#21 FSU (4-1, 1-1 ACC) at Wake Forest (3-2, 2-1 ACC)
Thursday, October 11
7:30 PM ET on ESPN
Groves Stadium (Natural Grass)
I got a lot of e-mails from Kentucky fans prior to last Thursday night's game between the Wildcats and South Carolina. How could I possibly be backing the Gamecocks? Didn’t I know about the mighty Andre Woodson – the QB for Kentucky who apparently already has the Heisman sewn up?
Unfortunately for those Kentucky fans, my Thursday night record was extended to 4-2 last week as South Carolina and Steve Spurrier’s defense – that’s right, defense – was too much for the Wildcats as the home team pulled away for a 38-23 win.
As I told several people, I don’t think Kentucky was exposed as a fraud, it just ran up against a tough defense that was playing at home. It’s really that simple.
Of course, the SEC isn’t the only conference where it’s tough to win on the road. That rule certainly applies to many conferences across the land and the ACC is no exception. Then again, I think someone forgot to remind coach Jim Grobe and Wake Forest of that last year when they traveled to Tallahassee to face Florida State.
In that game, Wake Forest took Bobby Bowden and the Seminoles out to the woodshed like few teams have done over the past 20 years. When the dust settled, the Demon Deacons walked out of Doak Campbell Stadium with a 30-0 win.
As you can imagine, as the Seminoles prepare to face Wake this Thursday night, the visitors from the state of Florida would like nothing better than to serve up a little revenge to the reigning ACC champs.
Still seems weird to think of Wake Forest as ACC football champions. After all, it wasn’t long ago that the title seemed to have a permanent resting place on Bobby Bowden’s desk.
But times have changed and the balance of power in the ACC has certainly shifted – not so much to any one program but it has been spread around and at the moment there is a tremendous amount of parity in the league.
You don’t need any further proof of just how average FSU has become than to consider that last week's 27-10 victory over North Carolina State ended an eight-game losing streak for the Seminoles against Atlantic Division programs. For those scoring at home, that streak consisted of losses to Clemson (three times), N.C. State (twice), Boston College, Maryland and Wake Forest dating back to the 2005.
At the same time, Wake has risen from the annual cellar dweller in the league to the status of contender – and in 2006, champion.
So with that fairly intriguing back drop, we turn to the facts of the case this Thursday night in Winston-Salem.
Both teams have been fairly average when it comes to offensive production – and that’s probably being kind.
The Seminoles rank 88th in the nation in total offense, although things seem to be getting better. That’s because the Drew Weatherford experiment finally seems to be over.
Once a very promising QB for Bobby Bowden, Weatherford gradually began to get bogged down by one mistake after another. Finally, after a poor performance in a win at Colorado earlier this year, Florida State offensive coordinator Jimbo Fisher and Bowden decided to shake things up and insert 6-4, 235-pound redshirt junior Xavier Lee during the second quarter of the following game, against Alabama.
The spark to the Seminoles offense from the multi-dimensional Lee was obvious to all and now the 2003 winner of “Mr. Football” in the state of Florida has a stranglehold on the job.
The improvement of the FSU offense, along with a typical suffocating Seminoles defense (currently ranked 17th the nation) has Bobby Bowden thinking of regaining his perch atop the Atlantic Division standings. Of course, Boston College might have something to say about that on November 3rd but first things first. FSU must take care of business at Wake Forest.
On the other hand, the Demon Deacons, who lost to Boston College by 10 to open the season, know they must win this game if they are to have any realistic chance of returning to Jacksonville to play for the ACC title - not to mention the opportunity to play in back-to-back bowl games for the first time in their history.
To do so, Wake certainly knows they must get a big effort from QB Riley Skinner, RBs Micah Andrews and Josh Adams and senior WR Kenny Moore.
Thursday Night Factoids:
--Florida State is 2-3 ATS this season, 1-1 ATS in away games. Wake Forest is also 2-3 ATS this season and has a 2-1 ATS mark at home.
--FSU holds a 21-3-1 advantage in the all-time series with Wake Forest which dates back to 1956.
--The 30-0 victory by Wake Forest last year in Tallahassee snapped a 14 game winning streak by FSU.
--Jim Grobe is 1-5 all-time against FSU.
--Bobby Bowden is 14-1 all-time against Wake Forest.
