ACC & Big 12 Week 4 Preview: Blackman Makes His ‘Noles Debut, Grier leads Mountaineers into Kansas

In the fourth week of the college football season, members of the Florida Citrus Sports Team Selection Committee are making visits throughout ACC and Big 12 country, meeting with fans across both conferences in advance of the Camping World Bowl on December 28.

NC State at No. 12 Florida State – 12:00 p.m. on ABC/ESPN 2

Florida State (0-1, 0-0 ACC) will return to the field after two weeks off due to the effects of Hurricane Irma, as the Seminoles host North Carolina State (2-1, 0-0 ACC). FSU enters the game coming off a loss to No. 1 Alabama in the Chick-fil-A Kickoff — a defeat that also saw the ‘Noles lose starting quarterback Deondre Francois for the remainder of their season due to a knee injury. Saturday will be freshman quarterback James Blackman’s first appearance for the team, as he will get the start in Francois’ place.

The Wolfpack bounced back from a season-opening loss to South Carolina to notch wins over Marshall and Furman in their last two games. In their last meeting with Florida State, NC State fell 24-20 thanks to a 19-yard touchdown pass from Francois to Travis Rudolph with 3:09 left in the fourth quarter. Florida State holds the majority of wins in the series with a 25-11 record, including wins in each of the past four meetings.

West Virginia at Kansas – 12:00 PM on ESPNU

West Virginia (2-1, 0-0 Big 12) hits the road for its first conference game of the season when it faces the Kansas Jayhawks (1-2, 0-0 Big 12) in Lawrence.

The Jayhawks opened their season with a 38-16 win over Southeast Missouri but have since fallen to both Central Michigan and Ohio. Meanwhile, the Mountaineers lost to Virginia Tech 31-24 in their season-opener at FedEx field, but were victorious in their two most recent games, home contests against East Carolina and Delaware State.

WVU and Kansas have only met six previous times, the Mountaineers leading the series with five wins. In their last faceoff, West Virginia breezed past Kansas 48-21. Quarterback Skyler Howard threw three touchdown passes in that game and ran for two more dealingthe Jayhawks their 40th straight loss on the road — a streak they’re still trying to curb.

This year, Florida transfer Will Grier is at the helm of the Mountaineers offense, and has posted an 11-2 touchdown-to-interception ration through three games. A 31-19 win at home in 2013 was Kansas’ last victory in the series.

Here are the rest of the ACC and Big 12 games our selection committee members will attend:

Pittsburgh (1-2, 0-0 ACC) at Georgia Tech (1-1, 0-0 ACC) – 12:20 p.m. on ACC Network
Syracuse (2-1, 0-0 ACC) at # 25 LSU (2-1, 0-1 SEC) – 7:00 p.m. on ESPN 2

Other ACC and Big 12 games being played this week: 

Virginia (2-1, 0-0 ACC) at Boise State (2-1, 1-0 Mountain West) – 8:00 p.m. (Friday) on ESPN 2
Kent State (1-2, 0-0 Mid-American) at #19 Louisville (2-1, 1-1 ACC) – 12:00 p.m. on ACC Network
Texas Tech (2-0, 0-0 Big 12) at Houston (2-0, 0-0 AAC) – 12:00 p.m. on ABC/ESPN 2
Old Dominion (2-1, 0-0 USA) at #13 Virginia Tech (3-0, 0-0 ACC) – 2:00 p.m. on ACC Network
Boston College (1-2, 0-1 ACC) at #2 Clemson (3-0, 1-0 ACC) – 3:30 p.m. on ESPN 2
Toledo (3-0, 0-0 Mid-American) at #14 Miami (1-0, 0-0 ACC) – 3:30 p.m. on ACC Network
#16 TCU (3-0, 0-0 Big 12) at #6 Oklahoma State (3-0, 0-0 Big 12) – 3:30 p.m. on ESPN
Duke (3-0, 0-0 ACC) at North Carolina (1-2, 0-1 ACC) – 3:30 p.m. on ESPNU
Wake Forest (3-0, 1-0 ACC) at Appalachian State (2-1, 1-0, Sun Belt) – 3:30 p.m.on ESPN 3
#3 Oklahoma (3-0, 0-0 Big 12) at Baylor (0-3, 0-0 Big 12) – 6:30 p.m. on FS1