Florida State vs. Boston College Preview
Our Florida State vs. Boston College Preview examines how both teams stack up against each other going into Saturday. The ‘Noles will enjoy another ABC broadcasted game as they kick it off against the Eagles in Doak Campbell Stadium at 3:30.
Following another week of passing the test in a big game, FSU returns home to face the Boston College Eagles in ACC play. The Seminoles are 20-point favorites to beat the Eagles, but that shouldn’t even be a thought as this FSU team knows exactly what kind of challenges Boston College can present.
Tough Test
Last year’s matchup between these two teams saw FSU struggle mightily in the first half, which is something they didn’t even consider for most of the season last year. The play that arguably changed the momentum of the game can be seen below as Jameis Winston connected with Kenny Shaw in what many consider to be one of his more notable Heisman moments of a season ago.
A new year yields a new team for both squads, though, as Boston College no longer has 2013 Heisman candidate Andre Williams to lead the rushing attack.
This year’s gritty Seminole squad has been everything that last year’s team was not. Take away the complete dominance of last year, and insert the proof that this team is battle-proven and can compete and win no matter what the score is. They’ve proven this time and time again as they have now faced five situations in which they’ve been down by 10 points or more at halftime. Their record in those games? 5-0.
When the ‘Noles have the Ball:
Halfback Dalvin Cook has emerged as a game changer in the second half of the season for the ‘Noles. Most of his success as of late has come on the road, though, where Cook has rushed for 202 yards and four TDs on just 16 carries. In contrast, Cook struggled in his last home game against lowly Virginia, rushing for merely 36 yards on 11 carries with no touchdowns to show for it.
The challenge doesn’t get any easier for the Florida State run game in this weekend’s contest, as Boston College boasts the fourth-best rushing defense in the country that gives up a mere 96.6 yards per game. What’s even more impressive is the Eagles’ ability to consistently tackle the opposition behind the line of scrimmage. So far this season Boston College is averaging a whopping 7.6 tackles for loss per game.
That said, the Boston College secondary will be susceptible to the Heisman candidate caliber quarterback as Winston should seemingly have a huge day against a pass defense that checks in 65th in passing yards allowed and 85th in team passing efficiency defense. Just last week ,Winston didn’t have eye-popping numbers, but he spread the ball out as evenly as he may ever have this season. How well did he distribute? 10 different receivers caught the ball with no single player recording more than 65 total yards. These numbers are a far cry from those put up at the beginning of the season when many were critical of Winston locking on to senior wideout Rashad Greene.
| FSU Receiving Statistics vs Miami | |||||
| Player | REC | YDS | AVG | TD | LG |
| Travis Rudolph | 4 | 65 | 16.3 | 0 | 27 |
| Kermit Whitfield | 3 | 60 | 20.0 | 0 | 29 |
| Rashad Greene | 4 | 53 | 13.3 | 0 | 19 |
| Nick O’Leary | 4 | 42 | 10.5 | 0 | 16 |
| Ermon Lane | 2 | 27 | 13.5 | 0 | 22 |
| Jesus Wilson | 1 | 21 | 21.0 | 0 | 21 |
| Dalvin Cook | 2 | 18 | 9.0 | 0 | 14 |
| Karlos Williams | 3 | 10 | 3.3 | 1 | 11 |
| Mario Pender | 1 | 7 | 7.0 | 0 | 7 |
| Freddie Stevenson | 1 | 1 | 1.0 | 0 | 1 |
| Total | 25 | 304 | 12.2 | 1 | 29 |
When the Eagles have the Ball:
Run, run, run, and more run. This is how the Boston College Eagles play football. The Eagles travel to Tallahassee averaging 264 yards rushing per game. Pair that with the 106th-ranked third down percentage on offense, and the Eagles may find themselves out of this contest quickly if they fall behind Florida State early on. This year’s FSU team hasn’t been in the business of putting anyone away early, though.
If Boston College finds itself ahead by a couple touchdowns in the first half of this contest, then it may prove to be a little bit more difficult of a task for Florida State to battle back. Why?
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Boston College is very good when it comes to maintaining possession of the ball. This season the Eagles find themselves ranked 14th in time of possession, as they average possessing the ball for 32:35 minutes during their games. Couple this with a disciplined performance by a Boston College team that doesn’t beat itself, ranking seventh in the country in penalty yards allowed per-game, and the ‘Noles may be struggling to force a punt that would put the ball back in the hands of Jameis Winston and company.
Final Thoughts
This contest doesn’t have the flare and apparent competitiveness comparable to that of last week’s contest in Miami. However, Boston College should have a lot of reason to feel good about their chances against FSU. Being 20-point dogs to the Seminoles shouldn’t even be in the back of their minds, as this BC team has shown that if it goes out and executes its style of football it can beat anybody. And if the Eagles don’t, they can also lose to anybody. Look no further than their impressive victory against USC and their double-digit loss to the Pittsburg Panthers.