NCAA ESPN Thursday Night Game Preview – FSU at North Carolina
Florida State Seminoles (2-4) at North Carolina Tar Heels (4-2) -3 O/U 46.5
In a game that was thought to be one between a couple of teams battling for Bowl positioning the North Carolina Tar Heels host the Florida State Seminoles. While the Tar Heels look like they may play in a bowl game the Seminoles have to start winning or they will miss out playing in a post season game. Since the Seminoles looked solid in beating then #BYU back on September 19th they have looked anything but solid in their last 3 games, as they have lost all 3 and are now 0-3 in SEC play. To make matters worse they still have to play top-ranked Florida this season. The Tar Heels are 4-2, but they are 0-2 in SEC play and even though they routed a weak Georgia Southern team in their last game they had lost their previous 2 where their offense scored a grand total of 10 points.
This is not the good match up that the boys at ESPN envisioned when they looked at the schedule, but each teams can still make a bowl game and winning this game will really help make that goal a reality.
Florida State does have a solid offense, as they rank 27th in the nation, but their problems this season have been on the defensive side of the ball. They have given up an average of 31 points per game in their 3 game losing streak including giving up 49 points in their last game 2 weeks back against Georgia Tech. The Seminoles’ D ranks 107th in the nation ans they are weak at both defending the run and the pass. If their D plays like they have been they will have to get into a shootout to have any chance to win this game. FSU QB Christian Ponder 1,781 yds 9 TD 1 INT) has been up and down this season and he has to have a good game for the Seminoles to win.
To say the Tar Heels have a weak offense is a major understatement, as they rank 117th in the nation out of only 120 teams in the FBS. They have to be able to run the ball to win, as QB T.J. Yates only has 964 passing yards in 6 games. The reason the Tar Heels are 2 games over .500 is their defense ranks 3rd in the nation and they are solid at defending both the pass and the run. They will have to play solid D in this game, as if this game becomes a shootout there is no way their offense can keep up with the offense of the Seminoles.
This is a classic game of a great defensive team against a great offensive one. If the game is a low scoring one it favors North Carolina and if it is a high scoring one it favors Florida State.
In a few trends for this game FSU is 3-5-1 ATS in their last 9 road games, the total has gone over in 8 of the last 11 FSU road games, and North Carolina is 1-8 SU in its last 9 games when playing FSU.
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