Boston, MA
Three Thoughts On Florida State’s Demeaning Loss To Boston College
Florida State had a chance to show that last week was a fluke, not a trend, when the team took the field on Labor Day against Boston College. Instead, the Seminoles are once again left with more questions than answers after their second straight loss to begin the 2024 season. Playoff hopes and ACC Championship aspirations are all but shuttered with nothing but adversity and a spiraling season in front of head coach Mike Norvell.
Looking at the first two games of the season, the Seminoles have been outworked, outcoached, and outclassed by a pair of teams that were projected to be in the middle of the pack in the ACC. Instead of a top-10 AP ranking, Florida State finds itself at the bottom of an expanded conference, slotting in at No. 17, which is certainly a sight to see.
Boston College beat FSU’s defense at the point of attack, racking up 263 yards on the ground at 5.1 yards per carry. The success led the Eagles to throw the ball just four times in the second half – a sign that their game plan worked to absolute perfection. No matter the situation, the Seminoles couldn’t get off the field.
READ MORE: Former FSU Football Stars Sound Off Following Disastrous Home Opener
Offensively, Florida State started firing the ball through the air but forgot about its stable of running backs. The Seminoles compiled just 21 rushing yards while DJ Uiagalelei completed 50% of his passes on 42 attempts.
Heading into a BYE week, can Florida State begin to pull things together or is this just totally going to come apart at the wheels? Here are three thoughts on a demeaning loss in Doak Campbell Stadium.
1. The Seminoles Have Lost Their Way
The Seminoles built their climb in 2022 and 2023 behind a hungry and passionate team that grew up in the face of adversity. When things went wrong, it wasn’t just the coaches trying to piece things back together, players like Jordan Travis, Kalen DeLoach, and Jared Verse were always doing their part on the field and on the sideline to right the ship.
Through four quarters of football, there are no clear leaders for the 2024 Seminoles. Veterans who were expected to seize leadership roles haven’t risen to the occasion and experienced transfers who are being relied on to play a big part in the success are either unwilling or unable to impact the locker room. The body language on the sideline for much of Monday night was embarrassing and an indictment on the players from top to bottom.
In the moments leading up to the fourth quarter, I noticed a couple of walk-ons and true freshmen who hadn’t entered the game trying to pump up the sideline. The effort wasn’t recognized by the rest of the team in what was certainly a critical moment. Instead, Florida State continued to look flat, lifeless, and like the team didn’t even want to play a football game. There’s no passion, no fight, and no belief.
How many successful football teams look like they’re holding a funeral on the sideline after every drive? The lack of communication and an identity is appalling.
I don’t know how Mike Norvell fixes it but I know Florida State has lost its way. Will a BYE week be enough to help flip the mindset of a 85 inviduals playing together instead of apart? I can’t say that it will because right now, the Seminoles lack any sort of fire, emotion, and edge that fueled the success of Norvell’s previous teams in Tallahassee.
That’s not a switch that I believe can just be flipped on and off. You either have it, or you don’t, and this Florida State team doesn’t have much of anything. And what continues to confound me is just how differently things are compared to the preseason. Whether it’s the warts of losses or the product of the Seminoles practicing against one another, I can’t believe the vast shift in performance we’ve seen from the practice field to game days.
2. It’s Time For A Quarterback Conversation But The Offensive Line Issues Are Even More Concerning
Florida State’s quarterback play has been less than inspiring in the first two games. The Seminoles acquired DJ Uiagalelei with the hopes of utilizing his arm strength behind a speedy group of wide receivers. Those glimpes have popped up at times but not without plenty of other issues in-between whether it’s accuracy, timing, offensive line breakdowns, or simply catching the football.
Funnily (or not funny) enough, Uiagalelei leads the FBS with passing yards (465) but he’s only completed 58% of his passes with one touchdown to one interception while averaging 6.7 yards per attempt – a major stepdown from his career-best 8.4 yards per attempt last year. Uiagalelei doesn’t look like a quarterback with four years of experience. He’s been hesitant, slow-paced, and missed plenty of throws that could have put Florida State in a better position for success.
It’s time for a quarterback conversation for the simple point that this season is quickly becoming the opposite of the bridge year that Uiagalelei was brought in to manage. The reality is that Uiagalelei is only going to be at Florida State until the end of this season and then the Seminoles have to find yet another starting quarterback. Brock Glenn and Luke Kromenhoek are the potential faces of the future at the position and if you’re already taking your lumps with a veteran, why not do it with a player who can still grow?
Will Glenn or Kromenhoek end up being remarkably better options than Uiagalelei in the lineup? No, probably not. But at least they are going to be here in the years to come and this is a good opportunity to begin building them up.
