The Florida State Seminoles got some fourth quarter window dressing to ultimately fall to the Miami Hurricanes 28-22 on Saturday night at Doak Campbell Stadium.

However, despite outscoring the Hurricanes 19-0 in the final quarter, the story of the contest was written in the prior three quarters, and narrative was crystal clear – superior line play wins games.

That’s not anything earth shattering, but the Hurricanes have practiced what they’ve preached in that area through the first six weeks of the season, bullying Notre Dame, Florida, and USF coming into Saturday with superior play on both lines of scrimmage. And they leave Tallahassee with another big win under their belt after strong play in the trenches again.

Florida State has room to grow to reach what Miami has built on both sides of the ball

Florida State started off the season with an impressive showing, particularly on defense against the Alabama Crimson Tide in a 31-17 win. The Noles shut down Alabama’s offense after the opening drive, allowing just 10 points the rest of the contest while bottling up Alabama’s run game (87 yards; 3.0 ypc) and sacking QB Ty Simpson three times and pressuring him many others. They rolled up 230 yards of their own on the ground.

But that performance feels like a distant memory after inconsistent performances in losses to Virginia and Miami over the last two weeks. The Noles were flat-out poor in stopping Virginia’s rushing attack, but were better against the Hurricanes (97 yards; 3.0 ypc).

However, Carson Beck had far too much time top operate on Saturday. He was hit just once and sacked zero times while burning Florida State deep on multiple occasions. FSU generated just 4 pressures in 30 pass rushing opportunities per Pro Football Focus against Miami’s offensive line.

Meanwhile, Miami’s Rueben Bain, Jr. and Akheem Mesidor did what they’ve done every game this season – wreak havoc. Bain had 11 pressures, and Mesidor generated 8. The Florida State passing game was clearly affected, and it took until Miami softened up their coverage with a big lead in the fourth quarter for FSU to develop any kind of rhythm, which was far too late.

The Hurricanes’ week-to-week dominance is something that they’ve built through top-tier recruiting and savvy transfer portal pickups on their offensive and defensive lines. Jason Taylor and Alex Mirabal have also done a terrific job developing that talent.

Mike Norvell has preached the importance of the Miami rivalry. And now, he, offensive line coach Herb Hand, and defensive line coach Terrance Knighton have seen the mission up close and personal. Now they know exactly the type of player they’ve got to find and develop if they’re going to swing the power in the Sunshine State back towards Tallahassee in the years to come.

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