North Carolina at Florida State

Written by Jack Jones

The 24th-ranked Florida State Seminoles no longer control their own destiny in the ACC Atlantic Division after losing a heartbreaker at NC State last week. They’ll have a chance to redeem themselves when they host the North Carolina Tar Heels Saturday. According to the college football odds, they have listed a line of Florida State -10.5 over North Carolina with a total set of 49 points.

The Seminoles lost 28-24 last week to NC State. They held a 21-7 lead at the half, but the Wolf Pack owned the second half and eventually took the lead with only a few minutes remaining. QB Christian Ponder led FSU all the way down the field in great shape to punch in the game-winning score at NC State’s 4-yard line. But he ran into his tailback on a fake handoff, and fumbled the ball which was recovered by the Wolf Pac, sealing the Seminoles fate.

“We had it in hand,” said Ponder, whose team had won five straight. “We had been rolling and playing really well, and it was the first time in a while that we had control of our own destiny in the ACC.”

Despite that one mistake, Ponder has been keeping Florida State afloat. He ran for two scores and threw for another against NC State, and for the season he has thrown 13 touchdown passes while completing 61 percent. He was at his best last year when he faced the Tar Heels, leading the Seminoles on a big comeback which saw them win 30-27 at UNC. Ponder finished with a career-best 395 passing yards to go along with three touchdowns.

FSU needs to make sure they do not overlook a Tar Heels team that actually struggled against FCS opponent Williams & Mary last weekend. UNC sits at 5-3 overall and 2-2 in conference play, but needed 14 unanswered points in the fourth quarter to escape with a 21-17 victory over the Tribe. Johnny White had a big game in the win, rushing for a career-high 164 yards and a touchdown. Even though it wasn’t pretty, head coach Butch Davis was proud of his team.

“This was a microcosm of a lot of things that have happened this year,” Davis said. “Even though it looked ugly and at times and we didn’t play as well as we’d have liked, they kept fighting.”

No team with the exception of USC has had to deal with more off the field distractions than North Carolina this season. 14 players have either missed a few games or been suspended for the season due to investigation by the NCAA into Tar Heels players possibly receiving improper benefits. Even with the loss of several key players on defense, UNC has one of the top stop units in the ACC. They have given up less than 20 points to five of their last six opponents. FSU owns a 15-1-1 edge all-time in this rivalry with UNC, riding a four-game winning streak in the series and also having never lost in Tallahassee to the Tar Heels.

BetUS Projected Score: Florida State 30 – North Carolina 19

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