And what concerns me even more than the quarterback play is that an offensive line we thought highly of throughout the offseason has been a weak spot. The right side of the unit got bullied in Ireland which wasn’t a crazy surprise if you followed our practice reports as we noted the inconsistency of Jeremiah Byers and Robert Scott.
What I didn’t foresee was Darius Washington getting taken to town by a Boston College front that wasn’t very productive last year. He graded out as the third-worst player on the team, including an abysmal pass-blocking grade of 28.9. PFF ranks Washington as the No. 932 pass-blocking offensive linemen in the country. Washington was expected to lock down the left side like he did last season but he’s seemingly regressed.
One play after Jaylin Lucas scampered 25 yards to make it 1st and goal, Washington gave up a sack that ultimately forced FSU to settle for a field goal. On the first drive of the second half, Florida State went for it on fourth down from its own territory. Boston College didn’t even blitz but Washington was quickly beaten 1-on-1 with an inside pressure which led to Uiagalelei to throw an interception.
Veteran center Maurice Smith had two false starts and an illegal man downfield penalty, Robert Scott was called for illegal formation, and TJ Ferguson committed a personal foul after Florida State got five yards on 3rd and 10, backing them up into 4th and 20 late in the game. After which, Norvell decided to just send out the punting unit, telling you everything you needed to know about how the night was going.
By the way, Florida State rushed 16 times for 21 yards with the running backs combining for eight carries to Uiagalelei’s eight attempts. The 21 yards marked the fewest rushing yards that the Seminoles have ever totaled in a game during Mike Norvell’s five years with the program. In fact, FSU has only had nine games under Norvell where the offense failed to break the century mark on the ground and two of those performances have come in 2024.
I don’t buy the narrative that the offensive line is struggling because Alex Atkins isn’t on the sideline. You’ve got a group with over 300 combined appearances and 200 starts at the college level. At some point, the big boys have to man up, exert their will, and take over the game. I. haven’t gotten any sense that this group wants to be physical and dominate another team. They look fine with being average, much like the defense.
The lack of a consistent offensive line means the struggles at quarterback, running back, and wide receiver (don’t get me started on tight end) will only continue to grow.
3. Florida State’s Defense Fails Situationally – Again
Man, was I completely wrong about this defense. I thought the Seminoles would be able to lean on this unit while the offense figured things out early in the year. I certainly miscalculated that one, along with plenty of others. Just look at the size, speed, and athleticism that FSU sports in the front seven; Patrick Payton, Darrell Jackson, Joshua Farmer, Marvin Jones Jr., DJ Lundy…So far, potential has been just that and the group hasn’t lived up to its offseason billings.
I’m not sure if the Seminoles got caught up in their own hype or just thought they could walk through Georgia Tech and Boston College, but the results haven’t been pretty. What you do between the lines is what matters and there aren’t really any positives to take away from the performance of Florida State’s defensive line and linebackers. The starting defensive line has totaled 13 tackles and one tackle for loss in two games – with Jones Jr. not even making the stat sheet on Monday night. Earl Little Jr. has more sacks than Payton, Jackson Farmer, and Jones Jr. combined.
It’s bewildering and making me ramble because the whole point of this thought was to talk about Florida State’s situational failures. Over the past two years, the Seminoles have leaned on their ability to get offenses off the field on third down along with walling up in the red zone. Instead, this unit has no backbone and more holes in it than Swiss cheese.
Florida State has surrendered 56% of third down attempts (14/25), which ranks No. 118 in the country. The Seminoles have also given up touchdowns on 7/8 red zone opportunities with the lone possession that didn’t result in a score being when Boston College kneeled the clock out at the end of the game. The defense is constantly out of position, being driven off the ball, and missing tackles.
How long is it going to take defensive coordinator Adam Fuller and his group to learn how to defend a wheel route? They got lucky on the first drive of the game when Treshaun Ward dropped a wide open pass out of the backfield. Guess what Boston College tried two drives later and this time Ward made the Seminoles pay for 42 yards. To add insult to injury, he caught a touchdown on the same drive on the same route to make it 14-0 Boston College in Doak.
The lack of adjustments and knowledge of assignment pre-snap just makes no sense to me. Remember, we’re in the age where helmet communication is allowed and one of the linebackers is wearing the ‘green dot’ on every play. Regardless of a rule that should theoretically make it easier for defenses to line up, the Seminoles don’t seem to have a clue about what they’re supposed to do from play to play.
Again, this is another area where no easy fix comes to mind. It’s quickly setting up to be a long season, and not in a good way, for Florida State.
