Alabama does not make Florida State president fear them

Apparently, the Alabama Crimson Tide football team does not scare Florida State’s president, who thinks that his own squad will walk all over them.

Tim Linafelt, senior writer for Seminoles.com, tweeted the following:

Well, what is he supposed to say? Alabama will pick apart his team to start the 2017 season? However, to decide at this juncture to trash an opponent a week before one of the most highly-anticipated kickoff games in recent history is as wise as putting on boots that have been out in the rain. It becomes uncomfortable for everyone who cares about you, knowing that you’ve stuck your feet deep into them, but nobody has the heart to tell you to change them.

In this case, Thrasher has decided to poke the giant, and he’s not even sleeping. The Crimson Tide are just aching to get back to the national championship, after losing in the final by one score. The returning players are thirsting to prove themselves fit to be champions and the ones from the championship victory two years ago want another taste of it. To decide to trash talk this group of young men now seems like giving them bulletin-board material to motivate them against the Seminoles and make Thrasher eat crow.

That is, if this was any other team than Alabama.

Nick Saban, the Crimson Tide head coach, preaches to anyone who will listen that it’s only about the next play, not the scoreboard. Or even a bulletin board. He wants his players focused on their jobs play after play. The only possible reason that has any logic at all for Thrasher to say such words is that he’s trying to get the Tide off of their game plan.

It certainly isn’t for his own players. If Thrasher wanted to motivate and support his own football team, all that he had to do was say that he thinks his team will beat Alabama. Something to the effect of the entire school standing behind the players and being confident that they will grasp glory. That was all that was needed. Instead, he put out a guarantee a la Joe Namath, a former Alabama quarterback, ironically.

All that this guarantee does is create more pressure for his own players, which is trying to improve their offensive attack since last season. According to Sports Illustrated, Florida State was 108th in in the country in sacks allowed and 38th in yards per carry. In other words, the Seminoles had very poor blocking despite some great athletes at the running back and wide receiver positions. Allowing 36 sacks didn’t help matters. Their completion percentage was good enough for 71st. While both their yards per pass attempt and yards per play put them in 23rd, they had to actually catch the ball first before anything could happen.

Unless Florida State plans on throwing strictly bombs on go-routes, there isn’t much in terms of evidence that they can beat the best defence in the country for too many points. And, while Deondre Francois, the Seminoles quarterback is a great talent, he is no Deshaun Watson of Clemson who seemed to be the only QB able to give a Saban defence fits. Add to that the Crimson Tide ranked first in sacks last season and one has the makings of a really bad day for Francois.

Sure, Florida State’s defence is very good against the run, but they are only decent against the pass (34th in completions allowed and 53rd in yards per pass attempt allowed). Those statistics were also not against Alabama running back Bo Scarbrough, a human wrecking ball down the middle. With Tide QB Jalen Hurts‘ ability to run the option and cool head under pressure, Florida State may not be able to spread out enough to cover every threat that Alabama has in their arsenal.

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No school president should show weakness against an opponent. It was good of him to show support for Seminoles head coach Jimbo Fisher and his team; however, Fisher may or may not have wished that Thrasher kept his mouth shut, instead of putting a great deal of pressure on his team facing a ravenous Alabama football squad. Confidence is one thing, yet overconfidence tends to sound like arrogance. Someone should remind him that a cocky attitude makes a squishing sound, like that watered-down pair of boots, especially when the opponent stomps his elephant-sized foot on the toe.