Ashton Daniels shows promise despite Florida State loss

Florida State football posted a season-best 477 yards of offense in a loss to No. 8 Alabama.

While the result was a 10th consecutive road loss, the Seminoles (1-2) have finally found something to build on in how the offense performed against the best defense it will face this season. Quarterback Ashton Daniels threw for 377 yards, the second-best output of his career, and tossed a pair of touchdowns.

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The shine of the performance was muddied by three interceptions, two of which led to 10 points for Alabama. Despite that, Mike Norvell said he saw positives in his signal caller’s performance.

“Those three plays, we got to be better. We don’t want to turn the ball over. I thought he played at a very high level. There’s three plays just in reads, progressions, things that were coming back and saying, “all right, these are opportunities we get to build upon as we continue to move forward,” Norvell said. “But there’s not a whole lot of quarterbacks in the history of college football that have gone into that stadium and played the way he played. I was really proud of him for that.”

Daniels threw for more yards against the Crimson Tide than he did combined in the first two games of the season (327 yards), and he connected on multiple vertical shots with the wide receivers. It’s an element of the Seminoles offense that hasn’t been present since 2023, which was arguably Norvell’s best year as a play caller.

Duce Robinson finally got involved in the offense, and he tallied six catches for 135 yards and a touchdown. He was one of four receivers to record over 60 yards, joined by Micahi Danzy (3 catches for 89 yards), Jayvan Boggs (2 catches for 69 yards) and Samuel Singleton Jr. (2 catches for 68 yards).

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It’s a positive sign for an FSU passing game that needed a bye week to wake up from a slow start to the season.

“The run game helped open up the pass game. And I think the pass game is going to help open up the run game again,” Robinson said. “Because we have incredibly talented receivers, but we also have really incredibly talented backs, and we have really incredibly talented tight ends… So we have a really good offense and I’m really excited to keep building off of the performance we had.”

A lot of the success offensively came from Daniels. The question now shifts to consistency, and Daniels ability to perform at that level with regularity.

FSU faces Virginia, Louisville, Miami, and Clemson in four of the next five games, and any chance to string together a win or two will require Daniels to play at or above the level he did against Alabama.

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How can Daniels achieve that? It starts with giving players like Robinson and Danzy opportunities to make a play with the ball in their hands.

“I think he gave them opportunities to go make plays. He knows he’s got great receivers, great playmakers all the way around from Duce, Micahi, Boggs, and even our running backs,” Quarterbacks coach Austin Tucker said. “Our running backs have extended plays and… I think he gave him opportunities. That’s the biggest thing we always preach is just give those guys opportunities. They’re going to make plays for you.”

(Current Record 1-2, 0-1 ACC)

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vs. New Mexico State | 34-17 W

vs. SMU* | 27-24 L

Bye

at Alabama | 50-36 L

vs. Central Arkansas | Sept. 26

vs. Virginia* | Oct. 3

at Louisville* | Oct. 9

at Miami* | Oct. 17

Bye

vs. Clemson* | Oct. 31

at Boston College* | Nov. 7

at Pittsburgh* | Nov. 13

vs. NC State* | Nov. 21

vs. Florida | Nov. 27

Liam Rooney covers Florida State athletics for the Tallahassee Democrat. Contact him via email at LRooney@gannett.com or on Twitter @__liamrooney.

This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Ashton Daniels shows promise despite Florida State loss

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