READ MORE: FSU Football Releases Uniform Combination For Home Opener Against Boston College
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In 2021, 60 Minutes visited the offices of robotics company Boston Dynamics and met an early model of its humanoid robot, Atlas.
It could run, jump and maintain its balance when pushed. But it was bulky, with stiff, mechanical movements.
Now, Atlas can cartwheel, dance, run with human-like fluidity, twist its arms, head and torso 360 degrees, and pick itself up off of the floor using only its feet.
“They call it a humanoid, but he stands up in a way no human could possibly stand up,” correspondent Bill Whitaker told Overtime. “His limbs can bend in ways ours can’t.”
Boston Dynamics CEO Robert Playter told Whitaker that Atlas’ “superhuman” range of motion is keeping with the company’s vision for humanoid robots.
“We think that’s the way you should build robots. Don’t limit yourself to what people can do, but actually go beyond,” Playter said.
Whitaker watched demonstrations of the latest Atlas model at Boston Dynamics’ headquarters in Waltham, Massachusetts. Rather than turning around to walk in the other direction, Atlas can simply rotate its upper torso 180 degrees.
“For us to turn around, we have to physically turn around,” he told Overtime. “Atlas just pivots on his core.”
Boston Dynamics’ head of robotics research, Scott Kuindersma, told Whitaker that Atlas doesn’t have wires that cross its the joints of the limbs, torso and head, allowing continuous rotation for tasks and easier maintenance of the robot.
“The robot’s not really limited in its range of motion,” Kuindersma told Whitaker. “One of the reliability issues that you often find in robots is that their wires start to break over time… we don’t have any wires that go across those rotating parts anymore.”
Another upgrade to the Atlas humanoid robot is its AI brain, powered by Nvidia chips.
Atlas’ AI can be trained to do tasks. One way is through teleoperation, in which a human controls the robot. Using virtual reality gear, the teleoperator trains Atlas to do a specific task, repeating it multiple times until the robot succeeds.
Whitaker watched a teleoperation training session. A Boston Dynamics’ machine learning scientist showed Atlas how to stack cups and tie a knot.
Kuindersma told Whitaker robot hands pose a complex engineering problem.
“Human hands are incredible machines that are very versatile. We can do many, many different manipulation tasks with the same hand,” Kuindersma said.
Boston Dynamics’ new Atlas has only three digits on each hand, which can swing into different positions or modes.
“They can act as if they were a hand with these three digits, or this digit can swing around and act more like a thumb,” Kuindersma said.
“It allows the robot to have different shaped grasps, to have two-finger opposing grasp to pick up small objects. And then also make its hands very wide, in order to pick up large objects.”
Kuindersma said the robot has tactile sensors on its fingers, which provide information to Atlas’ neural network so the robot can learn how to manipulate objects with the right amount of pressure.
But Kuindersma said there is still room to improve teleoperation systems.
“Being able to precisely control not only the shape and the motion, but the force of the grippers, is actually an interesting challenge,” Kuindersma told Whitaker.
“I think there’s still a lot of opportunity to improve teleoperation systems, so that we can do even more dexterous manipulation tasks with robots.”
Whitaker told Overtime, “There is quite a bit of hype around these humanoids right now. Financial institutions predict that we will be living with millions, if not billions, of robots in our future. We’re not there yet.”
Whitaker asked Boston Dynamics CEO Robert Playter if the humanoid hype was getting ahead of reality.
“There is definitely a hype cycle right now. Part of that is created by the optimism and enthusiasm we see for the potential,” Playter said.
“But while AI, while software, can sort of move ahead at super speeds… these are machines and building reliable machines takes time… These robots have to be reliable. They have to be affordable. That will take time to deploy.”
The video above was produced by Will Croxton. It was edited by Scott Rosann.
Boston, MA
Officers who defended the Capitol on Jan. 6 say their struggles linger, 5 years after the riot – The Boston Globe
Gonell was one of the officers who defended the central West Front entrance to the Capitol that day as Congress was certifying Democrat Joe Biden’s victory and hundreds of Trump’s supporters broke into the building, echoing his false claims of a stolen election. Gonell was dragged into the crowd by his shoulder straps as he tried to fight people off. He almost suffocated. In court, he testified about injuries to his shoulder and foot that still bother him to this day.
“They have tried to erase what I did” with the pardons and other attempts to play down the violent attack, Gonell said. “I lost my career, my health, and I’ve been trying to get my life back.”
Five years since the siege, Gonell and some of the other police officers who fought off the rioters are still coming to terms with what happened, especially after Trump was decisively elected to a second term last year and granted those pardons. Their struggle has been compounded by statements from the Republican president and some GOP lawmakers in Congress minimizing the violence that the officers encountered.
