Florida State had eight drives in Stanford’s territory on Saturday night and came away with just 13 points.
From penalties to mental mistakes to turning it over on downs, the Seminoles were in position to score touchdowns and field goals but frequently came up short. FSU scored a touchdown and picked up a pair of field goals in the 20-13 loss.
“If you're able to take care of one of those you have a really good chance of winning the game,” FSU offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn said. “But close doesn't get it done. From an offensive standpoint, we have to find a way to generate more points. That's the bottom line.”
FSU accumulated 444 offensive yards, including 311 through the air. It was the sixth straight game the Seminoles had more than 400 offensive yards.
Two first-quarter drives resulted in field-goal attempts (one made, one missed). Six of seven second-half drives went into the Cardinal’s end of the field with the first resulting in a touchdown at the end of a 75-yard drive but the remaining ones ending in two punts, two turnovers on downs and the final one a stop at the goal line.
Among the issues were penalties, notably Tommy Castellanos’ illegal forward pass and Micah Pettus’ holding and false start.
“Yards don't mean anything if you can't put points on the board,” Malzahn said. “That was really my message to our players. We got to find a way to put points on the board.”
Castellanos’ condition
Malzahn was also asked about Castellanos, who left the game after he was hit with a shoulder from safety Mitch Leigber. The Stanford defensive back was ejected for targeting, and Castellanos walked off to the sideline.
“We got to heal him up,” Malzahn said. “It was a tough one. We're going to heal him up week. That's really our No. 1 goal from his standpoint. Get his body healed up and get ready to finish the next five regular-season games.”
Malzahn didn’t offer any firm update on Castellanos’ injury, although watching the replay it can be reasonably concluded that the quarterback suffered a concussion. He deferred any further update on Castellanos’ availability to FSU coach Mike Norvell, who will speak with the media on Wednesday.
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