What I am about to say is going to shock Florida State football fans.
What I am about to say might just be the most disturbing news to hit Tallahassee since Claude Kirk was elected governor.
What I am about to say might just cause FSU fans to climb up on their appaloosa stallions, ride out into their driveways and stick flaming spears through the plastic bags harboring their Orlando Sentinels.
Here goes:
There's a very good chance that Florida State's offense, even under messianic new coordinator Jimbo Fisher, will be mired in mediocrity again this year.
I know, I know, we're only one game into the season, but the performance in the first half of Monday night's 24-18 loss to Clemson was much too pathetic to simply write off as first-game jitters. It was so bad that you could almost hear Jeff Bowden back home in Tallahassee screaming at his TV set, "See, Daddy, it wasn't all me!"
Granted, the Seminoles came back and made a game of it in the second half but, even so, it is hard to feel good about FSU's offense after Monday night.
Quarterback Drew Weatherford was under pressure all night. The offensive line missed too many blocks. The receivers dropped too many passes. The offense put the defense in too many holes.
As coming-out parties go, Fisher's first half will go down as the worst first performance since Mariah Carey's acting debut in Glitter.
"That first half was the worst half I've seen us play," FSU Coach Bobby Bowden said afterward.
For posterity purposes, let it be recorded that the first play of the Jimbo Fisher era was a huge success. Too bad it was on a broken play that Weatherford turned into a 22-yard scramble. Turns out that 22-yard gain on the first play of the game was FSU's only first down of the first half. Who knew "Jimbo" was an ancient Seminole Indian word meaning "three-and-out"? At one point during the first half, FSU's offense had seven consecutive three-and-out possessions. The performance became so inept that one pressbox wag referred to Jimbo as "Jeffbo."
Don't get me wrong, the awful first half certainly doesn't mean hiring Jimbo was a mistake; it just means that an offense doesn't automatically become great -- or even decent -- simply by adding a new coordinator. All you need to do is look around at some of the nation's most renowned offensive masterminds to recognize that it takes more than schemes and scams to move the ball.
Did you check out Notre Dame Coach Charlie Weis' offense Saturday in the 33-3 loss to Georgia Tech? Weis was such a genius, the Fighting Irish scored no touchdowns and mustered just 122 yards of offense.
Take a guess what Urban Meyer's offense was ranked during his first year at Florida. It was ranked 61st in the nation -- two spots behind Jeff Bowden's FSU offense. And Steve Spurrier's offense during his first year at South Carolina? It was ranked No. 100 in the nation -- 60 spots behind UCF.
Spurrier, Weis and Meyer are considered among the three greatest offensive minds in college football and they still have been unable to put a dominant offense on the field. Translation: It will take Fisher some time to restore Florida State's offense to the dominance it enjoyed in the 1990s.
In those dynastic days of yesteryear, FSU's offense was loaded with names like Charlie Ward and Chris Weinke and Warrick Dunn and Peter Warrick. These days, the names have been changed to protect the innocent. There's not a single player on the Seminoles' offense -- with the possible exception of tailback Antone Smith -- who scares opposing defenses.
Jimbo Fisher already has proven he is a good offensive coordinator, but Florida State fans need to remember this:
Even the best playcallers need playmakers.
Jeff Bowden may be gone, but his talent still remains.
