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Forget swagger, the Canes are just trying to get their confidence back after UNC loss

That, among other things, is what Shandel Richardson, UM beat and blog writer for the Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel, told us. It's part of this Q & A session about the Canes.

Patrick Nix is getting heat for putting a governor on the offense Saturday when UM appeared to have it won. Does he open things up on Saturday, knowing it's such an important game? 
Yeah, the offense is slowly opening things up and has shown progress each week. You can expect a little more creativity from Nix. He's been solid since the UF game. I'd say Nix has been in control of the playcalling because one of the things Randy Shannon has stressed is letting his assistants do their jobs. He's been more like the CEO, running the company and delegating responsibilities.

Will UM's defense be gunning for Ponder against a young OL, or play more of a read and react style now that FSU show signs of a run game?
After the UNC game, the Hurricanes just need to worry about regaining their confidence first. That's the key before they can think about gunning for Ponder. You'll see some aggression, but probably not too much. The way the UNC passing game carved the secondary should make UM think twice about blitzing or leaving guys in single coverage.

What do you know of UM's injury situation and how it will affect the starting lineup on Saturday?
No real new injuries. The only unit banged up is the secondary. Starter Randy Phillips is out and Vaughn Telemaque (freshman) is likely out. Chavez Grant is banged up and may be replaced by DeMarcus Van Dyke. Marcus Forston returns at defensive tackle.

It's Ponder vs. Marve: the Duel within Saturday's Shootout

Break down the stats below and you'll find it's pretty close to a draw so far between these two young quarterbacks. Marve has a better percentage and averages two yards per game more. Ponder's thrown for more yards and is one TD ahead. Visible tattoos may be the only big edge that Marve has. The Canes QB has monogrammed biceps (an R on one, M on the other).

Looking beyond the numbers, who has what it takes to prevail Saturday in their first big rivalry game? Here's an opinion from our UM analyst, Kartik at Canes Rising. Agree or diagree, we respect his opinions. He's surprisingly objective, respects the Noles (hates the gates), and is tough on the team he covers.

We asked him: After watching both Marve and Ponder this season, how do you compare the two?

Florida State currently has more talent all over the field than Miami does, except at one very key position: that’s QB. With EJ Manuel out of the equation until next season I would take Robert Marve in a heartbeat over any of FSU’s QBs. Marve to me has been the most impressive Quarterback Miami has had this quickly in his career since Bernie Kosar. Marve is more complete at this stage than Gino Toretta or Ken Dorsey were as Freshmen.

Marve is a superb athlete. As Miami fans learned with Kyle Wright, being athletic can be overrated at the QB position, however. Where Marve is already better as a freshman than Wright was as a senior is in his decision making. Marve has a quick release and has already learned to look off his receivers to find the 2nd or 3rd option on broken plays. Wright never learned this in his five years at Miami, and either would take a sack or turn the ball over when forced to abandon his primary receiver on a route.

Marve makes lightning quick decisions when flushed out of the pocket: he can throw on the run as could Wright or Kirby Freeman but unlike the two former Cane QBs, he’s decisive when scrambling.  The talent level at Miami still lags behind Florida State, Clemson, Virginia Tech and perhaps a few other ACC schools. But having a QB of Marve’s caliber will probably keep Miami in some conference games this season that they by all rights should be blown out of.

Sad to say but Christian Ponder has been a disappointment from my vantage point. I really believed that he would be an upgrade over Drew Weatherford but I have yet to see much from him. He has happy feet in my estimation: he cannot sit in the pocket deliver a ball and take a hit. Until his final two drives versus Wake Forest, I really liked what DeVontry Richardson brought for FSU. He was moving the offense and had Greg Carr not given up on a deep route, Richardson likely would have hit him for the go ahead TD. If Carr doesn’t mysteriously pull up on that play, I think we’re talking about Richardson starting the rest of the season. After that miscue, Richardson pressed and tried to force something to happen, resulting in two interceptions late against a very good Wake secondary.

I really think Jimbo Fisher should have given Richardson a series or two versus Colorado. With the running game doing well thanks to Antoine Smith, but Ponder missing open guys again, Richardson deserved a look.

I also think it is unfortunate Drew Weatherford ends his career this way. Had Florida State done a better job of pass blocking or recruiting prior to hiring Rick Trickett, we could be talking about Weatheford in the same realm as Danny Kannell and Thad Busby. FSU QBs somewhat limited athletically that made good decisions and delivered a good ball. But Weatherford was doomed because of FSU’s porous offensive line more than anything in my estimation and that’s why Ponder and Richardson are better options than him this season.

Carelessly Random and Rapidly Meaningless Thoughts, Colorado Edition

 by Bill from Tampa
1. Good move by Colorado for not bringing their mascot, Ralphie, to the game. They got all the trampling they wanted from one Antone Smith.

2. Clearly the Buffs were not paying attention. Jimbo told you he was going to run the ball more this week.

3. In an obvious shot at FSU’s offense came the comment from the TV booth “You can win a lot of games with great defense and special teams.” Someone forgot to mention that to Antone.

