All in all, the team came out with a victory. It's not just the layoff for the team it's also the post viral fatigue for the guys that contracted COVID. It's real and you can see the extreme example in Xavier Thomas from Clemson. The beat writers all predicted a game with the team not looking sharp and FSU not going away easily because of the athletes they have but ultimately would be outclassed by ND's depth and organization by the end of the game. I'd say their predictions were pretty spot on.
Offense was good - though passing game kept it from being in the magnificent realm. They can't just keep running like this, can they? I mean FSU regularly sent 7 or 8 and the blocking held up while the RBs had great vision and cuts so hard that even I'm going to have my ankles examined by the FSU team doc after that game. We keep saying that a talented D Line will stop them but here we are, again. Pitt and Clemson are the best remaining defensive lines so let's just keep riding that happy wave until we get there.
Unconfirmed rumor I saw after the game is that our D Line was hit really hard the last few weeks. I was curious as to why we were blitzing a linebacker (and sometimes also a safety) every down because that's just not Lea's style typically. He's usually a blanket base then dial up the pressure at opportune times type of play caller. Makes sense though if they were worried about the linemen holding up on the interior. But then again, they could have had at least 3 or 4 more sacks if Travis wasn't so squirmy and elusive. I'm talking just the easy dead to rights hands on jersey types of sacks throughout the game. Ade's first sack on Blackman when he came in for the last series probably felt like a piece of cake not having him slip out and scramble away. The space vacated by the blitzing linebackers gave Travis room to run without a spy and extend drives. This won't happen like this again in the next few weeks.
A win is a win especially when the Big XII is in shambles and the SEC has mostly forgotten how to play defense at all unless you're having Mike Leach. Let's enjoy it and chalk up the hiccups we saw to exactly why we predicted these hiccups to happen in the first place. On to the next week, team should get healthy, Liam's got his warrior toughness badge earned forever, and let's just keep waiting for our deep passing game to somehow emerge. Top 4, here we come!