“It’s been a difficult year,” said Officer Daniel Hodges, a Metropolitan Police Department officer who was also injured as he fought near Gonell in a tunnel on the West Front. Hodges was attacked several times, crushed by the rioters between heavy doors and beaten in the head as he screamed for help.
“A lot of things are getting worse,” Hodges said.
More than 140 police officers were injured during the fighting on Jan. 6, which turned increasingly brutal as the hours wore on.
Former Capitol Police Chief Thomas Manger took over the department six months after the riot. He said in a recent interview that many of his officers were angry when he first arrived, not only because of injuries they suffered but also “they resented the fact that they didn’t have the equipment they needed, the training they needed ” to deal with the unexpectedly violent crowd.
Several officers who fought the rioters told The Associated Press that the hardest thing to deal with has been the effort by many to play down the violence, despite a massive trove of video and photographic evidence documenting the carnage.
Trump has called the rioters he pardoned, including those who were most violent toward the police, “patriots” and “hostages.” He called their convictions for harming the officers and breaking into the building “a grave national injustice.”
“I think that was wrong,” Adam Eveland, a former District of Columbia police officer, said of Trump’s pardons. If there were to be pardons, Eveland said, Trump’s administration should have reviewed every case.
“I’ve had a hard time processing that,” said Eveland, who fought the rioters and helped to push them off the Capitol grounds.
The pardons “erased what little justice there was,” said former Capitol Police Officer Winston Pingeon, who was part of the force’s Civil Disturbance Unit on Jan. 6. He left the force several months afterward.
Pushback from lawmakers and the public
Hodges and Gonell have been speaking out about their experiences since July 2021, when they testified before the Democratic-led House committee that investigated Jan 6. Since then, they have received support but also backlash.
At a Republican-led Senate hearing in October on political violence, Hodges testified again as a witness called by Democrats. After Hodges spoke about his experience on Jan. 6, Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vt., asked the other witnesses whether they supported Trump’s pardons of the rioters, including for those who injured Hodges. Three of the witnesses, all called by Republicans, raised their hands.
“I don’t know how you would say it wasn’t violent,” says Hodges, who is still a Washington police officer.
It has not just been politicians or the rioters who have doubted the police. It also is friends and family.
“My biggest struggle through the years has been the public perception of it,” Eveland said, and navigating conversations with people close to him, including some fellow police officers, who do not think it was a big deal.
“It’s hard for me to wrap my head around that, but ideology is a pretty powerful thing,” he said.
Improvements in safety and support
As police officers struggled in the aftermath, Manger, the former Capitol Police chief, said the department had to figure out how to better support them. There were no wellness or counseling services when he arrived, he said, and they were put in to place.
“The officers who were there and were in the fight — we needed to make sure that they got the help that they needed,” Manger said.
Manger, who retired in May, also oversaw major improvements to the department’s training, equipment, operational planning and intelligence. He said the Capitol is now “a great deal safer” than it was when he arrived.
“If that exact same thing happened again, they would have never breached the building, they would have never gotten inside, they would have never disrupted the electoral count,” Manger said.
Pingeon, the former Capitol Police officer, said he believes the department is in many ways “unrecognizable” from what it was on Jan. 6 and when he left several months later.
“It was a wake-up call,” he said.
Pingeon, who was attacked and knocked to the ground as he tried to prevent people from entering the Capitol, said Jan. 6 was part of the reason he left the department and moved home to Massachusetts. He has dealt with his experience by painting images of the Capitol and his time there, as well as advocating for nonviolence. He said he now feels ready to forgive.
“The real trauma and heartache and everything I endured because of these events, I want to move past it,” he said.
Gonell left the Capitol Police because of his injuries. He has not returned to service, though he hopes to work again. He wrote a book about his experience, and he said he still has post-traumatic stress disorder related to the attack.
While many of the officers who were there have stayed quiet about their experiences, Eveland said he decided that it was important to talk publicly about Jan. 6 to try to reach people and “come at it from a logical standpoint.”
Still, he said, “I’ve had to come to terms with the fact that just because something happened to me and was a major part of my world doesn’t mean that everyone else has to understand that or even be sympathetic to that.”
He added: “The only thing I can do is tell my story, and hopefully the people who respect me will eventually listen.”
Jackets shook off a sluggish start to dispose of Boston College, 65-53.
