| Down | Yard | Play | O-form | D-form | Analysis |
| 3-5 | at Um30 | Start of 2nd quarter, clock 15:00. | |||
| 3-5 | at Um30 | Morris, S pass complete to Johnson, D for 3 yards to the UM33 (SMITH, TEL.). | 10 gun | 425 | FSU unveils a new DL alignment that they will play a lot of in the second half. Instead of one 1 Tech DT (aligned in the weakside center/guard gap) and one 3 Tech DT (aligned in the guard tackle gap strongside), both DTs are on the guards' respective outside shoulders. This is an aggressive pass rushing front as it makes it very difficult for the offensive line to get double teams. They also run an End/Tackle twist with Timmy Jernigan and Bjeorn Werner. The result of all of this is heavy pressure that forces Morris to get rid of the ball to his checkdown in the flat, who is tackled short of the first down. |
| 4-2 | at Um33 | Botts, D punt 56 yards to the FS11, GREENE, R. return 0 yards to the FS11, fumble by GREENE, R. recovered by FS GREENE, R. at FS10, out-of-bounds. | Completely unacceptable that this is still happening. Time for a change. | ||
| Drive: 3 plays, 8 yards, TOP 01:50 | |||||
| 1-10 | at Fs10 | FLORIDA STATE drive start at 14:10, FS ball on FS10. | |||
| 1-10 | at Fs10 | THOMPSON, C. rush for 5 yards to the FS15 (Perryman, D). | 20 gun | 43 | Miami is playing off here, clearly aware that FSU went deep consistently in their coming out offense against BC. Nice hard running by Thompson. |
| 2-5 | at Fs15 | PRYOR, L. rush for 8 yards to the FS23, 1ST DOWN FS (King, C;Highsmith, A). | 20 gun | 43 | Outside zone with Chris Thompson leading the way. Lonnie runs through arm tackles like they aren't even there. |
| 1-10 | at Fs23 | Manuel, EJ pass complete to THOMPSON, C. for 32 yards to the UM45, 1ST DOWN FS (Telemaque, V). | 20 gun | 43 | Shayon Greene is listed as a defensive lineman on Miami's roster, but he is playing LB here and gets completely frozen by playaction. Thompson is wide open up the sideline and makes a great fingertip grab. |
| 1-10 | at Um45 | Manuel, EJ pass incomplete to GREENE, R., QB hurry by Chickillo, A. | 21 gun | 43 | Miami brings a well-disguised overload blitz. EJ tries to stand in and make a play but is hit as he throws. |
| 2-10 | at Um45 | WILDER, J. rush for 2 yards to the UM43 (Chickillo, A). | 10 gun | 43 | Zone run, Cam Erving gets pushed upfield and allows the DE to get off his block and make the tackle for a short game. |
| 3-8 | at Um43 | Manuel, EJ rush for 8 yards to the UM35, 1ST DOWN FS (Johnson, E). | 10 gun | 335 | James Wilder does a phenomenal job picking up the blitzing linebacker. EJ doesn't like what he sees on the frontside, escapes through the lane provided by Wilder's block and gets the first down. Huge play to keep the drive alive. |
| 1-10 | at Um35 | WILDER, J. rush for 4 yards to the UM31 (Gaines, J). | 21 | 43 | Outside zone and Miami actually defends this pretty well. Lonnie gets just enough of the safety and Wilder stiffarms the pursing linebacker to get upfield before being tackled. |
| 2-6 | at Um31 | Manuel, EJ pass complete to GREENE, R. for 7 yards to the UM24, 1ST DOWN FS, out-of-bounds (Perryman, D). | 11 gun | 43 | Quick out to Rashad in the boundary against moderately soft coverage. |
| 1-10 | at Um24 | WILDER, J. rush for 7 yards to the UM17, out-of-bounds (McGee, B;Green, S). | 20 gun | 43 | Another zone run and this one is not blocked well at all. Somehow the playside DT is left completely unblocked and nobody gets to the linebacker, either. This is just pure speed by Wilder to outrun them. |
| 2-3 | at Um17 | Timeout Florida State, clock 09:21. | |||
| 2-3 | at Um17 | WILDER, J. rush for 17 yards to the UM0, 1ST DOWN FS, TOUCHDOWN, clock 09:14. | 21 | 43 | Inside zone from I. Nice read by Wilder, and great burst through a narrow lane. Rashad Greene with a great block creates a clear lane up the sideline for the touchdown. |
| HOPKINS, D. kick attempt good. | |||||
| Florida State 10, Miami 10 | |||||
| Drive: 10 plays, 90 yards, TOP 04:56 | Killer drive. 90 yards to tie it up and great job of staying focused and finishing despite the loss of Thompson. | ||||
| HOPKINS, D. kickoff 65 yards to the UM0, touchback. | |||||
| 1-10 | at Um25 | MIAMI drive start at 09:14. | |||
