On Friday night at 7 p.m. on ESPN the Seminoles will be in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to play the Pittsburgh Panthers. Pittsburgh has wins against Miami (OH), Central Florida, Syracuse, Bucknell, Virginia Tech, and Georgia Tech and losses to North Carolina, Boston College and Miami. FSU is 5-7 against the Panthers in the all-time series. Pitt won the game last season, 34-31, The last time the Seminole won was in 2023, 24-7, in Pittsburgh.
Observations from the last game
After a slow start the Seminoles finished the game on a 24-7 run. After a few changes in the game plan before half things started to turn for the better. Defensive coordinator Ernie Sims began the game rushing just 3 or 4 but after BC went up 17-7, he started dialing up the pressure. Offensively, FSU went to the run game and leaned on the freshman Amari Thomas (98 yards and 2 touchdowns).
The special teams unit had a bounce back game, scoring a touchdown and providing a momentum flipping punt return.
Athletics Director/Coaching update
Florida State has hired Jeff Purinton as it’s new athletic director. After graduating from Florida State Purinton worked at FSU from 1994-2006 eventually manning the assistant sports information director position. Later in his career he rose to deputy director of athletics at Alabama during his 15 years there. With his connections to Saban and Georgia defensive coordinator Schumann at Alabama this raises the chance of re-hiring Jimbo Fisher or bringing in a Saban guy like Schumann.
Florida State offense versus Pittsburgh defense
FSU’s running back depth chart is down to freshmen and walk ons. This doesn’t come at a good time as Pitt boasts the second-best rushing defense that allows only 73 yards per game. Florida State needs to get the passing game going to help give the inexperienced backs some room to make plays. Daniels should be able to get this done against the 126th ranked passing defense. The key player on this side of the ball is receiver Micahi Danzy, who might need to play some running back to spell Thomas. Players to watch for on the Pittsburgh defense are leading tackler Cruce Brookins, linebacker Jeremiah Marcelin and defensive lineman Jaeden Moore.
Florida State defense versus Pittsburgh offense
The Seminole defense will face Pittsburgh’s backup quarterback, Holden Geriner. Geriner has struggled since filling in for Mason Heintschel going 1-3 in his starts. In the last 4 games the Panthers have relied heavily on their rushing attack especially running back Damon Ferguson (662 yards and 7 total touchdowns). Backup running back La’Vell Wright gets plenty of carries as well. Slowing down the run will be tough with a few defensive linemen out but if they can it’ll put the quarterback in some tough situations.
Special teams
Consistent punting from Ethan Post and emergence of Jasen Lopez gives FSU the advantage.
Prediction
I think Daniels picks up his play and Geriner makes some mistakes helping the ‘Noles get the victory in the cold (upper 30s at kickoff).
Florida State 21 Pittsburgh 18
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