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FSU’s Willie Taggart still looking for faster tempo heading to Miami

The Seminoles' offense is significantly lower than the Gulf Coast Offense tempo at USF.
 
Published Oct. 3, 2018|Updated Oct. 3, 2018

When Virginia Tech shut down Florida State's offense in Week 1, center Alec Eberle pointed to a lack of tempo.

A month later, that tempo is still a work in progress in FSU coach Willie Taggart's Gulf Coast Offense.

"I think that's probably what makes the offense go is the tempo, and we haven't been as consistent with it, and a lot of it has to do with us with penalties and things we do to ourselves and then execution," Taggart said during Wednesday's ACC coaches teleconference.

Through the first month of the season, the Seminoles are averaging 2.46 plays per minute. That's tied for 47th nationally, according to cfbanalytics.com. 

For context, that's a lot faster than the glacial pace FSU ran under Jimbo Fisher (2.02 plays per minute). But it's a lot slower than Taggart's final season at USF (20th nationally, 2.68).

Taggart said FSU's offensive line shuffles have slowed down the tempo. So, too, have penalties (like the false starts in the first half at Louisville).

"We've just got to stay true to who we are and let our guys keep working the kinks out and eventually it will roll and get going," Taggart said. "It's coming, slowly but surely."