Florida State football

Florida State’s offense could not get much going in an opening day loss to Virginia Tech, spoiling Willie Taggart’s debut as head coach.

Despite preaching “lethal simplicity” all offseason, FSU’s offense struggled to get the ball moving. Deondre Francois, making his first start since last September, made some nice throws and Cam Akers busted a long 85-yard run in the third quarter, but Florida State’s offense sputtered often. The ’Noles failed to reach the end zone for the first time since last year’s 35-3 loss to Boston College.

The issues with Florida State’s offense started with the run game. The ’Noles averaged 5.2 yards per play but more importantly, 3.4 yards per rush.

Akers and Jacques Patrick struggled to run the ball against a stout Virginia Tech defense. Outside of Akers’ long run, the pair combined for 37 yards on 20 carries. Virginia Tech’s defense lived in the backfield, racking up 14 tackles for loss and often putting the ’Noles behind the chains. Of the 63 offensive plays that FSU ran, 35 went for zero or negative yards.

Injuries to the offensive line were added adversity for this team. Starting offensive guard Cole Minshew did not suit up for this game and right tackle Landon Dickerson left with injury as well. Left tackle Jauan Williams and left guard Derrick Kelly each left for portions of the game as well. The depth along the offensive line was known to be a major liability and proved to be a factor in this game.

Francois started off hot, hitting Keith Gavin and Khalan Laborn for a couple of big plays down the field. But with the run game shut down, he started to struggle throwing the ball. Francois tossed three interceptions in this game, the second of which came when the junior quarterback threw the ball into coverage despite good pass protection. Francois finished with 233 passing yards, which was the majority of FSU’s 327 total yards.

Florida State particularly struggled in the red zone. After a big gain by Nyqwan Murray to the Virginia Tech 1-yard line, which looked like a touchdown on replay, the Seminoles settled for a field goal. Later in the game, FSU turned the ball over following Akers’ long run that set the offense up at the Virginia Tech 6-yard line.

Simply put, it just wasn’t Florida State’s night.

Overall, Florida State turned the ball over five times in this game, four of which came from the offense.

Perhaps the most surprising aspect of this offensive performance was the fact that Taggart’s offense looked completely unprepared for its debut. The Gulf Coast Offense, which saved Taggart’s career at USF and earned him jobs at Oregon and Florida State, was overwhelmed by Bud Foster’s defense. The Hokies feasted on FSU’s inexperienced offensive line and flew to the boundary when the ’Noles tried to get the ball to the outside.

The one positive aspect to this offensive performance is that FSU had Virginia Tech on the ropes at times. Several defensive players looked gassed and were forced to leave the field, especially along the defensive line.

Taggart’s debut as FSU’s head coach was disappointing, but the Florida State team he inherited went to the Independence Bowl last season and lost several stars to the NFL Draft. This was always going to be a rebuilding project for the Bradenton native, and this opening day loss to Virginia Tech proved that the Seminoles still have a long way to go.

No. 20 Florida State had the hype, the talent and the stage to ring in the Willie Taggart era with a top 25 ACC win. But all the narratives that were ready to be written about Taggart -- the longtime FSU fan starting his dream job -- ignored the possibility that Monday night was going to be much more about Justin Fuente. 

Virginia Tech's 24-3 win against Florida State started with a beautiful offensive script from Fuente for quarterback Josh Jackson, which resulted in a 10-play touchdown drive on the first possession of the game. While experts downgraded the Hokies because of losses on the defensive side of the ball, the group that showed up on Monday night in Tallahassee played just as nasty as any other Bud Foster group we've seen in maroon over the last three decades. 

There's no doubt about it, Virginia Tech is not going to take a step back and is absolutely a threat to Miami in the Coastal Division. Florida State, on the other hand, looks much less like a threat to Clemson after starting this sloppy start. 

Here are three things to know about Virginia Tech's win, Florida State's loss and what it means for both teams: 

1. A historic home game (for the wrong reasons): The last time Florida State was held to three points or fewer at home was Sept. 20, 2008, in a 12-3 loss to Wake Forest as the Demon Deacons went on to win the ACC. A record crowd -- at least at kickoff -- was on hand to witness it all, the entire frustrating affair with turnovers (5) and poor field position making it seem like Florida State was moving backwards all night long. It didn't help that in addition to losing the field position battle and giving up a ton of hidden yardage, Florida State also had a punt blocked in the end zone for a Hokies touchdown; a very Beamer Ball moment with the legendary Virginia Tech coach on hand for the game as an honorary captain.

2. FSU fans need to show some patience: It's going to be tough considering the positivity, excitement, expectations and how far fans fell from that high before kickoff to the sorrow of leaving the stadium. When adversity hit early, Florida State looked exactly like the team in its first year with a new coach, while Virginia Tech carried an advantage being in Year 3 with Fuente. The Seminoles may have been a little over-hyped and Virginia Tech was definitely overlooked, so this touchdown spread really was a toss-up of a game between two evenly-matched teams. One of those teams turned the ball over five times, the other not at all. Honestly, it speaks to the effort of Florida State's defense that the final margin was only 21 points. 

3. Virginia Tech might be the dark horse in the ACC: The Hokies offense slowed after its hot start, and certainly let some opportunities get away later in the game, but much of that is a credit to Florida State's defense. 

"We battled. Obviously in the third quarter we kept them pinned down. I was worried we let a couple few opportunities to get away, but I'm proud of our kids," Fuente told ESPN's Maria Taylor after the game.