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Senior quarterback DJ Uiagalelei made his long-awaited return to the ACC on Saturday when he made his first career start for the Florida State Seminoles, and it went about as poorly as you could have imagined.
Uiagalelei, you may remember, was a five-star recruit out of high school who began his career with Clemson. But after a trio of difficult seasons, he transferred to Oregon State in 2023.
Uiagalelei posted similar stats for the Beavers as he did at Clemson. But a strong 8-5 season for the Beavs earned him a chance to return to a major program for his fifth and final season. He opted to return to the ACC with the Noles, who many expected to repeat as conference champions.
But his debut for FSU was far from pretty.
Sure, Uiagalelei completed 12-of-14 passes in the first half, and he didn’t turn the ball over. But the fifth-year signal caller threw for just 96 yards and a remarkable -0.1 air yards per attempt.
— no context college football (@nocontextcfb) August 24, 2024
What does that mean?
In layman’s terms, the average pass thrown by Uiagalelei across all 14 attempts was behind the line of scrimmage.
“If this were a “play quarterback without throwing the ball past the line of scrimmage” challenge, he’d be winning. But sadly for him, it’s not,” one fan wrote.
“Florida State is playing Iowa’s dream football. No throws past the line of scrimmage and weird math,” said another.
Things didn’t get much better after the halftime break, either. Florida State and Uiagalelei attempted to push the ball down the field. But he completed just one of his first five attempts of the half for 15 yards.
Yikes.
Brock Glenn, who took over for Jordan Travis following his injury in 2023, is Uiagalelei’s backup. But he might not keep that title for long if things continue in the same manner.