Florida State vs Miami; if you’re a xennial, Generation Xer, and perhaps an older millenial (as well as a member of a previous generation) college football fan, you remember when this rivalry clash was the game extraordinaire. It was often the prelude to a championship. Y’all remember Wide Right and Wide Right II? Eventually, FSU exorcised the placekicking demons, won their first national title in 1993 and their quasi-dynasty began.
These days the sunshine state showdown is distinctively…not that special, as the ACC overall is pretty much Clemson, and a bunch of guys. Still this should still be a very spirited and entertaining clash when the Seminoles (0-1, 0-1 ACC) visit the #12 Hurricanes (2-0, 1-0) on Saturday night.
Kickoff is 7:30 EST on ABC, for a game that sees the Canes heavily favored.
If you look at BetQL’s Best Bets for this week, you’ll see the hosts favored by 11 points. Sounds about right, given that FSU hasn’t beaten Miami in four years and is coming off an ugly 16-13 loss to Georgia Tech in week one. It’s also understandable to see the NCAA public betting dashboard showing a 79.25% of a victory for the U, with a projected score of 32.5-21.5 in this one.
Taking a look at the BetQL Sharp Picks page, you’ll see that public betting on this game is neck and neck. It’s only 52%-48% in favor of the Canes, so either the infamous FSU Twitter community is out there betting hard with their hearts and not their heads, or somebody might know something out there that we don’t.
After all, Miami decisively beat a top 20 ranked team in Louisville in week one, and they’re taking on a team with plenty of issues, and that’s before they learned they’ll have to be without in their head coach, Mike Norvell, for this one. The first year mentor tested positive for the coronavirus, so he’ll have to do all his guiding and coaching remotely.
He will not be present at Hard Rock Stadium, a venue that changes its name so frequently, we had to triple check that it’s still called that before publishing this article.
This is one of the two games on the schedule every year that is the Seminole Super Bowl (Florida is is the other), so you know they’re going to fired up about trying to spring the upset on the road.
Not to mention the fact that so many in Tallahassee have an enormous chip on their shoulder for this one. But emotions might not be enough to stop a very dangerous and talented Miami offensive backfield.
Quarterback D’Erig King has 469 yards passing on 63% completion, to go along with four touchdowns and no interceptions in the first two games.
He also has just under a c-note on the ground this season, averaging 4.6 yards per carry. When he’s not throwing it or taking off with it himself (he has 20 carries on the young season, second most on the team) he’s most likely handing it off to tailback Cam’Ron Harris who leads the team in rushes, and is averaging over a first down (10.3 ypc) every time he totes the rock.
So the Seminoles defense really has its work cut out for them here, as you have a dual threat QB, plus a stellar running back (Harris has three touchdowns and 268 yards in two games) to contend with. In order to pull off this double digit upset, FSU is going to have to reverse the turnover chain in this game, and force the home side into being very uncharacteristic, into giving the ball away.
Prediction: #12 Miami Hurricanes 24, Florida State Seminoles 19
The ESPN Football Power Index shows a much tigher game, with the south Florida team having a 56.3% of winning, while the side from the state capital sports a 43.7% probability of emerging victorious.
I honestly feel more inclined in that direction, as strange things often happen in rivalry games, and this is the strangest of college football seasons. Not feeling a ‘Noles upset, but I am backing them to cover.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank, partnered with News Now. Banks, the author of “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry,” has regularly appeared in WGN, Sports Illustrated, Chicago Tribune and SB Nation. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram.