#1 Florida State topped the Citadel 37-12 on Saturday in a game shortened by heavily featured running attacks. Florida State was efficient on offense, scoring four touchdowns on its first four offensive possessions. The Citadel is a triple-option team and threw sparingly, but both of their touchdowns came on passes in the fourth quarter. Quarterback Jameis Winston spread the ball around, with 10 Seminoles catching at least one pass. Backup running backs Mario Pender and Dalvin Cook played well also.
The real story of the game however, was the injuries the top-ranked Seminoles sustained in the first quarter. The Citadel is a triple-option team, and as such they use cut-blocks to level defensive lineman and open running lanes.
Starting defensive tackle Eddie Goldman went down on the first defensive series of the game with a lower leg injury and had to be helped off the field and carted into the locker room. On the second defensive series, backup defensive tackle Justin Shanks went down with a lower leg injury and had to actually wait for the cart to come back to take him to the locker room.
On the third series, fellow starting defensive tackle Nile Lawrence-Stample also went down with a lower leg injury. Against such an over-matched opponent, all were immediately ruled out of the game, but Goldman later returned to the sideline in a boot and crutches. After Goldman went down, FSU head coach Jimbo Fisher could be seen on the sidelines yelling at the referees about The Citadel’s lineman potentially getting away with chop blocks. No flags were ever thrown.
The score of the game could have been 80-0 and it wouldn’t have mattered; the losses along the already thin defensive front made Saturday’s home opener a total disaster. Defensive tackle was one of the thinnest spots on the roster depth-wise and FSU could not afford any injuries, especially to Goldman, who is expected to play a massive number of snaps this year filling in for Timmy Jernigan who left early for this past May’s NFL Draft. If FSU is to repeat, it will need Goldman and Lawrence-Stample to beat teams such as Alabama in College Football’s first ever Playoff. ‘Nole fans can only hope that the injury isn’t serious and Goldman won’t miss significant time.
Despite the losses along the defensive front, Florida State did set a new school-record by winning its 18th straight contest dating back to 2012. The Seminoles (2-0) now have a bye week to prepare for their next game against Clemson on September 20th.
