FSU LB Chris Jones Not Satisfied, Says Defense Didn't Meet The Standard

The Florida State Seminoles technically won their 2026 season opener against the New Mexico State Aggies. Regardless, the 34-17 result didn't provide much confidence to a fan base that has taken plenty of beatings since December 2023.

Defensively, the Seminoles actually did a solid job of stopping the run, limiting the Aggies to 47 yards on 23 attempts. That was the fewest rushing yards that Florida State has allowed in a game under defensive coordinator Tony White, after holding five opponents under 100 yards last season.

It was the passing game that was the primary source of frustration, along with the lack of success on critical downs.

New Mexico State fielded a new starting quarterback who moved up from the FCS level. That didn't stop Trey Hedden from completing 26/42 passes for 272 yards with 2 touchdowns to 1 interception.

The Aggies went 10/17 on third-down and 1/2 on fourth-down attempts, along with having just two fewer first downs than Florida State. Despite an average distance of 9 yards to go on third down, Hedden thrived in those scenarios, connecting on 10/13 passes for 158 yards and a score.

One of Florida State's new leaders, linebacker Chris Jones, wasn't pleased with the effort.

FSU LB Chris Jones Believes Defense Didn't Meet The Standard

In his first start with the Seminoles, Jones totaled six tackles and laid out a couple of unfortunate Aggies.

Following the game, Jones made it clear that he thinks the defense can be much better. He claimed that the unit didn't meet its standard.

At the same time, Jones said the Seminoles aren't far off.

"Defensively, I feel like we didn't play up to our standard if we're being honest," Jones said. "We've just got to come out faster, be more urgent, and then clean up the details. When the details get cleaned up, don't go out there and do your own thing. We just got to go out there and execute what's given to us."

"That's going to be something we have to work on, and the leaders are going to have to step up and talk about it this whole week.," Jones added. "Just going out there and executing and doing what the coaches give you; do your job. It's little, minor details that was messing us up. Don't get me wrong, we won the game, but we didn't go out there and play to our standard."

Jones has stepped into a leadership role for the Seminoles, and he brings plenty of energy to the field. The veteran plans to use his voice even more than he already does.

Though Jones took an admirable stand for some of his teammates, he wasn't the one making the majority of mistakes.

"I feel like I got to be more vocal. I'm already vocal, but I feel like as a leader, you can't care what other people think. As a leader, you've got to be able to take that," Jones said.

"I'm going to step up and say something because those little things that I say at that time might be something that helps us on third down, Jones continued. "That little detail that we're missing, that I didn't say during the week, maybe if I said it, it'd have helped us on one of those third, fourth downs, and we could've got off the field."

Head coach Mike Norvell acknowledged Jones' comments. Norvell explained that New Mexico State was trying to get the ball out quick on passing downs, but that the Seminoles still made some mistakes.

"Ultimately, they had a good plan to be able to try to get the ball out of the quarterback's hand quick. There's some of the anticipation throws," Norvell said. "I think right off three of the 3rd and long were things that we were in control of and we did not execute, whether it's communication, leverage, the overall assignment, those are things that we've got to own and improve upon."

"Obviously, they had a couple of guys that made good catches in those moments, quarterback located the ball well. Sometimes you are gonna get beat in those one-on-one situations," Norvell added.

While Norvell didn't expect a perfect game, the Seminoles have a lot of things to correct over the next eight days.

"You never want to lose on a rep, but, if they hit it in the right spot, then you go and play the next play," Norvell said.

"What we can't have is where it's self-inflicted where we're not putting ourselves in the best position to be able to get off the field," Norvell continued. "That happened too many times tonight, but, we're going to get that corrected."

Florida State opens ACC play against SMU in a primetime Labor Day showdown on Monday, September 7.

Add us as a preferred source on Google