Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM NOV. 9, 2024 41 GAME PREVIEW: FLORIDA STATE Date: Nov. 16, 2024 Site (capacity): Notre Dame Stadium (77,622) Kickoff: 3:30 p.m. ET TV: NBC/Peacock All-time series: Notre Dame leads 4-0 Last meeting: Notre Dame 28, Virginia 3 (Nov. 13, 2021 in Charlottesville, Va.) 2024 Record To Date: 4-4 (2-3 ACC) Virginia head coach: Tony Elliott (third season, 10-20 through Oct. 26) Season Summary: In Elliott's third season at the helm in Charlottesville, the jury is still out on what he can do with the Cavaliers. He won three games in 2022, a season in which the final two games were canceled after the tragic shooting deaths of three of his players. An under- standably shaken team won three games again in 2023, but Virginia went 2-5 in one-score games. Progress needed to be made in 2024, and it has been — the Cavaliers have won four games — but a difficult end to the season looms. Virginia faces ranked opponents in three of its final five matchups, including No. 12 Notre Dame Nov. 26. Elliott, who made his name as Clemson's offensive coordinator during its heyday, suffered his third loss this season to the quietly rejuvenated Tigers in blowout fashion Oct. 19. But the Cavaliers are still competitive. They gave Louisville a scare in Week 7 and handed Boston College a loss in Week 6. Elliott appears to have something in sophomore quarterback Anthony Col- andrea, a dual-threat signal-caller whose rushing numbers (90 carries for 219 yards) are lower than they should be because he's been sacked 25 times for 168 yards. Colandrea started eight games as a true freshman last season, and he's a gunslinger, not afraid to throw on the run or take a hit to make a play. This is still a team, though, that the Irish should handle on Senior Day. FIVE PLAYERS TO WATCH Pos. No. Player Notable Stats* QB 10 Anthony Colandrea 156-of-248, 1,805 yards, 11 TD, 6 INT WR 8 Malachi Fields 43 receptions, 654 yards, 4 TD C 55 Brian Stevens 81.4 PFF pass-blocking grade S 20 Jonas Sanker 64 tackles, 1 sack, 3 PD, 1 FR, 1 TD LB 5 Kam Robinson 43 tackles, 3 sacks, 1 INT * Statistics through Oct. 26 On Deck: Virginia Cavaliers 1. The Offense Can't Get Much Worse It's not just that Florida State was averaging 276.0 yards per game through Week 8, the third- worst number in college football. It's that the Seminoles aren't particularly good at anything on that side of the ball. Not one thing. Taking care of the football? Tied for 110th in turnovers lost with 13, yielding a turnover margin of minus-10 that was second-to-last in the FBS. Turning red-zone trips into touchdowns? Fifty percent of the time, which also ranked tied for 110th nationally. Team passing efficiency? No. 129 in the FBS out of 134 teams. Converting on third down? Only 26.8 percent of the time, No. 130 in the FBS. Rushing yards per game? Just over 72, No. 131 in the FBS. Head coach Mike Norvell recently called that phase of his team's game, led by senior tail- back Lawrence Toafili with 253 yards and 2 touch- downs on 64 carries in seven games, "Awful." It's all bad for the Florida State offense, and that's an indictment on Norvell, who has exten- sive history on that side of the ball. 2. Historically Bad Florida State only has 16 seasons in the storied history of the program with six or more losses. We're in the midst of one of them. Prior to the Seminoles' meeting with Miami in Week 9, the number of Florida State seasons with seven or more losses was six. Eight or more? It's only happened three times prior to this year, the last time being 1975. This was Florida State's first 1-6 start since 1975 as well. The only thing worse than Florida State's all-time worst season, an 0-11 campaign in 1973, would be an 0-12 showing. Fortunately for FSU, that was avoided with a 14-9 win over Cal Sept. 21. That's when you know it's bad, though. Beat- ing Cal by five points and only scoring 14 points in the process was the Seminoles' brightest spot of the season through mid-October. The Bears outgained the Seminoles 410 to 284 in total yards in Tallahassee that day. This isn't the way it was supposed to go for the preseason No. 10 team in the country, but it quickly became reality when FSU lost its first three games of the season for the second time in Mike Norvell's five-year tenure. Per CBS Sports, Norvell is responsible for two of the three 0-3 starts in Florida State history. The late, great Bobby Bowden put down the other in his first season with the program in 1976. 3. Getting Pushed Around This is a dream matchup for a Notre Dame offense that likes to run, run, run. Florida State allowed three of its first six opponents to rush for at least 5.0 yards per carry, and Clemson went up over 6.0. Three of the first six opponents also rushed for at least 200 yards. When you combine a Florida State defense al- lowing 172 rushing yards per game, tied for 104th in the FBS, with a Notre Dame offense rushing for 209.6 yards per game, 17th in the FBS, through Week 8, you're probably going to get an outcome that isn't so good for the team on the wrong side of those numbers. That's also the team from a Southern state that has to travel to Northern Indiana in November. Often times, these late-season games in South Bend come down to which team controls the lines of scrimmage. When Notre Dame has the ball, it should be able to do just that. — Tyler Horka After rushing for 463 yards on 69 carries as a senior in 2023, graduate student Lawrance Toafili has only 253 yards on 64 carries as Florida State's featured back in 2024. PHOTO COURTESY FLORIDA STATE ATHLETICS Three Things To Know About Florida State