Virginia Tech spoiled new Florida State head coach Willie Taggart’s debut, as the Hokies beat the Seminoles, 24-3, in Tallahassee Monday night. The game was a pretty poor showing offensively for FSU — despite out-gaining the Hokies in total yardage, the Noles made it into the red zone four times and scored zero touchdowns on the night.
One bad loss doesn’t doom Willie Taggart’s Florida State career
Look at his own history, plus the history of other coaches in debut years.
Tallahasse Democrat-USA TODAY NETWORK
The run game struggled a whole lot, too. Via Tomahawk Nation:
The Noles averaged 5.2 yards per play but more importantly, 3.4 yards per rush.
Cam Akers and Jacques Patrick struggled to run the ball against a stout Virginia Tech defense. Outside of Akers’ long run, the pair combined for 37 yards on 20 carries. Virginia Tech’s defense lived in the backfield, racking up 14 tackles for loss and often putting the Noles behind the chains. Of the 63 offensive plays that FSU ran, 35 went for zero or negative yards.
Injuries to the offensive line were added adversity for this team. Starting offensive guard Cole Minshew did not suit up for this game and right tackle Landon Dickerson left with injury as well. Left tackle Jauan Williams and left guard Derrick Kelly each left for portions of the game as well. The depth along the offensive line was known to be a major liability and proved to be a factor in this game.
Sure, it was an uncharacteristic night for Taggart’s usually explosive units. But let’s not get carried away over one game.
Look, as a Florida grad, I can assure you that I love watching FSU lose. But what stood out to me is how many people were already defining Taggart’s FSU career off of this first game alone. Stuff like this has been everywhere since Monday night:
There was even an active “Fire Taggart” hashtag on Twitter.
But there’s a few things to keep in mind about both Taggart and the Virginia Tech game itself.
First, if the game’s bounces happened again, FSU would’ve been expected to recover three of the game’s fumbles, not zero. On at least a few plays, the Noles were just statistically unlucky.
The Noles also very nearly scored an early touchdown, and one of VT’s scores came via a punt block. Change just a couple of inches in this game, and it could’ve easily been a one-score game in the final minutes.
Let’s not forget the team Taggart inherited, too.
The Noles had a 6-6 regular season last year and had to keep a 36-year bowl streak alive by beating Louisiana-Monroe at home on Championship Saturday. That game against the Warhawks had been cancelled!
And then, after one of FSU’s worst seasons ever, the Noles still lost six players to the NFL draft, including first-rounder Derwin James.
Taggart’s programs never really start hot, either.
In his first two head coaching gigs at Western Kentucky and South Florida, his first-year teams had a combined four wins. It wasn’t until two years after his hiring that he led the Hilltoppers to their first back-to-back winning FBS seasons, followed by USF’s first 10-win season in school history in 2016.
His lone season at Oregon last season before accepting the FSU job was an average 7-6 one, marred by QB injury.
There have been plenty of notable debut losses by prominent head coaches.
- Dabo Swinney lost his first game as Clemson’s interim coach vs. Georgia Tech.
- Iowa State’s Matt Campbell lost to FCS Northern Iowa in his debut.
- Bobby Bowden lost to Memphis in his FSU debut!
- Navy’s Ken Niumatalolo lost at Ball State during Week 3 in his first season
- In Kansas State coach Bill Snyder’s first season in 1989, his team went 1-10, and lost to Northern Iowa and Northern Illinois that year. Granted, that was the first I-A program in the country at the time, but still.
- Gary Patterson’s first TCU team lost to Northwestern State and Tulane in 2001.
- Brian Kelly’s first Notre Dame team lost to Tulsa in October 2010.
- Mike Leach lost his debut game at Wazzu against BYU.
- And last but certainly not least: Nick Saban’s first Alabama team LOST TO LOUISIANA-MONROE IN 2007!
Florida State’s remaining 2018 season includes games against Louisville, Miami, Clemson, NC State, and Notre Dame, so it doesn’t exactly get easier for the Noles moving forward.
No, Taggart’s first season in Tallahassee might not be close to nine wins.
But patience has worked out for the head coach before, so there’s no reason to hit the panic button on the Taggart era just yet.
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