Florida State DC White Gives Away Defensive Game Plan
Florida State defensive coordinator Tony White eluded during a press conference this week that the Seminoles pass rush would not be the focus of practice this week, because Virginia is a running team. Essentially, White telegraphed to the opposition what Florida State's game plan will be on Saturday
In any battle, whether it is a military engagement or a battle on the gridiron, one of the most important aspects in the planning stages is to keep your intentions of how and when to attack a secret. In football, and with the power of the internet, keeping your game plan under wraps until game day is paramount.
At a press conference earlier this week, Florida State defensive coordinator Tony White did just that when asked about the Seminoles’ pass rush in prepping for their game against Virginia on Saturday. He failed the basic tenet of warfare planning, which is operational security (OPSEC).
“I don't think pass rush is going to be it. It's not going to be the focus this week,” said White. “You know what I mean? Like these guys rush the ball for 250-300 yards a game. Now, when we get them into pass rush situations, that's where everything's going to come into play. But that is not the first thing that is coming to mind in this game. This game is going to be a blue-collar downhill. They want to rush the ball for 250 and we need to be able to take that away from them first, and then make it a throw game.”
That press conference was aired on YouTube, along with snippets being published in posts on X. Now, any enterprising member of the Virginia coaching staff has access to that information and can adjust their game plan accordingly to further put Florida State at a disadvantage.
A deeper dive into Virginia’s offensive stats this season shows that Virginia averages 192 yards per game on the ground, NOT 250-300 as White stated in his address to the media. In fact, the Cavaliers have only rushed for 250 or more yards just once this season. If anything, they deploy a balanced offensive attack.
Against Norfolk State and West Virginia, they were balanced in running and passing the football. However, against Delaware, the Cavaliers passed for 437 yards and rushed for 119.
Virginia quarterback Beau Pribula’s touchdown/interception ratio through four games is 11/1. If White is not focusing on the pass rush in practice this week, then Pribula can just sit back in the pocket like a statue and pick apart the Seminoles secondary. Florida State ranks No. 12 in the ACC with just seven sacks so far this season, with an average of around one per game. With those numbers, it appears that practicing the pass rush is warranted this week, and every week.
In addition, Florida State ranks No. 16 in the ACC in pass defense, allowing opposing quarterbacks 290 yards per game, and has intercepted only three passes this season. Pribula has averaged 198 yards per game through the air and is No. 4 in the FBS with a 76.7 percent completion rate.
In addition, White said that when it comes to executing the defensive calls consistently, it's not good.
“We're not batting 90 plus percent on the calls. We're in the 60 range, which is not good, guys,” said White. “That's not good because I can call the same call. Like again, I take the Bama game, the first 28 minutes of the game, we're calling certain things and we're hitting them in the backfield. You come later on and call the same things and we don't execute with the same mindset. We don't execute with the same physicality and aggression. It always starts with me, making sure that if I call it 10 times, it better be executed 10 times.”
Can the Seminoles impact Virginia defensively with a physical and aggressive style? We shall see. Remember when coaches would close off access to the practices to the media? There was a reason for that. They did not want to tip off their opponent. Same goes for press conferences. If you do not have anything SMART to say, then say nothing at all.
