FSU football: Take Noles to cover spread against Southern Miss?

FSU football will be under the lights once again Saturday night, hosting the Southern Mississippi Golden Eagles. The game will air on the ACC Network with a late start time of 8:30 p.m. ET. The student section for Doak Campbell Stadium has already sold out, which is a great sign for a program ranked No. 4 nationally.

FSU demolished previously ranked No. 4 LSU Sunday night and will return on a short week as -31 point betting favorites over Southern Miss.

The over/under total is 53, which implies a score of around 42-10. The betting line opened at -33 and has moved down to -31, with about 60 percent of the bets on the Noles to cover.

Southern Miss defeated Alcorn State 40-14 in their season opener. They were a team that averaged about 25 ppg and allowed 23 ppg last season.

Obviously, they don’t have the talent of FSU’s previous opponent LSU, and we saw FSU score on six consecutive possessions against the Tigers Sunday night while holding them to 17 points until one final garbage time touchdown with less than two minutes to go in the game.

On the surface, one would think FSU would cover the spread easily, but it will likely depend on how long they choose to leave the starters in the game.

We must remember it’s a short week, so we’ll likely see more young guys rotating in the game earlier. I’m sure the coaching staff would like to use these types of games as opportunities to build depth as the season progresses, and usually, that could allow a team to score a cheap touchdown or field goal, which could be the difference in covering a large spread like this.

If I had to guess, they cover the -31, but a bet on the -6.5 first quarter might have better value. Check back for more coverage of the upcoming game this week.