Folks say teams make the biggest improvements they’re gonna make between week one and week two in their football seasons. Luckily, FSU has an opponent they should easily defeat to move to 2-0 in East Texas A&M.
Although it’s a gimme win, I wrote about three reasons FSU fans should continue to show interest in that game. If FSU goes up early in that game, and you’re looking for another game to grab your attention? I have the perfect game for you to pay attention to.
It’s the matchup between Virginia and NC State(that’s a non-conference matchup). The Wahoos will travel to Carter-Finley Stadium for a noon kickoff a week after defeating Coastal Carolina 48-7. The Wolfpack snuck past in-state rival ECU 24-17.
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FSU will travel to play Virginia in its first road contest in week five. They will take on the Wolfpack later in the season in week 13. FSU should be betting favorites against both teams. Coastal Carolina is terrible, and ECU isn’t great, though the latter was the better team a year ago.
NC State is the home favorite at -3.5, so this game would likely be a toss-up at a neutral field. I’m looking at this game more for Virginia since the Noles play them much sooner. I’m looking at the UVA quarterback specifically because the Cavaliers didn’t exactly run it down Coastal Carolina’s throat. Virginia’s defense only had one sack and three tackles for a loss last week.
If UVA can’t run it against NC State, and their quarterback doesn’t light the world on fire? That’s a good sign for the Noles. The NC State game is so far away that many things can change. I know NC State doesn’t have the depth that FSU has across the board, so they might have even less depth by then.
I’ll be watching to see if NC State QB, CJ Bailey, continues to light it up through the air like he did against ECU last week. NC State didn’t have great rushing success against ECU, so that’s a good sign for the Noles. I’m not worried about either defense if the same FSU team that showed up against Alabama shows.
This game should provide a good barometer for each team and what to expect by the time FSU rolls into town. The UVA-NC State game will air on ESPN2 at noon on Saturday.