Trickett or Manuel?

Michael Langston, our pal who works for Warchant.com, suggested to his subscribers this week that Clint Trickett is the better option for Saturday's game than E.J. Manuel.

Judging by the reaction, he might as well have said: "Jimbo Fisher should hire Bobby Bowden as his offensive coordinator."

People misunderstood what Langston was saying. His position is that a healthy Trickett is a better option for Saturday's game than a banged-up Manuel.

(Wait a minute ... haven't I identified "banged up" as an annoying cliche that should be eradicated? From now on, it's "clanged up." And if I mess up, you folks have my permission to slap me in the face when you see me.)

This is not a good situation for Florida State either way. Trickett is so skinny it looks as if he could be broken in half by Brandon Thompson and Malliciah Goodman. He has a really slow release on his throws, and against Oklahoma he wasn't adept at all at escaping pressure.

Manuel is quite the running threat when healthy. He showed that against Oklahoma. He's extraordinarily athletic for his size.

Key part there: "when healthy."

Just five days ago, Manuel was so clanged-up that he couldn't even lift his left arm. If he plays Saturday, you think they're going to call 20-something zone-read plays as they normally would? I say heck no. Maybe they shoot up his shoulder to the point where he can't feel any pain, but I tend to doubt it. On top of that, there's still the rest of the season to play. As big as this game is for Florida State, do you want to risk losing Manuel for the rest of the season?

So with Manuel we're left with a guy whose most feared quality has largely been removed from the equation. Florida State would be left to rely on his ability as a passer to win Saturday, and that's something that was very much in doubt long before the kid got hurt last Saturday night.

Based on the evidence that I've seen over the last two seasons, Manuel has not proved he can throw the ball downfield well enough to make defenses honor it. Maybe he ends up debunking those doubts, but so far he has not.

And keep this in mind: Manuel has looked good in a few big games the past two seasons (West Virginia in 2009; Clemson last year; South Carolina last year) but he hasn't done it in the environment that'll confront the Seminoles on Saturday.

Trickett apparently has practiced with the first team all week. If the Seminoles can establish a running game -- and it's a big "if," given that they haven't done it over their first three games -- then he might be a better option to make the throws off of play-action.

If Manuel is close to healthy, this isn't even a discussion. But Manuel doesn't appear to be close to healthy, assuming Fisher and Co. aren't completely sandbagging.

It'll be a tough chore for FSU's offense either way Saturday afternoon. But it makes more sense to tackle it with Trickett.

LW