I Sat Through FSU / JSU And All I Got Was A Lousy Game
Posted by William Kristoph
I sat through FSU / Jacksonville State and all I got was a lousy game… and wet. I got really, really wet. Even with a really good poncho and a dri-fit (or is it fit-dri now?) shirt to wick away the sweat created by the poncho. Yes, I was stupid enough to sit through yesterday’s 19-9 FSU football victory over FCS Division team, Jacksonville State. Let’s play a little game I call “It was so lousy… how lousy was it?”
It was so lousy:
- The pregame balloon release didn’t quite make it off the field from the torrential downpour.
- The cheerleaders couldn’t do any stunts.
- Anything that wasn’t covered got watered down, including the popcorn.
- Doak Campbell Stadium had 50 thousand in attendance to start the game, maybe, if we were lucky. (71,420 was the official number, hahahaha.)
- My hands were pruned up with 14:38 to play in the 1st quarter.
- I had to use my mobile web through a plastic bag.
- To top it off, I don’t think we even won the battle of the bands last night. Chiefs played a repeat of Monday’s Latin night, JSU went patriotic and sounded great.
That’s how lousy yesterday was inside the stadium. Were you waiting for jokes? The above wasn’t meant to be funny, because THERE WAS NOTHING FUNNY ABOUT YESTERDAY’S AWFUL, BRUTAL, HORRIBLE GAME. I haven’t even started to talk about the Noles and Jacksonville State.
To sum up my view of the game; brutal.
The Seminoles of Florida State looked like garbage throughout the game in almost every facet of play. On defense, players didn’t look like they had a clue where to line up. When they did, they didn’t execute well and allow Gamecock receivers to get open. It consistently took two to three guys to tackle someone. Perhaps that’s acceptable against Miami, but against Jacksonville State? Come on! All the yelling in the world by Mickey Andrews isn’t getting the job done. The Noles do not appear to have the talent across the defensive board nor do they have the smarts to make up for the lack of talent. It’s going to be a long, long season FSU fans.
To top it off, Nigel Bradham sums up FSU’s attitude heading into the game:
“I guess you could say that (FSU took Jax State lightly.) We had two days to prepare for this team, and I think we thought that they were just going to come in and lay down,” FSU Outside Linebacker Nigel Bradham.
On Special Teams, Dustin Hopkins had a horrible night. He missed two extra points and a field goal. Was it the weather? Maybe. Or maybe not, since Hopkins struggled with short kicks against Miami. I’m not saying James Esco is a solution, or that there is even a problem yet, but missing kicks will kill the Noles. FSU needs all of the points it can get considering the porous defense it’s sporting this season. Stupid penalties nearly cost the Noles too. By now, every FSU player should know that referees love to call special teams penalties on them. Last night was no different, with a damaging Roughing The Kicker penalty that nearly cost FSU the game. On the bright side, Greg Reid continues to look like something special and was one or two steps away from making a game-breaking return. Had the weather not been a factor, I think he would have.
Oh and the offense? Yeah, they moved the ball. Kinda, sorta. Yet again, the Seminoles could not run the ball. They finished with 113 total yards on the ground, with leading rusher Ty Jones only gaining 42 of those. Pathetic against an FCS team, pathetic from an “improved” running game. The air attack fared a bit better with Christian Ponder throwing for 324 yards, but the Noles only managed two offensive TDs the entire game. The early one, and the late go-ahead score. Forget about the box score which will lie to you today and tell you that the offense was pretty good and the defense was okay. From my seat inside the stadium last night the offense looked flat most of the time, couldn’t score points and made too many mistakes. This is a recipe for a butt kicking in Provo next weekend. Those of you without the Versus network might be better off than those of us with it.
The silver lining? I had a nice pregame meet-up with Jordi Scrubbings, writer of The Serious Tip and ScalpEm.com contributor. He summed it up for us on Twitter, “#fsu game like losing every round on points then scoring the knockout when the opponent slips on a banana peel #fsu.” After our meeting though, the day was lousy. Cross your fingers Seminole fans, it’s going to be a long season if there isn’t all-around improvement from the Noles.
In defense of the Chiefs (which I am a member of), we repeated our show (a very rare thing, I’m sure you know) due to the short turnaround (with only 4 days of practice, plus the risk of 1 or 2 practices being rained out, we couldn’t try to put on a new one) and the Latin show is one of the hardest we’ve done in awhile. JSU’s band does one show per year. That’s it. That’s what high school bands do.
And while they did sound good, a patriotic show is kind of a cheap way to get applause. A bit cheesy.
Really Andrew?
I enjoy the Chiefs, but a repeat performance in a short week from a great University Music Department? Let’s look at the issue. Perhaps the credit or discredit should go to your director who chose to do a Latin night for our opening game where we were supposedly honoring one of our graduates who had died serving his country! Would patriotic music have been cheesy then? Perhaps JSU’s department should be applauded for showing up the mighty chiefs in horrendous conditions and under such scrutiny! THEY WERE REALLY GOOD! Yesterday, the chiefs were BORING! Season ticket holders and even one game fans deserve better! Now I understand better so many repetative programs year after year with the same music! You need more time! Give us a break!
