Week 10 of the College football calendar sees two old foes go head to head. No. 3 Florida State Seminoles will host the No. 7 Miami Hurricanes at Doak Campbell Stadium in Tallahassee, Florida.
One of the oldest rivalries in football dates back to 1953 when the two sides met for the first time. Miami took the spoils on that day 35-13 and currently lead the series 31-26 despite Florida State winning the last three. The competition between the two has heated up significantly over the last 25 or so years since one of the two teams has usually been ranked, meaning national championship implications are at stake.
The game this Saturday, as with more major rivalries, will be a can’t miss spectacle. Two top ten teams fighting tooth and nail. However, in truth it has all the hall marks of a crushing win for the Seminoles.
Jimbo Fisher’s men are the hottest team in football right now. Freshman quarterback Jameis Winston has taken the league by storm and looks like the best quarterback prospect since Andrew Luck. Too early to say something of that magnitude? Maybe, but the 19 year-old has all the tools. So far in 2013 the Alabama native has thrown 23 touchdowns, 2,177 yard and is completing just under 70% of his passes. Compare that with senior Stephen Morris of Miami. The ‘Canes’ quarterback has looked out of sorts for most of the season and has so far tallied just 10 touchdowns with eight interceptions and is completing 10% less of his passes than Winston. These two aren’t in the same league.
To be fair to the Hurricanes their strength lies with the running game. Duke Johnson and Dallas Crawford are two very impressive sophmores. Johnson has 823 yards at 6.7 yards per carry while Crawford has racked up nine touchdowns. Nevertheless, Seminoles running backs Devonta Freeman and Karlos Williams are no slouches. This year the two have combined for 910 yards and 13 touchdowns.
Florida State’s receiving corps has the advantage too thanks to Rashad Greene who has found form just at the right times. The six-foot junior’s last two games have yielded 16 catches, 273 yards and three touchdowns. Wow.
Miami have won three games by five points or less while the ‘Noles have scored 40 points or more in blow out win after blow out win. Much like Clemson two weeks ago the Hurricanes should, and will, believe they can beat their in-state rivals because of any given Saturday, right? Unfortunately this game comes a year too soon for The U. The best they can do this year is try and keep it respectable.