Florida State's Everett Golson is where coach Jimbo Fisher thought the quarterback would be at this point in the season.
Sure, two games is a small sample size, but the coach is pleased with Golson's progress as the ninth--ranked Seminoles are set to begin Atlantic Coast Conference play on Friday night at Boston College.
"I think he feels good about it. I think he understands things," Fisher said Monday during his weekly press conference. "We just got to continue to get all the little details of things and the nuances of it."
In wins over Texas State and South Florida, Golson has completed 64.7 percent of his passes for 465 yards and five touchdowns. Those numbers are similar to what he did in his first two starts at Notre Dame last year (64.9 completion percentage, 521 yards and five touchdowns). Golson is also doing a nice job of spreading the ball around, especially in the opener when he completed passes to nine players.
One of the bigger questions about Golson was whether he could respond to adversity. He provided some clues to that last Saturday against USF. After going 1 for 9 for 6 yards in the first half, Golson went 13 for 17 for 157 yards and a touchdown in the second half as the Seminoles pulled away for a 34-14 victory.
Even in a bad first half, where Golson was hampered by a couple drops by receivers, he still did the little things. Dalvin Cook's 74-yard touchdown run in the first quarter was the byproduct of Golson checking out of the original play, which was a screen pass.
Florida State was a strong second-half team last season. That trend is continuing this year as they have scored on all 11 possessions with nine being directed by Golson.
"I think it's both his maturity, being able to relax at halftime, go back to his fundamentals, make good reads, and make quick passes," Fisher said. "From the first half to second Everett looked like two different people."
Golson has faced Boston College once, but that was in 2012 when he was a redshirt freshman at Notre Dame. The Eagles, who have allowed only three points in a pair of wins, allowed a school-record 11 total yards in last Saturday's 76-0 victory over Howard.
The Seminoles have won the last five meetings against Boston College, but needed a Roberto Aguayo field goal with three seconds left last season to hold off the Eagles 20-17.
Boston College coach Steve Addazio, who has seen his share of Florida State quarterbacks over the years when he was on Urban Meyer's staff at Florida, sees no drop-off at the position after Jameis Winston left for the NFL and was drafted first by Tampa Bay.
Said Addazio of Golson: "He's a talented guy. They lost a great quarterback and they're replacing him with a guy who's also a talented quarterback."
The biggest thing Fisher and the offense is looking for this week is being able to recognize things quicker along with maybe a quicker start in the passing game.
Addazio is also looking for improvement from his passing game. After not facing much adversity against Howard, Addazio hopes sophomore quarterback Darius Wade will be ready to handle the pressure.
"So here's a big game at home -- we're not on the road -- we're only at home, so that's good," Addazio said. "So a big game atmosphere at home, I think this will be a great evaluation of where he's at."
The Eagles have relied heavily on the run, ranking 15th in the FBS with 551 rushing yards and 10 touchdowns.
The Seminoles are one spot behind them with 544 run yards, as Cook ranks second in the nation with 422 rushing yards and averages 8.6 per carry.
"(Cook) is just a real dynamic back, one of the most electric backs," Addazio said. " ... So you're going from playing a couple I-AA teams to playing the elite in the country. We're going to play a lot of big-time ACC football games along the way, but everyone in America would recognize that Florida State is one of the elite in America, not just in the ACC."