| 1-10 | at Um25 | Morris, S pass incomplete to Dorsett, P (DARBY, R.). | 21 | 43 | FSU has been walking up a safety against Miami's 2 back sets since the third drive. Miami tries to go max protect and hit a big play off play action, but it's not happening. Great coverage and a slightly inaccurate throw that Darby nearly picks off. |
| 2-10 | at Um25 | Morris, S pass complete to Johnson, D for 19 yards to the UM44, 1ST DOWN UM (CARRADINE, C.). | 11 gun | 425 | One of the first screens to go for positive yardage all year long against FSU. Telvin Smith, screen killah, is not in the game. Vince Williams has a chance to stop this play at the first down marker but Duke Johnson makes him look foolish. |
| 1-10 | at Um44 | Morris, S pass complete to James, M for 10 yards to the FS46, 1ST DOWN UM, out-of-bounds (WILLIAMS, V.), PENALTY FS personal foul (WILLIAMS, V.) 15 yards to the FS31, 1ST DOWN UM. | 11 gun | 425 | Bit of a rub play here where the receiver on the drag route interferes with Vince Williams trying to get out on the back breaking out of the middle. Miami is really picking on Vince. Odd that he's playing this much in the nickel package. |
| 1-10 | at Fs31 | 1st and 10. | |||
| 1-10 | at Fs31 | Johnson, D rush for 4 yards to the FS27 (SMITH, TEL.). | 11 gun | 425 | Telvin Smith fills the hole nicely on an inside run, but Duke Johnson runs him over and falls forward for four yards. |
| 2-6 | at Fs27 | Morris, S pass intercepted by HUNTER, T. at the FS23, HUNTER, T. return 37 yards to the UM40 (Bunche, M), PENALTY FS personal foul (WILLIAMS, K.) 15 yards to the FS45, 1st and 10, FS ball on FS45. | 00 gun | 425 | Miami again pulling out a strange alignment here with a 2 receiver stack to the boundary and a 3 receiver stack to the field. FSU plays the stack release perfectly Hunter beats the receiver to the ball for a huge interception that takes Miami out of scoring position. |
| Drive: 5 plays, 48 yards, TOP 01:59 | |||||
| 1-10 | at Fs45 | FLORIDA STATE drive start at 07:15. | |||
| 1-10 | at Fs45 | Manuel, EJ sacked for loss of 8 yards to the FS37 (McGee, B). | 12 | 43 | Playaction rollout right into Miami's corner blitz. In the compressed alignment there was no way for EJ to see this coming. Just bad luck there. |
| 2-18 | at Fs37 | Manuel, EJ pass complete to GREENE, R. for 1 yard to the FS38 (Smith, D). | 10 gun | 335 | Middle screen to Rashad. Stork is trying to release out to block but the DT holds onto him and is led right into the receiver. Something always seems to go wrong when FSU runs this play. Dropped pass, missed block, etc. |
| 3-17 | at Fs38 | Manuel, EJ pass complete to WILDER, J. for 4 yards to the FS42 (Green, S). | 10 gun | 335 | Miami sends an overload blitz to the side the screen is supposed to go to and none of the offensive linemen are able to get out in front of Wilder which dooms the play. |
| 4-13 | at Fs42 | BEATTY, C. punt 49 yards to the UM9, fair catch by Dorsett, P. | |||
| Drive: 3 plays, minus 3 yards, TOP 02:10 | Tip your cap. Miami made several nice calls/recognition plays on this drive. Two consecutive screens after the sack might not have been the best calls. | ||||
| 1-10 | at Um09 | MIAMI drive start at 05:05. | |||
| 1-10 | at Um09 | Johnson, D rush for 3 yards to the UM12 (MCALLISTER, D.). | 21 | 43 | Pretty good defense on the toss play but Duke Johnson has a head of steam up and is able to leap forwards for 3 yards. |
| 2-7 | at Um12 | Morris, S pass incomplete to Dye, D (SMITH, TEL.). | 02 gun | 425 | FSU's linebackers do a great job of reading the pattern distribution on the stick concept by the stacked TEs. Telvin Smith is "having himself a game", as they say. |
| 3-7 | at Um12 | Morris, S pass complete to Hurns, A for 9 yards to the UM21, 1ST DOWN UM (MCALLISTER, D.;BROOKS, T.). | 10 gun | 425 | On a 3rd and long FSU breaks out the wide DT alignment I spoke of earlier. FSU blitzes and Miami picks it up nicely. Darby has a chance to make the tackle short of the first down but the receiver is able to spin out of it. This is where Darby suffers in comparison to our other corners. He is just not as physical or as sure a tackler as Waisome/Hunter/Rhodes. |
| 1-10 | at Um21 | Morris, S pass incomplete to James, M. | 12 gun | 43 | Just great coverage underneath by FSU here. Morris scrambles around for quite a bit and absolutely no one is open. |
| 2-10 | at Um21 | James, M rush for 5 yards to the UM26, out-of-bounds (JOYNER, L.). | 22 | 43 | Toss sweep to the field. Brooks is up in the box and gets off his block but runs by Johnson. |
