This Saturday the 28th of November following the Thanksgiving Holiday this past Thursday and full of NFL games, thus we move on to the Wk 13 of the 2015 NCAA Football Regular Season with the No. 14 Seminoles of Florida State 9-2 (ACC) playing at the No. 10 Gators of Florida 10-1 (SEC) with the game being played at the Ben Hill Griffin Stadium (better known as the Swamp) in Gainesville, Florida with kick-off scheduled for 7:35 PM ET and seen on ESPN TV.
For those that Bet on College football at a sportsbook the Seminoles of FSU are early favorites at -2 with the Over/under at 43 ½ and -130 on the Money Line, while the upper ranked Gators of Florida are the underdog are + 2 and +110 on the ML.
In their last game the Gators of Florida did not appear as a team who could make this season’s playoffs after they had to play into overtime to beat 2 and 9 FAU with the final score 20-14. Thus they now will try to get back to their dominant play as they take on the sizzling state rival the Seminoles of Florida State in their last game of the 2015 season. Who do you think will win this hot rivalry game, the Gators or the Seminoles?
If you’re a fan of the 9-2 Seminoles of Florida State who are undefeated at home this year and they did that with their win last weekend 52-13 over Chattanooga and their last home game for 2015. Their star RB D. Cook was a team leader in that game with 15 carries for 107 yards and 2 TD’s, which happened to be his 7th game this season in which he rushed for at least 100 yards. For this 2015 season he has total yardage rushing at 1,475 yards and receptions with 207 yards to date, which is a FSU record.
Now the Seminoles and their RB Star Cook take on the Gators of Florida in the annual rivalry game and in the last 5 games with the Gators the Seminoles have won 4 and lost 1 straight up.
If FSU is to win this hot rivalry game in the ‘Swamp’ they will need to continue and take advantage of a very well rounded offense that to date has averaged per game 185 yards rushing and on passing they averaged 252 yards each game for their 11 games to date which is tops in the ACC this season.
The Seminole will depend on RB Cook to gain yardage in this game as to date he is averaging 8 yards each time he carry’s the ball, and he should heat up the running game and make the going tuff for the Gators. But the Noles also need a top performance out of their QB S. Maguire as the game against the undefeated Tigers of Clemson he only completed 16 of his 29 passing attempts for 165 yards in the game they lost 23-13 to the Tigers.
Look to none other than Cook, who’s posting a conference-best 8.0 rushing yards per carry, to continue leading the charge on the ground and make life tough for the Gators. That and offensively they need to be more persistent and use their talent to break into the Gator defense which has been very stingy allowing opponents just 14.6 points per game in 2015.
If you’re a avid fan of the 10-1 Gators of Florida most of you were looking for your Gators to really rout the low ranked FAU last Saturday, however that did not happen as the FAU team held the Gators without a score in the 1st half and had to get the win in OT which was their 10th win of their season. Presently the Gators are in 1st place in the SEC-East and in that game with FAU they really struggled on 3rd downs as they were only successful in 2 of their 13 attempts to make a 1st down. In OT their QB T. Harris managed to locate WR. J. McGee for a TD of 13 yards to win 20-14. The Gators are 5-0 at home this season, and to chalk another win it will depend on the success of their defense against the powerful offense of the Seminoles which have averaged some 436 total yards per game and 33 points each game in 2015.
On offense their QB Harris must have a better performance against the Seminoles, as against FAU he only completed 8 of 17 passes for 121 yards if they are to take advantage of their passing game that previously was averaging 223 yards in the air each game in 2015. QB Harris’s targets will be receivers D. Robinson and A. Calloway who together have 1,047 yards in receptions and 6 TD’s in 2015. Also they will have to run the ball more frequently with RB K. Taylor who is the team leader in rushing with 13 TD’s and 834 total yards, and was a delight in the FAU game as he carried for 25 times and gained 99 yards.
The prediction for this state rivalry annual face off will see the Seminoles of Florida State overcome the Gators of Florida in a very close game to win and cover the spread!