Take Two: What changes should be made at Florida State?

Take Two returns with a daily offering tackling a handful of issues in the college football landscape. Rivals.com National Recruiting Analyst Adam Gorney lays out the situation and then receives takes from Rivals.com National Recruiting Director Mike Farrell and a local expert from the Rivals.com network of team sites.

MORE TAKE TWO: Will five-star QB Emory Jones stick with Ohio State?

There were such high hopes for this Florida State team - and then the season started.

The Seminoles, ranked No. 3 in the preseason after four straight top five recruiting classes, not only lost to Alabama, 24-7, in the season-opener but they also lost starting quarterback Deondre Francois and, oh, how Florida State misses him.

FSU is 2-4 with close wins over only Duke and Wake Forest. It lost to Louisville in heartbreaking fashion last week. The Seminoles have lost three-straight home games for the first time since the mid-1970s, according to the Orlando Sentinel.

And then there is coach Jimbo Fisher getting in a verbal altercation with a loudmouth fan this past weekend who wanted some FSU assistant coaches fired. Fisher has not apologized for engaging the fan and instead said that they’re loyal to fans and so fans should be loyal to them.

It’s a mess in Tallahassee.

Does this disappointment all stem from Francois going down and backup quarterback James Blackman not being adequately prepared to take over? Would things have been drastically different if Francois had not been injured?

Fisher said this week that he doesn’t foresee any coaching changes during the season, but after it could be a completely different story. Why is the offensive line so bad? Is it really fair to blame the defense - and in turn - defensive coordinator Charles Kelly? How is it possible that FSU has only rushed for three touchdowns all season?

The Tallahassee Democrat published a story breaking down coaches’ salaries, buyouts and comparing them to other high-profile programs on Wednesday. Coincidence? Probably not. There’s blood in the water and Florida State fans - even a blowhard yapping his mouth from the stands - might have a point: Changes might need to be made.

“Losing Deondre Francois was definitely a crushing blow when you consider that this was already going to be a young offense. People forget that FSU lost all-time leading rusher Dalvin Cook, its top three veteran receivers, its starting fullback and a couple of offensive linemen from last year's team. Once Francois went down, the hope was that the defense would be so outstanding - with nine returning starters and the return of Derwin James - that it would keep the team in games until the offense came around. That didn't happen, and now neither side is playing very well. I'm sure Jimbo Fisher would like to keep his staff intact, but it's hard to see going into the offseason without making any changes - if nothing else just to breathe some life into the program.”

“There is going to be pressure on Fisher to make some assistant coaching changes because there are areas other than quarterback that have been struggling. The defense hasn’t been playing very well, so there will be pressure on him to make a change with Kelly, the offensive line has been playing horribly. Rick Trickett is one of the best offensive line coaches in the country, but people want results.

“In some ways, Fisher is a victim of his own discipline, which is a good thing. He got rid of quarterback De’Andre Johnson after he hit a woman in a bar. They could have pulled a Joe Mixon with him. He got rid of troubled quarterback Malik Henry. You look at some of these guys at the top of these top teams - Oklahoma's Baker Mayfield got in trouble last summer for an alcohol situation, Ohio State's J.T. Barrett got in trouble for an alcohol situation - Fisher had two quarterbacks who were trouble for his program and he booted them. Now he’s left with a freshman. FSU fans have to look at him and say, ‘He did the right thing for his program, let’s lay off the guy a little bit.’”