College Football – (2) Noles Set to Dominate Cavaliers at Home

Virginia Cavaliers at (2) Florida State Seminoles (-19.5, 55 o/u)

Last week, the No. 2 Florida State Seminoles (8-0, 5-0 ACC) showed the same moxie everyone has come to expect from the defending National Champions. The Noles went down 21 points in the first quarter to the No. 25 Louisville Cardinals, who have (er, had?) one of the best defenses in the country. Jimbo Fisher and company didn’t panic, though, and roared back for a 42-31 win, almost doubling the next highest point total scored against Louisville this season (23)

Embattled quarterback Jameis Winston demonstrated his toughness in the win, twisting his ankle but still finishing the game.

Florida State coach Jimbo Fisher said, “That’s one of the unique things about (Winston) and our team, to play the next play. Go on and block out the next play. To me, that’s what shows supreme confidence in yourself. Pain is temporary. You’ve got to put it away.”

Up next for the undefeated Seminoles is a home game against the mediocre Virginia Cavaliers (4-5, 2-3 ACC). The Cavaliers are on a three-game losing streak and, last week, gave up a season high 268 yards on the ground in a loss at Georgia Tech.

Still, Fisher had this warning for his team, “Virginia’s a very talented team and a very well-coached team. And we have to play great football.”

Offensively, the Cavaliers are led by up-and-down quarterback Greyson Lambert. Lambert has thrown two picks in each of his last two games, and was spelled by sophomore Matt Johns in the loss to the Yellow Jackets. He will have a decent chance to get back on track (statistically, at least) against the Noles, who surrender 240 passing yards per game.

While the Seminoles are still playing for the National Championship, Virginia is hoping to end the year at a bowl game. They will need to finish .500 or better to do so, though. Said tight end Zachary Swanson, “We’re playing for coach [Mike] London, we’re playing for our teammates, we’re playing for the season, we’re playing for a bowl game. We have three more opportunities to win two and I think it’s a big thing for us to get these wins, and play hard, for whatever our reasons may be.”

Considering Florida State doesn’t play another ranked opponent this season, look for the Seminoles to run up the score. Lay the points and take Florida State.

(Photo credit: Ayzmo (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons. Photo has been cropped from its original.)