Florida State 21, Alabama 14

John Parker Wilson passed for 240 yards and two touchdowns, setting career highs with 28 completions and 53 attempts in the University of Alabama’s 21-14 loss to Florida State.

Those numbers didn’t reflect the truth of the Crimson Tide’s offensive performance in the eyes of head coach Nick Saban.

Almost half of Wilson’s passing totals — 119 yards — came in the game’s final 8:57, when he went 12 for 23 over three possessions while trying the rally Alabama, and all of it came with the Tide behind by two touchdowns and trying desperately to get back into the game.

The inability to move the football combined with three Florida State touchdown drives in the second half resulted in the Seminoles 21-14 win against Alabama.

Two FSU scores resulted almost entirely from single, catastrophic Alabama errors. A John Parker Wilson fumble inside the 10 set up a short Antone Smith scoring run. A missed tackle by Marquise Johnson allowed FSU’s De’Cody Fagg to race 70 yards for a score.

The drive that stung the most, though, opened the second half. On that march, FSU took a lead that it never relinquished and set the tempo for the remainder of the game, covering 67 yards in eight plays that boosted the confidence of reserve quarterback Xavier Lee immeasurably.

In a nutshell, the problem was quickly identified by Wallace Gilberry - “Intensity level,” Gilberry said after the game. “Our intensity level was down".


Source - Tuscaloosa News