NC State Wolfpack vs. FSU Seminoles
The 17th ranked Florida State Seminoles hit the road outside the state of Florida for the first time in 2006 as they head north to tobacco road and a game with the unranked North Carolina State Wolfpack in the Thursday night ESPN game from Raleigh, NC.
The Seminoles, coming off a 55-7 thrashing of the Rice Owls on Saturday, (Sept 30) are 3-1 on the season straight up (SU) and 2-2 against the spread (ATS). FSU is 1-1 in ACC play.
The Wolfpack enjoyed a bye week after shocking Boston College (Sept.23) in a straight up (SU) win 17-15 and covering as a home underdog (+6 ATS). The game will get underway with a 7:30 p.m. (EDT) kickoff.
Florida State has been installed as a double-digit road favorite with a –11 point chalk. A total of 40 points has been set.
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No one knows better than Chuck Amato what kind of dazzling speed, talent and athleticism will be coming his way on Thursday night. For most of the 18 years he spent as an assistant coach under Florida State’s Bobby Bowden, the current NC State head coach had the opportunity to coach some of college football’s most awesome players.
And although FSU no longer overwhelms ACC opponents the way it once did in the early and mid-90s, the overall talent quotient in Tallahassee hasn’t really waned that much.
“Every year they have one of the top five recruiting classes in America,” Amato said. “And you know what? They coach those kids hard. They always have, they always will and that comes from Coach Bowden. He has that twinkle in his eye, but they know how hard he wants them to coach those players. They keep winning.”
Needless to say, a victory over the Seminoles every now and then is worthy of a ‘feather in the cap’ for most schools. Interestingly, no program north of Miami has collected as many feathers as NC State, which has split its last eight games with the Seminoles.
Chuck Amato is 13-12 at home in ACC games and is 3-3 overall against the Seminoles. NC State has scored in 129 straight games, the fourth-longest scoring streak in ACC history. Sophomore tailback Andre Brown is averaging 5.5 yards per carry in his career and is 53 yards of shy of 1,000 for his career. Linebacker Patrick Lowery leads the ACC and ranks 20th nationally in tackles per game (9.8). The Wolfpack has allowed opponents to complete only .478 of their passes (44-of-92) – the lowest rate in the ACC and seventh lowest nationally.
For the Seminoles, junior fullback Joe Surratt has rushed for a team-high five touchdowns on only 17 carries and is tied for fifth in the ACC in scoring (7.5). Quarterback Drew Weatherford is eighth among ACC sophomore passing yardage leaders (3,923) and is second among active ACC quarterbacks with 21 career touchdown passes Gary Cismesia has made 30 of his 40 career field goal attempts. Cismesia leads the ACC and is 12th nationally in field goals per game (1.5) Three of Florida State’s next four games are on the road where the Seminoles are 44-9 (.830) in ACC road games under Bowden.
