Syracuse

Week two, what can I say except YIKES! At least Florida State pulled the victory. Upon initial viewing, I was immediately concerned with Florida State’s performance. While these concerns haven’t subsided completely, they’ve certainly mellowed. Samford, as I pointed out in my previous preview, featured an FCS stud quarterback with an offense tailored towards his skill set. More still: Florida State was coming off a short week after a disappointing loss against Virginia Tech at home, and sustaining injuries they simply could not on the Offensive line. With a limited playbook, short week to actually prep for the game, injuries, and a FCS contender in Samford, understandably this game was perhaps too close for Seminole fans to bare.

To be clear: there is no excuse for FSU to of performed this poorly against FCS talent. They should not of been down with four minutes in the 4th quarter. However, I am willing to empathize with the players, team, circumstances surrounding the new coaching regime and culture change, and other miscellaneous variables. I am not giving up on Willie Taggart in year one of his tenure. For those who may of forgotten: Georgia in 2016 beat Nichols State 26-24. Jimbo was blown out 44-7 in his second game as head coach. Saban lost games in his first year at Alabama that most would assume to be automatic wins.

The fact of the matter is: this game was too close, but a Win is a Win, and Seminoles shouldn’t give-up on Willie Taggart at this point and time.

Florida State still has a chance to go 8-4 in the regular season (if you want to make the case, they could go 11-1 and be playoff bound but I severely doubt this). This is my conservative estimate for Florida State and at this time I’ll stand by it. You know what that means.

Syracuse, while dynamic on offense and being capable of pulling upsets at home, has not beaten FSU since 1966 (their only win against Florida State). Despite the injuries, talent-for-talent Florida State is the superior team. Where FSU will fall is poor offensive line play. Syracuse, however, doesn’t have the defensive capability to stop the Florida State offense in this game (statistically speaking based off performance in 2018 season). Eric Dungey is healthy and can run (he isn’t as good a passer as the Samford Quarterback), however the FSU defense has demonstrated that with good preparation they can stifle an offense (Samford made a run in the first half but was limited severely after adjustments made entering the 2nd). Give Florida State a week, with a focus on Syracuse, and I don’t see Syracuse putting up enough numbers against Florida State.

Final Verdict

I think the game will be another close one, and might prove to be a bit of a shoot-out! But I think FSU has the play makers to stop the Syracuse offense just enough so their own offense can out-perform the Orangemen on the road. If FSU loses this game, I won’t predict them to win any more ACC games until proven otherwise.

Florida State: 34

Syracuse: 30

Make sure you follow the All Sports Discussion Twitter account at @AllSportsDACC and please like our Facebook Page