In the aftermath of Florida State's dominant, 51-14 victory at Clemson on Saturday, there's ample praise to go around the Seminoles' locker room. In fact, five FSU players earned ACC player of the week honors in their respective position groups. But while there were several impressive performances, the big day for the Seminoles all began with Lamarcus Joyner.
Clemson's first play from scrimmage was a pass to Stanton Seckinger. Joyner made the tackle, jarring the ball free in the process. Three plays later, Florida State had a lead it never relinquished.
Of course, that was hardly the end of Joyner's magic in Death Valley. On Clemson's third possession, Joyner came on a corner blitz and sacked Tajh Boyd, who coughed up the football. Mario Edwards Jr. scooped it up and rumbled into the end zone to give FSU a 17-0 lead. Joyner finished the hat trick in the second quarter, picking off a Boyd pass, his first INT of the year. Florida State added a field goal on that drive.
The parade of takeaways was Joyner's most obvious contribution to Saturday's win, but he also helped shadow Sammy Watkins throughout the game and was part of a secondary that held Boyd to just 17-of-37 passing in one of the worst games of his career. Joyner finished with eight tackles.
Still, all of those numbers don't tell the whole story.
"You're seeing the rewards. But what he takes away sometimes, even when he's not making plays, has been tremendous for our football team," Jimbo Fisher said.
For the season, Joyner is second on the team with 33 tackles and leads the Seminoles with three sacks.
