Saturday at 7 p.m. on ESPN the ‘Noles will be in Miami Gardens to play the rival Miami Hurricanes.
Miami is 7-0 with wins against Florida, Florida A&M, Ball State, South Florida, Virginia Tech, California and Louisville.
The Seminoles have won 3 straight against UM but trail in the series all-time, 33-35.
Observations from the last game
Dropped passes, 4 turnovers, missed blocks and penalties doomed the Seminole once again.
The defense led by a dominant secondary played great and really only gave up 6 points. The special teams had another solid game too. For as well as the defense and special teams played the offense was equally as bad (well maybe worse).
Brock Glenn did ok outside of the 3 turnovers on 3 straight plays. The final drive to try to tie was a disaster as the offensive line couldn’t block anyone while in passing situations. Freshman Luke Kromenhoek made a few great throws, but a couple were dropped. Kromenhoek kept taking too much time in the pocket to make a decision.
Florida State offense versus Miami defense
The struggling offense (132nd in scoring in the FBS) will be without left tackle Darius Washington and Kam Davis making it even harder to move the ball.
Glenn is going to be the starter at QB, but I expect Kromenhoek to get some snaps as well. I expect the ‘Noles to make a few more big plays than usual but not consistently enough to make much of a difference.
UM has given up lots of points in the past 3 games but have done a good job of pressuring the quarterback as two lineman, Simeon Barrow and Tyler Baron, have 4.5 sacks. Other players to watch are defensive end Rueben Bain, do-it-all linebacker Francisco Mauigoa and defensive back Mishael Powell (3 interceptions).
Florida State defense versus Miami offense
The Miami offense is led by Heisman favorite Cam Ward, who has 27 total touchdowns and 2,538 yards passing. Yes, Ward is having a great season but the biggest reason for the success is the talented offensive line. The line is not only good at pass blocking but run blocking as well.
Running back Damien Martinez has benefited immensely from running behind them as well. The FSU should be able to get the Hurricanes into 3rd down situations but getting off the field has been a major issue this year.
The ‘Noles improved against Duke however dealing with the scrambling ability of Ward will be different story. It’ll be up to the defensive line to stay in their rush lanes and the linebackers and nickel Kevin Knowles to make the open field tackles for the defense to have any chance of slowing down the Miami offense.
Special Teams
John Papuchis’ unit continues to make plays. Advantage: Florida State
Prediction
The Miami offensive line and Cam Ward are going to score lots of points and the FSU offense won’t be able to keep up.
Florida State 20 Miami 52
FSU Preview: Florida State versus Miami added by Scott Carswell Jr on
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