4. The Strangest Signal from the Sideline to Christian Ponder Award goes to Drew Weatherford for his sticking his tongue out and tapping it with his fingers. I’m not even going ask what that play is.

5. Best sign seen at the game yesterday: 500?
A.    Bobby’s age
B.    Turnovers last week
C.    Games coached

6. Since speeding up the time it takes time to play college football games is an issue these days, here’s a time saving idea. After having two delay of game penalties while trying to line up for the field goal, just have FSU go ahead and accept the penalty before trotting out the kicking unit and automatically deduct the time off the clock.

7. After hearing that ancient recording of Bobby singing “We are the Seminoles” that ABC showed during the game, music lovers everywhere can be VERY glad that if Bobby was considering a career as a professional singer he made the correct decision as to what path to pursue.

8. Queried at halftime as to what he will tell his team in the locker room, Bowden responded “I told you no penalties, no turnovers, so stop it!!” Asked further if they will get any dadgummits Bobby replied “Oh yeah, they’ll get that.” I wonder what the over and under was on the number the team got?

9. The poignant question of the week came  from Mrs. BFT who asked after learning of Wake Forest’s loss to Navy, “They couldn’t play like that last week?”  Obviously FSU showed the Demon Deacs how to turn the ball over and they learned well.

10. And speaking of Mrs. BFT, following her other question, “Why do they call it Old Miss?” I’m not sure why I got that special stare reserved only for annoyed wives after providing a sincere and well thought out answer, “because it’s old?”

Christian Ponder holds up 5 fingers for things to be happy about

1. What a rush. Two Hundred and Fifty-Nine Yards on the ground, the biggest Seminole rushing game since...that's gonna take awhile to look up.

2. Gators Lose.

3. FSU's First INTERCEPTION of the '08 season.

4. MRG's 94-yard kickoff TD, the longest since...hold on, we're still looking up the rushing stat.

5. Did we mention the gators LOST?

It's not easy being a Buffalo in 85% humidity, and other pre-kick Nole Nuggets

Some like it hot. No coaches or players left from Colorado's last trip to Florida, so the Buffs can only imagine how sticky Jacksonville will be. In 2003 CU came to Doak in late September and it wasn't pretty. The Chris Rix-led Noles won 47 - 7. Kamerion Wimbley terrorized Buffs QBs with two sacks, four tackles for losses, and recovered a fumble while causing another.

Ask another West Coast team that traveled to sweaty ACC country. Two weeks ago heavily-favored California got whacked by Maryland  35-27 (not as close as it looks). Cal LB Zach Follet said after the game, "To tell you the truth, this humidity was tough. We are not used to this humidity and they kind of had the advantage there."

Cody in the crosshairs. To win the Noles must get to the Buffs QB. The Noles D has 9 sacks in 3 games (10th in NCAA stats in a tie with 6 other teams). Meanwhile, Colorado has allowed just 4 in 3 games.

And Cody knows it. "They are definitely going to have some wrinkles ready for us because they get those vets back, but at the same time, we know we've got to go down there and play our game regardless of who they have on defense."

Do penalties matter when you're scoring? Sure, we hope for more disciplined play and fewer flags on FSU. But consider this: the Noles are 108th in the nation in Fewest Penalties Per Game. But the team that's dead-last in the category may be #1 in the polls come Monday. Yep, Georgia is 118th with 43 flags for minus 356 yards.

Noles and Buffs in the zone. Interesting that FSU and Colorado are tied (along with a few other teams) for  48th in Red Zone Efficiency, scoring 10 out of 12 times

Looking ahead. For a little preview of how much better the Canes are playing this year, check out the highlights of the hurt they put on Texas A&M last Saturday.

Attn FSU Coaches: Here's the game plan that had Colorado on their heels

Larry Weir (pictured here) is the play-by-play man for Eastern Washington. He called the game on September 6 when the Eagles came within a whisker of upsetting Colorado (final score, 31-24). We asked Larry how this 1-AA team dominated the game and kept Cody Hawkins off balance most of the day.

"Eastern was able to put a lot of pressure on Hawkins, and that helped limit him. And they did it without much blitzing, mostly a strong rush by just the front four. Colorado had one of their guards suspended for the game, so they played a redshirt freshman and true freshman at guard, and they were really struggling to block Eastern's tackles. So I think they had to do a lot of adjustments of routes and so forth because Hawkins didn't have a lot of time to throw."

How did the secondary play Colorado?
"Eastern played mostly zone. But they did try to give Hawkins different looks to confuse him. They would show man and then back into zone. Or a cover three look then drop back into four.  But it was still mainly the pressure they were able to get from that down line. Eastern put the heat on and basically Hawkins had one read and that was it."

Eastern's offense had a good day too, rolling up 350 total yards.
"I don't think Colorado was completely ready to play an FCS opponent. And Eastern came out aggressively with underneath passing which got Colorado back on their heels. In that first half Colorado played deep and gave Eastern a bunch of short routes. But in the second half CU got much more aggressive -- challenging Eastern's receivers -- and started blitzing more, while playing more man coverage to take away the short routes. Eastern struggled in the second half with those adjustments."

