The Florida State Seminoles may have lost their ACC opening game and dropped off several spots in the AP Poll, but they’re still NCAA football betting favorites to hand the South Florida Bulls their first loss on Saturday, September 24th at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa. Here are the online sportsbook odds:
Florida State -5½ (-110) 61 (-110) -225
South Florida +5½ (-110) 61 (-110) +185
In what could be termed the Third Seminole War, Florida State got slaughtered 63-20 by the Louisville Cardinals in week 3. The Seminoles failed to settle into their recurring offensive pattern of scoring before halftime, getting the ball back to start the third quarter, and scoring again. In fact, FSU was, as they say, given a dose of their own medicine. Florida State got as close as 14-10 in the second quarter but was behind 32 points by the third.
Starting QB Deondre Francois went 7 of 18 for 101 passing yards with one TD and one interception. In addition to those uncharacteristic numbers, the redshirt freshman was sacked five times. Meanwhile, running back Dalvin Cook rushed for only 54 yards on 16 carries. There are upsets and then there are upsets, and this was the latter.
The Bulls rattled off 28 unanswered points in the second quarter of their week three 45-20 win over Syracuse Orange to start 3-0 for the first time since Willie Taggart took over the program in 2011. QB Quinton Flowers finished 12 of 24 for 188 yards with one TD; running back Marlon Mack rushed for 115 yards on 9 carries with two touchdowns; and wide receiver Rodney Adams had four catches for 67 receiving yards with one TD. Defensively, LB Auggie Sanchez had 13 tackles – 5 solo – and one sack.
South Florida is eager to go 4-0 for the first time since that 2011 season, notable for their defeating then-No. 16 Notre Dame – FSU is currently ranked 13th (how the mighty have fallen). Moreover, the Bulls are anxious to accomplish that against a college that they have beaten once already in 2009 – though of course the legendary Bobby Bowden was still in charge of the Seminoles program back then, and Florida State has bested USF twice since. What better time to take advantage of a wounded Seminole? On the other hand, that’s when the Seminoles are at their most dangerous.
As NCAA football betting fans might or might not know, Florida State has the second-longest streak without back-to-back losses (66). The last time FSU lost consecutive games was three-game losing spell that started on September 17th, 2011 and ended on October 8th of that same year. That’s almost as impressive as the Non-Vomit Streak.
But not quite. We have yet to see, though, whether the Seminoles can rebound from one of, if not the worse loss of the Jimbo Fisher era – or any era, for that matter, since Florida State had never allowed 63 points in a game. All things considered, it’s going to be an interesting match-up between a reeling Seminoles and the upstart Bulls – with the latter having the NCAA football betting advantage.