The Orange Bowl - not the one-sided game expected

In advance of this game there were several predictions of a one-sided game. It wasn't that, but then it wasn't close to an upset win either. A few thoughts on the Orange Bowl:

• The result was almost inevitable because Florida State had control over the line of scrimmage, both on offence and defence, throughout the game. Despite that control they never really exploited it as they should have done, meaning the game was far closer than it should have been.
• Given the control their offensive line had, its surprising that, with 15 seconds to go in the first half, Florida State had only scored 7 points.
• The defensive line also dominated, but didn't get much pressure on the Quarterback. There were no sacks in the first 3 quarters. But they did stop Northern Illinois from moving the ball most of the time.
• Northern Illinois went for it on special teams. The fake punt and onside kick were both successful. Their frequent attempts to block Florida State kicks weren't. But I think this shows that they knew they would need to gamble a few times to have a chance of winning.
• For their first drive in the second half, Northern Illinois emptied the backfield and sent five receivers downfield, spreading the field. They seemed to have decided that as Florida State controlled the line of scrimmage there was no point running through it, so they may as well try something else. On that occasion it worked.
• After the successful onside kick, they had a chance (their only chance) to make a comeback. An interception ended that and Florida State won comfortably. But given their dominance of the line of scrimmage, Florida State should have won much more impressively.