Points and Counterpoints on why Drew should play and Bobby must go now

If you read ChantRant (daily, we hope), then you probably also read Tomahawk Nation and Scalp 'Em. We do. These three sites provide your recommended daily dose of independent FSU sports news and opinions, from guys who write and report because we love the Noles --  not because we're making a buck off of them.

But today we're taking a contrarian view to two of their latest pieces. Leave a Comment and let us know how you feel about their points and our counterpoints.

Hey Bobby, don't forget the sunscreen.
Tomahawk Nation paid due respect to college football's living legend. Then they peed all over his statue (figuratively, that is).

It's a very well written, thorough piece. Quite convincing. And we agree with many of the points it makes.

One problem. It will have as much impact on Bowden's future plans as a stiff breeze on Jimmy Johnson's hair helmet.

Guys, T.K. sealed an air tight deal with Bobby, and nobody but the Grim Reaper is going to break it. Why stress over something you can do nothing about? Love it or hate it, only Mr. (and Mrs.) Bowden will decide when it's time to go to the beach.

That day will come. Probably sooner than later. Until then can we just tone down the growing Greek chorus of griping? While Bobby may have done things to tarnish his image in the vast arena of the college football world, FSU fans should be the last ones to drag it through the mud.

Drew Weatherford got the shaft.
Or so says Scalp 'Em. Now it's funny, even ironic, how Drew has become the second most controversial figure in FSU football -- after Bobby. But victim status?

Truth is, Drew is a victim of lousy luck. His injury during Spring practice not only took him out of the lineup, it took him out of the quarterback picture. Christian and D'vo got the snaps and headlines. Once Jimbo and Corley saw what that dynamic duo could do -- including mobility, arm strength, playmaking magic, etc. -- good old Drew was doomed.

We respect no. 11 as a role model, the son every Father should have. But file this one under the same header as the Bowden debacle: it's a done deal. Grousing about it will change nothing -- except fan the flames of controversy and dissension that this team doesn't need.

Colorado's hometown sports writers split on outcome of Noles and Buffs

Boulder Camera sports writers Kyle Ringo and Neill Woelk not only write about Colorado football, they have their own TV show. Well, it's a weekly on-line video that's 180 degrees from SportsCenter in production values. But the duo does give good insights on the Buffs and their upcoming opponent.

So check out this week's "Buff Zone" and see why Kyle and Neill think Saturday is a major test for Colorado. And who picks what team and why.

Xavier Lee headed South again after impressing Canadian League team in tryout

Steve Ellis of The Democrat reported recently that Xavier Lee, after his TE experiment with Baltimore, had a Canadian League tryout with Calgary. True, but Lee is now headed South again. Not because he couldn't cut it, but because it was more of an audition for a future roster spot.

We talked to Calgary's Director of Scouting, John Murphy, who explained how the CFL does it.

"What we do up here is, for 30 days after the NFL makes their final cuts we're allowed to give selected guys a week to ten day evaluation. Xavier was the first quarterback we tried out. We wanted to see how he looks in our offense, show him the (Canadian) game -- it's a different size field, you've got 12 men, and different in what your reads are and getting the ball out. So we get that on tape, then in the off season the coaches evaluate and decide which of the guys could come in and be our third quarterback next year."

What were his plans after leaving Calgary?
"We told him it would be smart to do some Arena League tryouts and see how his game looks indoors. A guy like Xavier would have been perfect for NFL Europe (now defunct). But I think he'll try some of the Arena teams down in Florida and see how they like him. We had a high opinion of him up here, but it takes time to learn this game and system. Our backup quarterback is in his third year in the system and is no closer to being #1 than Xavier is.

"Also, the weight that he added as a tight end. If he's really serious about playing quarterback in the CFL, Arena League or even NFL, he needs to work on that. But there's a lot of raw skill there. And anybody who had any questions about his arm strength or learning ability...we never saw any problems. He's a great guy to deal with. He was a 'yes-sir, no-sir' person. He was on time. He stayed and watched film. So if it's not in Calgary, Xavier Lee could be somewhere playing football."

If playing a Div.1-AA team is an early season test, Colorado almost failed it

While FSU blitzed its two 1-AA opponents to open the season, Colorado nearly choked on what it thought would be a cupcake. But Eastern Washington, which had played into the 1-AA semi-finals in '07, ran the Buffs ragged. Eastern scored on its first possession and led the entire game (played Sept. 6). -- or at least the final 2:05, when CU scored twice in a 21-second span to edge the Eagles 31-24.

Eastern QB Matt Nichols upstaged the Buffs' Cody Hawkins, throwing for 303 yards to Hawkins' 261. In total offense, Colorado outgained the Eagles by exactly one yard (351 to 350).

Eagle DB Ryan Kelley wasn't impressed by the Buffs, saying "They got desperate, and they got lucky. I don't like to talk bad about teams, but they aren't going to get far in the Big 12. They aren't playing like a Big 12 team. They're playing like a Big Sky team."