Oh, this'll be fun...
Teams: Syracuse Orange (2-3) vs. No. 1 Florida State Seminoles (5-0)
Day & Time: Saturday, October 11, 12:00 p.m. ET
Field: Carrier Dome, Syracuse, NY
Line: -24, FSU (opened at -20)
TV: ESPN
Announcers: Bob Wischusen, Matt Millen & Quint Kessenich
Radio: Syracuse IMG Network, WAER 88.3, Sirius 93/XM 193
FSU Blog: Tomahawk Nation
Rivalry: 6-1, FSU
Current Streak: 6, FSU
First Meeting: The Orange won the first meeting between the two schools, 37-21, at Archbold Stadium in 1966. Floyd Little and Larry Csonka combined for four of SU’s five touchdowns, with Little scoring three times and Csonka once. Little carried 20 times for a game-high 193 yards. Csonka added 65 yards on 17 attempts. The two schools wouldn't meet again until 1978.
Last Meeting: I can understand why you'd want to forget last year's 59-3 schmissing. The game was out of hand so early that the Seminoles resorted to playing hangman on the sidelines.
Head Coaches: SU: Scott Shafer (2nd Year, 9-9), FSU: Jimbo Fisher (5th Year, 50-10)
Curious Connections: There's a bunch of high school connections, which is no surprise. On the coaching side, George McDonald was the receivers coach at Minnesota under Florida State tight ends coach Tim Brewster who was then-head coach. Also, Tim Daoust was a member of FSU linebackers coach Bill Miller’s staff when Miller coordinated the Western Michigan defense in 2007. Daoust was in charge of WMU’s defensive backs.
Last Year: Oh no biggie, 14-0 FSU only won the National Championship in thrilling fashion thanks in large part to their Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback. Whatever.
Last Game: It's not often you see a 43-3 win described as a "struggle," but, ESPN did last week when the Seminoles got going took a ten-point lead into the half before routing the Wake Forest Demon Deacons in the second half.
"Fear Me, I've Killed Hundreds of Timelords": You may have heard of this Jameis Winston fellow. Assuming he doesn't do something supremely stupid between now and Saturday, which is asking a lot to be fair, he'll be conducting the 15th-ranked passing offense in the nation. He may be without favorite weapon Rashad Greene, but, it probably won't matter much.
If Syracuse Wins: I feel like it would be pretty fair to say it would be among the biggest upsets in school history, if not THE biggest.
If Syracuse Loses: At least you weren't expecting anything else to happen.
Fun Fact: While SU is 1-8 versus teams ranked No. 1, Syracuse is 2-5 against the reigning national champion. They beat ‘86 champ Penn State in ‘87 and ‘97 champ Michigan in ‘98.
