FSU vs Samford – Preview and Prediction

After a dismal showing against Virginia Tech in the opener, Florida State is in need of a confidence builder and they should get that against a physically overmatched team. The Florida State offensive line looks like its going to be an issue all year, but the skill players need to do a better job making correct reads and blocking on the perimeter.  The line was not good, but I also don’t think they were as bad as they looked on Monday.  Khalan Laborn needs more touches in the run game and Deondre Francois needs to be threat to run for the zone read game to be effective.

The first half of the game against Virginia Tech was a good one for the FSU offense.  Francois started hot and had over 200 yards passing in the opening quarters, but things spiraled in the 3rd quarter and Francois played a very poor second half.  Florida State has too many athletes at the skill positions and should have success through the air.  What I would like to see is more of an intermediate passing game to mix in with the quick screens.

Samford will have a lot of people get touches in the running game and they’ll be good at the FCS level, but the FSU run defense should overwhelm the Bulldogs.  The Noles held VT to 2.8 yards per carry and bottled up the Hokies run game most of the evening.

Samford boasts one of the top players in FCS with quarterback Devlin Hodges.  Hodges was a 2nd team All-American last year and had a respectable showing against Georgia just last year and threw for 330 yards and 5 TDs against Shorter College last week.  The opponent gets slightly better this week when he goes up against the Noles and Samford will have a hard time containing Brian Burns and company and finding a lot of space against a solid FSU secondary.

While everyone is frustrated with the product FSU put on the field Monday night, I think some of the sky is falling reaction has been a little over the top.  Yes, the Noles looked bad in the opener, and no, there’s not much that can be done about the offensive line right now.  This game should not be very competitive, though, regardless if Samford is a top FCS team this season.  Barring complete breakdowns on special teams and a hoard of turnovers, Florida State should cover comfortably, gain some confidence, and move on to a pivotal game against Syracuse next week.