If you compare the Marching Southerners to a high school band that makes the Marching Chiefs performance, let’s see….middle school…elementary? You were clearly outclassed and all who were there saw it. It’s OK to give credit to an opposing program who works hard and puts on a good show. So give the JSU band the credit they deserve. Let’s see…even your own fans think they did a great job.
Andrew,
I love the Chiefs, don’t get me wrong. And I do understand that the Latin show might be a technically hard show for you guys to perform. But for me, as a fan, halftime shows are for entertaining and competitions are for technical prowess.
The thing is, is that it isn’t new. I’ve repeatedly heard the same or similar shows over the last 12 seasons, so more often than not I’m wondering why there isn’t more fun in the shows. Perhaps I now have my answer in the Chiefs displaying more technical work than “fun” shows.
Either way, I know the Chiefs are a great band and play well. But, I wasn’t entertained on Saturday. I don’t mean any offense, and hope my opinion is different for the USF game.
i really hope we step up our game from here on out. i was completely astounded that we had such a problem against JSU.
both bands did a great job last night. JSU’s band does do one themed show a year, however they also put so much more into their show then we were able to see in the time allowed last night. to understand what i mean you really would have to see their full show live. i happened across them last year and was astounded.
In regards to my chiefs. i loved your show. you all were by no means disappointing. you guys did a great job as always. what saddens me at this point is, that you get a really great band visiting you on your home turf, and instead of being the class act that i thought you were. you choose to make excuses and trash the opposing band. from everything i saw of them they were very respectful, and were even applauding and cheering on you guys halftime performance.
as to who out played who? i try to be fair but i am biased toward the chiefs.
but in this case you were definately out classed. don’t make excuses. fix it.
Let me explain, I meant no disrespect to the Marching Southerners. You’re right, they did a really good job with their show. I’m not denying that at all. In fact, I would put them up with some of the best college marching bands in the country. I’m not sure how we were “out-classed”, because myself and all the others Chiefs around me told every JSU band member we saw that they did a really great job. There was certainly no animosity, and I apologize if it came off that way. However, I am saying that by doing one show a year, it had darn well better be pretty good. If the football team played the same opponent every week, you’d expect to know every weakness they have and exploit it.
With a band the caliber of JSU’s coming to town, we know we needed to do a good show. So rather than set ourselves up for failure by having 4 days to learn a good show and get it clean (with a huge chance of 1 or more of those days being rained out, given the season), it made the most sense to do the show twice, really really well, which I feel we did. If you think you can get a show of that difficulty looking and sounding good in 4 days, you clearly have never done marching band. I’m sure the JSU band couldn’t learn their show in 4 days either.
Those who have been going to FSU games for a while should also know that we do a patriotic show once a year as well, so I also meant no disrespect for patriot music.
So again, I apologize if I was unclear, JSU has a very talented band and I was excited for the opportunity to see them perform.
Andrew
You were the one who used the word cheesy when it came to the patriotic music choice. You referred to the JSU band as being of High School caliber because of only one program? I am glad that you realize the error of your ways! I trust that JSU accepts your apology! Yes, many of us have been to numerous games over the years and we have observed the patriotic program and others, over and over and over again! While they are really outstanding, why are there so many repeats year after year? Why is the season so inflexible that you couldn’t move the patriotic program to the Miami game to honor one of our graduates? Repeating the same program within a week was a terrible idea!
I apologize for the use of cheesy, not the best choice and when I reread it later I was irked at myself. I also didn’t mean to imply that they’re of high school calibur, just that many college bands only do one show a year these days, with Chiefs being one of the few who still learn a new show (almost) every week.
As to doing the patriotic show early, I suppose the only explanation I could offer is that we always try to do a big show for Miami and seeing as JSU has a talented band, we wanted to put forth our best effort, rather than a thrown together 1 week wonder.
I will admit I was a bit disappointed to learn we’d do the same show twice in a row, but it wasn’t my (or any other student’s) call to make. I understand the reasoning, and all I can do is give my 100% every practice and performance in order to meet the goal put in front of us, which is exactly what myself and my peers do everyday of the week.
What I want to get a across is that a lot of people put in a lot of hours and a lot of sweat to make a show that doesn’t even last 10 minutes look good. And sometimes there just isn’t enough time between games to put out a product that we can be proud of, so you have to play with the cards you’re dealt and put out the best product we can. Sometimes that means doing one show twice, but making it a helluva lot better the second time around, which I know we did.
Andrew
Please note that Luvunoles LuvstheChiefs too!
You are most appreciated and the fans look forward to your arrival at Doak almost as much as the team’s entrance. Looking forward to more performances!
LMAO!
What exactly does it say when the hottest topic of discussion over the latest football game is which band’s show was better?
I mean I honestly am trying not too laugh but it’s just to darn funny…
Trust me GH, on that day it WAS the hottest topic. The Noles were awful last Saturday and the weather sucked. I couldn’t even take pictures at the game because my camera would have been water logged and fried. Laugh all you want… it was a LOUSY weekend. :)
Right on, NCC…
Just yankin’ at the chain…
I heard the rain was worse up there in the first half than the first quarter and a half I sat through in Hogtown…
That always sux…
From what I saw on the SEC Network feed, it was steady in G’ville. Tally on the other hand was a monsoon for the first half. Thankfully it tapered off.