College Football Betting – Will Gators Finally Snap (3) Noles’ Streak?

Florida Gators at (3) Florida State Seminoles (-7.5)

This Saturday, the No. 3 Florida State Seminoles (11-0, 6-0 home) will look to stay perfect when they host the Florida Gators (6-4, 2-1 away) in Tallahassee (3:30 p.m. Eastern).

It’s been the same old story for the Noles all season: fall behind early (often to lesser opponents) only to rally for a late victory. That plotline has some questioning whether the undefeated, defending National Champions really are one of the top-four teams in the NCAA. There’s no question that, if the Noles win their remaining two games, they will be in the inaugural College Football Playoff. But a loss could see them leap-frogged by other one-loss teams such as TCU and Mississippi State.

After squeaking by Boston College last weekend on a last second field goal, Florida State head coach Jimbo Fisher went on the offensive. “Let me ask you this: How about the way everybody else hasn’t finished? Our team has never not finished. The game is 60 minutes. This team hasn’t lost in over two years. Everybody says game control. That’s something made up. As a coach, you talk about one thing: Finish. Get it done.

“This team wins in every way, shape and form you can win. Everybody else has failed at least once, no matter what you look at, and some of those teams have lost when they were over 20-point favorites,” Fisher railed.

This weekend, the Seminoles would be best served by playing all 60 minutes as they will be facing an emotional Gators squad that wants to see outgoing head coach Will Muschamp off with a win.

Last week, Florida made a statement in Muschamp’s (and the seniors’) last game at Florida Field, drubbing Eastern Kentucky, 52-3.

“We all left the Swamp with a big victory and our heads held high and a lot of smiles,” said linebacker Michael Taylor. “We made a lot of people proud today, a lot of parents, a lot of fans who have been watching us all the way back from recruiting.”

Added Gators defensive end Jon Bullard, “It was very emotional. We wanted to have a winning atmosphere and we did. We hollered ‘Champ’ the whole time just to show him respect for everything. We’ve been through some hard times, but he never gave up on us and we respect him for that.”

It’s that kind of desire and passion that will make the Gators a tough opponent on Saturday. Florida already proved it  can hang with the FBS heavyweights by taking down then-No. 11 Georgia (38-20) earlier in the season. Throw in the Seminoles’ unsteady play, and the Gators-plus-the-points (+7.5) looks appealing.

(Photo credit: arctic_whirlwind (flickr) “opening kickoff” [https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/2.0/legalcode].)