| 3-5 | at Um26 | Morris, S pass complete to Johnson, D for loss of 3 yards to the UM23 (SMITH, TEL.). | 10 gun | 425 | Telvin Smith covers backs out of the backfield as well as you can do it. The difference between him and Vince in this regard is massive. |
| 4-8 | at Um23 | Botts, D punt 51 yards to the FS26, fair catch by GREENE, R.. | |||
| Drive: 6 plays, 14 yards, TOP 02:44 | |||||
| 1-10 | at Fs26 | FLORIDA STATE drive start at 02:21. | |||
| 1-10 | at Fs26 | Manuel, EJ pass complete to SMITH, R. for 50 yards to the UM24, out-of-bounds (Bush, D), PENALTY FS pass interference (SMITH, R.) 13 yards to the FS13, NO PLAY. | 20 gun | 43 | You've GOT to be kidding me. This is unbelievable. What a terrible, terrible call. |
| 1-23 | at Fs13 | FREEMAN, D. rush for 5 yards to the FS18 (Green, S). | 20 gun | 425 | Zone run. There's a nice hole here and potential for big yardage, but Jackson can't quite hold his block long enough and his man gets the tackle from behind. |
| 2-18 | at Fs18 | Manuel, EJ rush for 4 yards to the FS22 (Bush, D). | 11 gun | 335 | QB Sweep. If Manuel cuts this more inside off of Freeman's block he may get another 4 yards or so. |
| 3-14 | at Fs22 | Timeout Miami, clock 01:05. | |||
| 3-14 | at Fs22 | Manuel, EJ pass complete to DENT, G. for 17 yards to the FS39, 1ST DOWN FS (McGee, B). | 10 gun | 335 | Playaction pass 3rd and 14. Miami only rushes 3 but Greg Dent finds the void in the zone on the over route. Great job to get a first down despite starting in the hole due to a ridiculous penalty. You don't convert many first downs when it's 1st and 25. |
| 1-10 | at Fs39 | Manuel, EJ pass complete to SMITH, R. for 11 yards to the 50 yardline, 1ST DOWN FS (Gunter, L). | 10 gun | 335 | Quick hitch to Rodney against a soft zone. How on earth this choke slam of a tackle is not a penalty is beyond me. |
| 1-10 | at Fs50 | Manuel, EJ pass complete to GREENE, R. for 5 yards to the UM45 (Finnie, T). | 10 gun | 335 | Bobby Hart in at left tackle with Cameron Erving on the sideline have an eye gouge tended to. Three verticals from the trips side, crossing route into the voided zone from the single receiver side. Very nice tackle by the Miami defender prevents Rashad from turning it upfield. |
| 2-5 | at Um45 | Timeout Florida State, clock 00:34. | |||
| 2-5 | at Um45 | PENALTY FS false start (MATIAS, J.) 5 yards to the 50 yardline. | Ugh. Have to remember these guys are still young, but the lack of focus penalties are hard to swallow. | ||
| 2-10 | at Fs50 | Manuel, EJ pass complete to SHAW, K. for 16 yards to the UM34, 1ST DOWN FS (Perryman, D;Rodgers II, K). | 10 gun | 425 | Really nice throw and catch into the seam. Tight window throw from EJ and Kenny comes down with it knowing he's gonna get hit. |
| 1-10 | at Um34 | Manuel, EJ pass incomplete to SMITH, R. (Gunter, L). | 10 gun | 335 | Rodney misses a sight adjustment here. Against man coverage he should run a whip route. Instead he runs a hitch and slides outside, letting the DB cut inside him. With that being said, your 5th year senior QB should know better than to try and fit this is. Would the five yards have been worth it? |
| 2-10 | at Um34 | Manuel, EJ pass complete to GREENE, R. for 11 yards to the UM23, 1ST DOWN FS (Gunter, L;Perryman, D). | 10 gun | 335 | All slants play. Really nice job by Greene to get a first down. |
| 1-10 | at Um23 | PENALTY FS false start (MATIAS, J.) 5 yards to the UM28. | Matias false starts when he hears the ready for play whistle. If FSU doesn't have a timeout here, the ten second runoff will prevent FSU from attempting the FG. Second false start on the drive for Matias. Settle down, son. | ||
| 1-15 | at Um28 | Timeout Florida State, clock 00:09. | |||
| 1-15 | at Um28 | HOPKINS, D. field goal attempt from 46 GOOD, clock 00:03. | This is the 6th time in 8 games FSU has scored on a 2 minute drive to end the first half. They also drove to Clemson's 18 yard line but missed the field goal. 7 successful 2 minute drives to end the first half in 8 games is pretty impressive. Bodes well for FSU's chances in an end of game 2 minute drill. | ||
| Florida State 13, Miami 10 | |||||
| Drive: 9 plays, 46 yards, TOP 02:21 | |||||
| HOPKINS, D. kickoff 61 yards to the UM4, Dorsett, P return 16 yards to the UM20 (STEVENS, T.). | |||||
| 1-10 | at Um20 | MIAMI drive start at 00:00. | |||
| 1-10 | at Um20 | End of half, clock 00:00. | |||
| Florida State 13, Miami 10 |