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FSU battles N.C. State
October 16, 2008
By AllStar.com
Florida State vs. North Carolina State
Current line: FSU -10 ½ Current total: 47 ½ Date: Thursday 10-16 Time: 4:40pm Pacific TV: ESPN
The 4-1 Florida State Seminoles head to Raleigh for an ACC slugfest against the 2-4 NC St. Wolfpack. The Seminoles are currently in 2nd place in the ACC standings and need a win to keep pace with a very good Wake Forest team. The Wolfpack have been struggling and are currently sitting at the bottom of the ACC standings.
Florida State is coming off a very impressive road win against in state rival Miami. The Noles have been relying on a pounding ground game lead by Antone Smith. Smith is rushing for 4.9 yards per carry and he scored 9 touchdowns. The Noles are 14th in the nation in rushing, and are averaging a bruising 231 yards per game. This will be the 10th time the Noles have played on Thursday night, and Coach Bowden knows how to prepare a team for a mid week game. Florida State is 5-4 on Thursday nights dating back to 1983 victory over Louisville.
Coach Bowden on NC State: “We've had some good lickings up there. One of our best teams got beat up there. We played for the national championship that year and they beat us during the season and we were heavily favored. They hustle good; their guys seem to hit good. They're a team that could get you and they have a very dangerous quarterback."
NC State is coming off a 12 day lay off since a 38-31 home loss to Boston College. They have been decimated with injuries and were down to 46 scholarship players for the BC game. Some of the key players have slowly been starting to return to the practice field and have injected some life into the Wolfpack’s lineup.
On offense the Wolfpack are lead by mobile Quarterback Russell Wilson. The elusive Wilson has thrown four touchdown passes and only been intercepted once. Wilson missed a few games with a concussion, but returned for the BC game and looked good. He was 19 of 33 for 218 yards and also rushed for 42 yards. Boston College has been averaging only 291 yards of total offense and is currently ranked 113th in that category. With the return of QB Wilson and other key players from injury, expect the WolfPack to steadily improve that number in the coming weeks.
In the last ten meetings between these teams, they are deadlocked at 5-5. NC State has been a very impressive 7-2-1 ATS in this match up, and has covered 6 out of the last 7 times. Overall Florida State is 2-1 ATS and NC State is 3-2 ATS. In NC States last 3 home games the over is 3-0
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