FSU football's failure to execute the "little things" proves costly in loss to Miami

Florida State football’s Tommy Castellanos shouldered the blame for the 28-22 loss to Miami on Saturday, Oct. 4, claiming the team’s shortcomings were “on me” after the No. 18 Seminoles’ second consecutive loss to the No. 3 Hurricanes.

Castellanos struggled to cope with Miami’s defensive pressure in the first half, but slowly turned things around late in the game, leading the Seminoles to 19 unanswered points in the fourth quarter. Castellanos finished the night 25-of-45 passing for 272 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions, while rushing for 57 yards.

He felt his performance wasn’t to the standard he expected of himself, or the one the program expects, leading the Seminoles quarterback to apologize postgame.

“I told the guys this one is on me, this loss is on me. I apologize to this team, I apologize to this community, the alumni and the past players,” Castellanos said. “This game is on me, and I told the guys I have to play better and have to be better. I told them I promise that they’ll start seeing better.

Two careless interceptions, you know, we won in every margin, running game, passing game, just two careless picks.”

The Seminoles outgained Miami 404 to 338, and even ran 24 more plays than the Hurricanes, and while Castellanos took personal responsibility for the loss, the Seminoles team as a whole failed to execute what center Luke Petitbon called “the little things.”

FSU football’s failure to execute the “little things” costs the Seminoles

Carelessness with the football led to three turnovers, all coming in critical periods of the game, and helped Miami score 14 points off turnovers. Pair that with penalties, five for 45 yards, and missed opportunities on what would typically be easy completions or lapses defensively, the Seminoles’ errors piled up and put the team behind the eight ball for a second straight week.

Both losses to Virginia and Miami ultimately came down to one possession, and Norvell said he put an emphasis on cleaning up mental errors after the loss to the Cavaliers, but that emphasis in preparation didn’t translate into success against the Hurricanes.

“It’s something that’s being emphasized. With emphasis, there has to be application. We can’t lose the turnover margin. In two straight games, we’ve had three turnovers. Got to get that fixed,” Norvell said. “It was a clear understanding and expectation for what we needed to get done, but unfortunately… we didn’t apply that well enough.”

There were a few key moments in the game, none more important than a two-play swing early in the second quarter.

FSU faced fourth and long at midfield and made an aggressive play call to go for it, rather than punt. It led to Castellanos’ first interception of the game after he tried to step up in the pock,et and float a pass to Randy Pittman Jr, which resulted in a 43-yard return that set Miami up for a 44-yard flea-flicker touchdown from Carson Beck to Malachi Toney, making it 14-3.

It swung momentum in the Hurricanes’ favor, and Miami built on that lead, ahead 28-3 until a chaotic fourth-quarter comeback attempt from the Seminoles.

While Castellanos said he needed to “zip” the ball more to find Pittman, the decision to go for it on fourth down was a head-scratcher, and an example of the “little things” being failed by both players and coaches. Sitting at midfield down 7-3 early in the second quarter, FSU and Norvell opted to pass on trying to pin Miami with a punt, and it led to the momentum-swinging two-play sequence.

“Wanted to be aggressive. Felt good about the opportunities that we could have there. We’ve been good in fourth down situations. A little outside the field goal range. Potentially trying to pin ’em. But it was just distance-wise, felt good about what we could accomplish,” Norvell said.

“Obviously, don’t want to have the interception and the big return and the next play they scored, so that didn’t go how anybody wants it to. But these are decisions that are made throughout the course of a game when it comes to what you want to do, and it was one I made.”

As the Seminoles start preparation for a crucial ACC contest against Pitt next week, both Norvell and Castellanos admitted FSU has a lot of work to do to clean up critical mistakes that have ultimately cost FSU in tight games.

Norvell, like Castellanos, apologized to fans for the performance against the Hurricanes. He said he wasn’t going to take any silver linings from the game and that the focus for the Seminoles needs to be on winning in all aspects of the game for the remainder of the season.

“I’m not somebody that ever carries a silver lining for a loss. You win or you lose. Our guys, they competed. They fought. We’ve come down to really where it’s been one possession at the end of the last two games. But, you know, at the end of the day we didn’t play well enough, or coach well enough, or execute well enough to get the victory,” Norvell said.

“I believe in the talent and the ability this team has. We’ve got to get better. So it’s there… for what we do in our response and our preparation this week, to go apply the corrections so that we don’t have to have this experience again.”

Liam Rooney covers Florida State athletics for the Tallahassee Democrat. Contact him via email at LRooney@gannett.com or on Twitter @__liamrooney

This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: FSU football’s self-inflicted wounds prove costly in loss vs Miami.

FSU football’s failure to execute the “little things” proves costly in loss to Miami

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