College Football

FSU Football: Top Five Players To Watch In USF Game

Updated Mar. 4, 2020 9:19 p.m. ET

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Sep 10, 2016, in Tallahassee, FL, USA; Florida State Seminoles quarterback Deondre Francois (12) warms up prior to the game against Charleston Southern at Doak Campbell Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Glenn Beil-USA TODAY Sports

FSU football has an important football game on Saturday when they travel to Tampa to take on the South Florida Bulls. Here are five ‘Noles to watch during the game.

Who knew FSU football traveling to South Florida would be a pivotal game in the young season for the’ Noles? FSU is coming off a 63-20 beatdown at the hands of Louisville, arguably the worst loss under Jimbo Fisher.

FSU football came out flat on both sides of the ball last week and again allowed their opponent to jump up to a two touchdown lead which has become common place nowadays.

There were multiple FSU players with terrible games. Players in the secondary were awful. There were players on the offensive line that were awful. Running backs and wide receivers were awful.

It’ll be important for a lot of these players to play well on Saturday to get their confidence back with another high-powered offense coming to Tally on September 30th in UNC.

The ‘Noles need to be able to get stops on defense, and put points up offensively. They were not able to do either last week.

Let’s take a look at the five players to watch in the USF game.

Sep 5, 2016; Orlando, FL, USA; Florida State Seminoles defensive back Marcus Lewis (24) reacts after a penalty in the second quarter against the Mississippi Rebels at Camping World Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Logan Bowles-USA TODAY Sports

Marcus Lewis

Make no mistake about it, Marcus Lewis had an awful game last Saturday against Louisville. We don’t like to do this, but we were very critical of him and his performance.

However, we have to be like Howard Cosell and call it how we see it.

Listen, Marcus Lewis can play, otherwise he wouldn’t be on the FSU football team nor would he be on the field. His teammates wouldn’t have openly talked about his ability during spring and fall camp.

He just needs to have a good game and get his confidence back. We wrote how we think FSU will play more of a bend but not break philosophy, and will need limit the amount of explosive plays given up in the secondary.

Hopefully, Lewis will play disciplined football and make the tackles he’s supposed to make unlike last week.

Sep 17, 2016; Louisville, KY, USA; Florida State Seminoles quarterback Deondre Francois (12) scrambles with ball to evade Louisville Cardinals linebacker Stacy Thomas (32) during the second half at Papa John’s Cardinal Stadium. Louisville defeated Florida State 63-20. Mandatory Credit: Jamie Rhodes-USA TODAY Sports

Deondre Francois

Francois is on this list because he’s the leader of the FSU offense that only scored 10 points last week. Frankly, Francois didn’t play THAT poorly overall even though he was under heavy duress the entire time he was out there.

Hopefully either he or Jimbo will make the right protection calls along the offensive line and running backs, and he’ll have time to find receivers down field.

He took an absolute beating last week, crushing shots that a young quarterback(or any quarterback needs to avoid).

Look to see if Francois stays in the pocket to make his progressions, or if he gets happy feet with a perfectly good pocket to throw from. Will Jimbo Fisher use his legs more to get him more involved in the game?

Will he be able to get the offense off to a quick start for once?

Sep 5, 2016; Orlando, FL, USA; Mississippi Rebels running back Akeem Judd (21) is tackled by Florida State Seminoles defensive back Derwin James (3) and linebacker Matthew Thomas (6) in the third quarter at Camping World Stadium. Florida State Seminoles won 45-34. Mandatory Credit: Logan Bowles-USA TODAY Sports

Matthew Thomas

Much like Marcus Lewis, Matthew Thomas had a bad game last week against Louisville. Thomas was consistently lost in coverage.

He also consistently bit on the fake hand-off to the running back on the zone reads, crashing the line of scrimmage and leaving nothing but open space for receivers to run across the middle of the field.

He had bad timing on a lot of the blitz packages he was involved in and wasn’t able to shed blocks or he was playing his assignments incorrectly.

Thomas is an important player on the defense and one of the most talented. He needs to have a good game on Saturday as USF runs a similar styled offense as Louisville.

Sep 17, 2016; Louisville, KY, USA; Florida State Seminoles running back Dalvin Cook (4) runs the ball against the Louisville Cardinals during the first quarter at Papa John’s Cardinal Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jamie Rhodes-USA TODAY Sports

Dalvin Cook

Who is the player that has been impersonating Dalvin Cook the first three games? The player from last year has yet to make an appearance.

Cook had one of his best games in a ‘Noles uniform last season when he torched the USF Bulls for 266 yards on the ground.

However, this season the offensive line has been getting whipped with Cook not being able to find many running lanes to go through without meeting contact first.

It’s not all on the offensive line though, as Cook doesn’t seem to possess the same “wiggle” or ability to make players miss in the open field either. Coach Fisher insists he is fine, but there clearly is something off with him.

Maybe Saturday will be the re-birth of Dalvin Cook and a dominate run game? The ‘Noles will need to establish a run game to help take pressure off Deondre Francois.

Sep 10, 2016; Tallahassee, FL, USA; Florida State Seminole cheerleaders celebrate a first half score against Charleston Southern at Doak Campbell Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Glenn Beil-USA TODAY Sports

Brock Ruble

Who is this you might ask? We almost want to call him a “Unicorn Jr.” because he’s a talented player that can’t seem to make his way into an actual football game like Matthew Thomas.

Brock Ruble could replace Rick Leonard at right tackle this week. Of course Rick Leonard was a defensive end this time last season, and made the transition to the offensive line this year.

It’s amazing that he could make the transition so quickly on a team expected to be a national title contender. It also speaks that FSU had very little depth at the position with Ruble being hurt and/or having concussion issues.

Leonard has struggled quite a bit in both run and pass blocking, so Brock Ruble could get the opportunity to finally show what he can do in meaningful action.

It couldn’t come at a better time. As a team, USF would be a good team to measure where Ruble is at the present time and moving forward.

If he can’t be competent on Saturday, it’s going to be a long season.