk.
That’s about as Fisher-y as it gets.
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Totally agree. Jimbo has in his relatively brief reign (opposed to the 100 years or so under legendary Bobby Bowden) been a classic hot mess of the 3C’s…contradictions, confusion and in the true spirit of Dubsism…concussions. So very Spurs-y indeed, Jimbo.
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They’ve been playing with fire since the Jameis days. Now that he’s Tampa’s problem, it was bound to catch up to them eventually.
Bookmark Nov. 7 when Jimbo takes his boys into Clemson. That one could get interesting.
Needless to say I was tending bar last night and, as I live in Florida, we get a fair amount of ‘Nole fans and ‘Nole haters alike. The bar went nuts when the whole thing went down.
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