Georgia Tech guard Chas Kelley III finishes a layup past Boston College’s Marko Radunovic on Saturday, Jan. 3 at McCamish Pavilion. (Danny Karnik/Georgia Tech Athletics)
Trailing late in the second half Saturday at McCamish Pavilion, Georgia Tech needed a spark. Cole Kirouac delivered.
The 7-foot freshman found himself unguarded inside the arc on the left side of the court. Without hesitation he bolted toward the rim, took flight and slammed home the ball with two hands to tie the score at 46 with seven minutes left on the clock.
Kirouac’s dunk brought many of the 5,978 to their feet and changed the energy in the building while the Yellow Jackets threatened to lose to the worst team in the ACC. Instead, Tech took the lead shortly after Kirouac’s play and never trailed again in a 65-53 victory.
“Originally, it was just supposed to be a handoff. I saw my man sagging off. I just took one dribble, went up and dunked it,” Kirouac said. “I feel like I was pretty tired in that moment. I feel like that energized me a lot. I think we had energy as a team, but I feel like it probably boosted it a little bit.”
Said Tech coach Damon Stoudamire: “That was a heck of a dunk he had. That ignited us, ignited the crowd. Proud of him and happy for him.”
Saturday’s victory was the 10th of the season for Tech — all 10 have come at home and all 10 have come against opponents which reside in Quadrant 4 of the NCAA’s NET rankings. Per that metric, Boston College was the ACC’s lowest-ranked team at No. 179 going into Saturday.
But the Jackets (10-5, 1-1 ACC), the ACC’s second-worst team in the NET, found themselves in a dogfight for much of the afternoon despite leading by 10 late in the first half. The Eagles (7-7, 0-1 ACC) had momentum on their side and led by four with 9:14 to play before wilting at the end.
Tech guard Lamar Washington flirted with a triple-double by finishing with 17 points, 12 rebounds and five assists. Kowacie Reeves scored 16 and Baye Ndongo had 10 points and eight boards.
Twenty of Tech’s 65 points came from the free-throw line. The Jackets also had 23 fast break points — Boston College had none.
“We’re a good team,” Washington said. “When we play together and we play with confidence and we play how we’re supposed to play, we can — I feel like we can beat anybody in the nation.”
Tech was sluggish and sloppy at the outset, suffering through a field goal drought of 6:04 while missing nine of its first 10 shots. But a Ndongo layup followed by a Kam Craft 3 from the right corner tied the game at 11-all a little less than eight minutes into the fight.
The Jackets began to get a feel for things offensively from there and took their first lead on a Jaeden Mustaf layup at 13-12. Akai Fleming’s powerful finish from the right block 3 1/2 minutes later put the home team ahead 19-15.
Tech had six assists on its first seven made shots at that point.
Fleming’s score began an 10-2 Tech run that also included a Fleming dunk and two Fleming free throws that upped the lead to 27-17.
But the Jackets wouldn’t score the rest of the half and had to settle for a 27-24 lead at the break. The Eagles, despite shooting 9 of 34 from the floor, ended the period on a 7-0 run to close the gap.
“I was actually disappointed the last three minutes of the first half because BC, they’ve played a lot of games where they just rock you to sleep,” Stoudamire said. “You’ll feel like you’re in control of the game and then all of a sudden you lose a rhythm offensively, and then they start scoring some buckets and they hit a bank-shot 3 and you just have all kind of things start happening, and that’s when the game turned. The momentum of the game, it shifted. And we couldn’t find it back offensively.”
A back-and-forth first eight minutes of the second half saw Boston College finally tie the game at 36 before Tech squeaked ahead by four thanks to two Washington free throws and a Reeves layup.
The Eagles responded with a 7-0 run and took the lead on a Donald Hand Jr. 3, and then went up 43-40 on Chase Forte’s layup at the 10:33 mark. Boden Kapke’s putback after a missed free throw gave BC a 46-42 edge 64 seconds later.
That was the last little glimmer of hope the visitors had.
“We couldn’t have won games like this last year,” Stoudamire said. “The way I look at everything that’s happening, I think sometimes people get bent out of shape when you play teams and you don’t beat ‘em by how many points they want you to win by or different things of that nature. We went to Duke and we lost by six. We come back (Saturday) and it was kind of a grimy game.
“But we’ve been playing close games, so we’re seasoned in these games. Doesn’t matter who you play, you’re seasoned in ‘em, and I think that what you’ve seen. You didn’t see no panic with our guys coming down the stretch.”
Hand and Kapke both scored 13 for BC, which shot 18 of 66 from the field and 4 of 29 from long range.
Tech returns to action at 7 p.m. Tuesday against Syracuse (9-5, 0-1) at McCamish Pavilion.
Chad Bishop is a Georgia Tech sports reporter for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
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