No. 7 Miami (7-0, 3-0 ACC) at No. 3 Florida State (7-0, 5-0 ACC)
Miami leads the series 31-26 (Last meeting October 20, 2012: Florida State 33, Miami 20)
ESPN’s College GameDay rolls into Tallahassee this weekend for a clash between the two remaining undefeated teams in the ACC. This will be the seventh time that a Florida State vs. Miami game has hosted GameDay with Miami currently holding a 4-2 advantage in those contests. This game could be set for a shootout with both offenses in the top 20 nationally in scoring offense, Florida State ranks third (52.6) and Miami 19th (39.6).
Miami enters the game off to its best start since the 2003 season when they finished 11-2 including two victories over Florida State, highlighted by a 16-14 win in the 2004 Orange Bowl. Duke Johnson enters the game with 817 rushing yards, good for 20th nationally, and ranks third in the country in all-purpose yards with 182.8. Johnson is on pace to set the Miami program record for most all-purpose yards in his career by the end of the season despite only being a sophomore. Miami is 8-1 when Johnson rushes for over 200 yards, including last week’s come-from-behind 24-21 victory over Wake Forest when he had 243 total yards. On the other side of the ball, Miami comes into the game with 19 forced turnovers.
Florida State enters this week’s matchup riding an 11-game ACC winning streak, its longest since winning 24 straight league contests between 1998 and 2001. Jameis Winston leads a Seminole offense that is scoring touchdowns on 54.2% of their drives, which is second in the nation behind Baylor. The offense has also scored over 40 points every game this season which is the longest such streak in program history. Not only is the Florida State offense scoring at an unprecedented rate, but they are still able to protect the ball committing just six turnovers on the year, which is second fewest in the country. On defense, the Seminoles appear to be up to the test to stop Duke Johnson as they are allowing just 2.8 yards per carry at home since the 2010 season. Kicker Roberto Aguayo has been phenomenal on special teams for the Seminoles. He has converted on 58 consecutive kicks, the longest such streak in program history. This will help ease any Florida State fans nerves of a potential “wide right” moment.
Extra Point
-Miami is 14-8 all time in Tallahassee.
-Florida State is 8-6 all time when Lee Corso puts on his alma mater’s headgear on College GameDay.
