FSU at South Florida: Gameday Primer

It’s hard to know exactly what to expect from No. 13 Florida State as it gets set to take on undefeated South Florida. The teams are meeting for just the fourth time and the Bulls come in with a record of 3-0 and will be expecting to win.

South Florida has used star running back Marlon Mack sparingly to this point, but the junior is averaging nearly 10 yards per carry on just 18 totes through three games. Quinton Flowers is a dual-threat at quarterback while receiver Rodney Adams already has six touchdowns for the Bulls on just 22 touches. Auggie Sanchez leads the team in tackles with 43 total stops, which included 13 in last week’s 45-20 win over Syracuse.

Florida State will hope to get things back on track after just about everything went wrong last week against Louisville in a 63-20 loss. Quarterback Deondre Francois and running back Dalvin Cook will look to get things going after sub-par efforts against the Cardinals while Travis Rudolph and Auden Tate hope to build on their six combined touchdown catches. Defensively, the guy to watch is senior end DeMarcus Walker, who predicted a different team moving forward.

Quick Hits

• Under head coach Jimbo Fisher, FSU is 14-1 against in-state opponents. Fisher is 2-0 against South Florida and a perfect 7-0 against in-state opponents on the road.
• Florida State is 9-3 under head coach Jimbo Fisher following a loss, which includes five straight victories. The last time FSU lost consecutive games came during the first half of the 2011 season.
• Under Fisher, the Seminoles are 18-4 in the month of September, but just 4-3 on the road.
• If South Florida were able to pull the upset on Saturday, it would be the highest ranked opponent it defeated since No. 13 Kansas during the 2008 season. It would also be just the second victory over a ranked team under head coach Willie Taggart.
• South Florida is 8-25 all-time against ranked teams.
• Under Fisher, FSU has never allowed more than 30 points three times in the same month or in a 4-game span. South Florida comes in averaging 49.7 points per game.

Good Times, Bad Times

All-Time Series: Florida State leads 2-1.
Good Times: Florida State’s first trip to Tampa in 2012 resulted in a 30-17 victory. E.J. Manuel passed for 242 yards and a touchdown in the victory while linebacker Christian Jones returned a fumble for a score. Senior quarterback B.J. Daniels scored a pair of rushing touchdowns.

In last season’s meeting in Tallahassee, Dalvin Cook had the second best rushing day ever for the Seminoles, totaling 266 yards on the ground and three touchdowns in a 34-14 victory. USF’s Quinton Flowers passed for both of the Bulls’ scores.

Bad Times: No. 18 Florida State wore all white at home for the first meeting between the schools in 2009. Despite playing with a freshman quarterback making his first career start in B.J. Daniels, the Bulls defeated FSU 17-7. Daniels accounted for 215 yards passing and two scores through the air while adding 126 yards on the ground. The Seminoles turned the ball over four times in the loss.

For Your Reading Pleasure

Here are all the articles from The Daily Nole leading up to Saturday’s contest at South Florida:

Down, Not Out: Does FSU Have What it Takes to Bounce Back from Louisville?
FSU Football: A First Look at South Florida
Patrick, Tate Emerging to Fill Voids for FSU Offense
Preview: Seminoles Hope to Get Back on Track Against USF
Q&A with SoFloBulls Blog on FSU-South Florida
Staff Predictions for FSU-South Florida
FSU-South Florida: Five Things to Watch

Mike Ferguson is the editor of The Daily Nole. Follow Mike on Twitter @MikeWFerguson