Missed opportunities doom FSU in 24-10 loss at Clemson
Facing a beleaguered Clemson defense that had given up a combined 81 points in back-to-back home losses to SMU and Duke, the Florida State Seminoles had ample opportunities to produce a big night offensively Saturday in Death Valley.
Instead, the Seminoles squandered nearly all of them and finished with just 10 points.
In an offensive performance that was reminiscent of their last road game at Stanford, the ‘Noles dropped passes, they missed throws and they committed costly turnovers and penalties.
The end result was a 24-10 defeat that drops Florida State to 4-5 on the season and 1-5 in the ACC. Clemson improves to 4-5 and 3-4.
The Tigers had lost six straight home games against Power Four opponents before notching the win over the Seminoles.
With Florida State’s defense holding its own, Clemson only scored six points in the second half, but the Tigers didn’t need any more than that after building a comfortable lead before halftime.
Florida State trailed 18-0 in the second quarter before cutting Clemson’s lead to 11 points late in the first half with a 7-yard touchdown pass from Tommy Castellanos to Lawayne McCoy. That was the Seminoles’ only score of the half despite numerous prime chances.
Florida State started its second possession of the game at the Clemson 35-yard line after a shanked punt, but after driving inside the Tigers’ 10, Castellanos fumbled a handoff to running back Sam Singleton, and Clemson recovered.
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On the Seminoles’ first drive of the second quarter, running back Ousmane Kromah dropped one Castellanos pass on second down and then tight end Randy Pittman dropped another on fourth down. Pittman’s drop not only ended the drive, but it negated a huge gain that likely would have given FSU a first down deep in Clemson territory or perhaps ended in the end zone.
On Florida States next possession, Castellanos had Squirrel White wide open for what would have been a 64-yard touchdown, but he overthrew him by at least five yards.
The Seminoles finally found paydirt on their final drive of the first half with a 10-play, 75-yard drive that was capped off with the McCoy TD reception. The big plays on the drive were a 21-yard pass from Castellanos to McCoy on third-and-4 and a 26-yard scramble by Castellanos on fourth-and-2.
The Seminoles had multiple chances to score in the second half but only produced three points.
Florida State returns to action Saturday at home against Virginia Tech.
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