Florida State vs. Virginia Complete Game Preview

The wins have often come by the skin of its teeth, but the Florida State football team keeps piling up victories, now 24 in a row dating back to the 2012 season.

FSU's winning streak has included dominating routs in 2013 but few decisive wins this season. Still, it's a winning streak for the ages, and if FSU hits No. 25 on Saturday night at home against Virginia, it will be one of the top 20 win streaks in college football history.

The Seminoles have had a few extra days' rest following Thursday's nail-biter at Louisville. They needed the time to heal up with injuries taking a toll at linebacker, and quarterback Jameis Winston also played much of the second half with an injured ankle.

Let's take a look at No. 2 FSU's game on Saturday against Virginia (6:30 p.m. on ESPN).

FSU's Keys to Victory

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Dalvin Cook had 110 rushing yards and two TDs in the win over Louisville.

Don't Take Virginia for Granted

Florida State doesn't need to look ahead on the schedule. Miami is up next on Nov. 15 in a game that is clearly the toughest left of the Seminoles' four regular-season games.

Virginia has lost three straight games and twice couldn't manage 14 points. But this is still a Cavaliers team that has been able to move the ball at times. Virginia averages 243 passing yards per game (57th best in the FBS) and 153 rushing yards per game (72nd best in the FBS).

This should be a game where FSU dominates, putting Virginia away early and resting the starters in the fourth quarter. That hasn't happened much this year, but it could happen on Saturday.

Keep the Running Game Rolling

FSU was struggling to run the ball going into Thursday's game at Louisville. And then the Seminoles broke free for 173 yards, including a pair of long TD runs by true freshman Dalvin Cook.

The running game has been a mess in 2014 for a variety of reasons. FSU was replacing center Bryan Stork, and Austin Barron was just getting settled in before he fractured his arm. Redshirt freshman Ryan Hoefeld has taken his lumps against more experienced defensive linemen, and Karlos Williams and Mario Pender have missed games with ankle injuries.

But FSU needs to keep the running game in gear if it wants to finish the regular season unbeaten. The Seminoles have climbed out of the 100s and now rank 99th in the FBS rush offense (131.8 yards per game).

Virginia's Keys to Victory

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Greyson Lambert is completing 60 percent of his passes, but he has tossed more INTs (8) than TDs (5).

Display Balance on Offense

Virginia can run and has run quite well behind Kevin Parks. The concern has been inconsistent quarterback play. Neither Greyson Lambert nor Matt Johns has been very effective.

Lambert, a sophomore, has 1,055 passing yards and five touchdowns and is completing 60 percent of his passes but also has thrown eight interceptions. Johns is completing just 55 percent of his passes.

Minimize FSU's Passing Game

Virginia's strength is on defense, and the Cavaliers have been strong against the run, holding teams to just 119 rushing yards per game. But Virginia has to be better against the pass, especially against Jameis Winston and a deep receiving corps.

Two of Virginia's top players are safeties Quin Blanding and Anthony Harris. They are able to play the pass and the run well, but the Cavaliers will be facing the best passing offense all season when they face FSU on Saturday.

FSU Players to Watch

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FSU receiver Rashad Greene has 229 career catches, fifth all-time on the ACC's all-time receptions list.

WR Rashad Greene

The senior playmaker has been consistently good this year—just as he has since arriving on campus. Now he is poised to join the ACC's top five receivers of all time.

Greene has 229 career receptions, tying him with former Wake Forest receiver Michael Campanaro. Greene is also just a few receptions shy of former Clemson receiver Aaron Kelly, who has 232. Greene could surpass both on Saturday.

Travis Rudolph

The true freshman has shown steady improvement, grabbing a touchdown in three of the past four games. Rudolph had two catches for 76 yards, including a 68-yard touchdown in the win over Louisville. He has 19 catches for 308 yards and three touchdowns.

Reggie Northrup

With Terrance Smith missing two games (one for suspension and then the Louisville game with a pectoral injury), Northrup has been a run-stopper for FSU this season.

Virginia likes to run and has been effective. Northrup led the team with 12 tackles against Louisville, and he now leads the team with 67 tackles. 

Virginia Players to Watch

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Kevin Parks has 3,103 rushing yards in his career.

RB Kevin Parks

The senior tailback has 626 rushing yards and four touchdowns this season. He's just 5'10'' but has been tough to wrap up throughout a career that has seen him hit 3,100 rushing yards. Parks, who had the game-winning TD run against FSU in 2011, is Virginia's fourth all-time rusher.

S Quin Blanding

The safety leads the team—and the ACC—with 89 tackles. The freshman has two interceptions on the season.

What They're Saying

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Jimbo Fisher said the time off gave FSU a few more days to heal going into preparation for Virginia.

FSU Coach Jimbo Fisher

"Virginia has lost a couple games lately, but they're still a very good football team. Defensively, very dynamic. Bring a lot of pressure. They can cover in the secondary.

"We're in the final home run of the season. We need to play well in November. Like I always say, 'They remember November.' Those are important games and games you have to play well. You have to continue to get well as a team."

On plays made by true freshmen Dalvin Cook, Travis Rudolph and Ermon Lane against Louisville: "To have three true freshmen make the plays they made is very encouraging, and it really helps us grow as a team."

On Jameis Winson's ankle injury: "Pain is temporary. You have to put it away. I thought he dealt with it very well. ... It's an injury but no different than anybody else. A lot of guys got sore ankles right now."

On FSU fighting to win games: "It's what you don't appreciate sometimes. The ability to find ways to win. That's what this team can do."

Virginia Coach Mike London

On struggles scoring in the second half—"Well, obviously that is a big concern. You have to be able to score points, and particularly finish games. That's something we have to do a better job at. We have to make sure that we give ourselves an opportunity to win games and to finish games. We will spend the appropriate amount of time to make sure that type of production will allow us to be competitive, particularly at the end of the second, third and fourth quarters."

On Virginia's win at FSU in 2011—"Well, the venue, again, it's an electric venue there. What happened in 2011 was a great moment personally, professionally, but that was 2011. Here we are in 2014, and there are a lot of guys on their team that weren't there. There's a few guys on our team that played in that game or that were there, but now it's about 2014, and where they are now, they're No. 2 in the country, and again, they're the national champs until something else happens."

On FSU QB Jameis Winston—"I've got to see a lot of really good college football players.  I'm not going to say he's the greatest player, but I'll tell you what, he has the poise of -- he's the Heisman Trophy winner from last year. You've seen in a few games that he's played that he's brought his team back from deficits. He's amazingly accurate. I mean, I know there was a tough game he had against Louisville, but you look at his career and you look at his percentages, completion percentages, I believe it's up in the 70s, which is third or second best in college football to date. He's an accurate quarterback. He is an emotional guy that lifts his team up. He's playing with a good football team that's surrounding him with a lot of good talent."

Prediction

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Jameis Winston has thrown for 2,279 yards and 16 TDs this season.

FSU fell to Virginia in 2011—on homecoming—the last time the teams played. The Seminoles played well on defense that night before giving up a late touchdown on a Parks run with a minute, 13 seconds left, and FSU kicker Dustin Hopkins missed a 42-yard field-goal attempt in the final seconds.

Both teams have improved dramatically since then, but FSU is on a hot streak and has an offense that should give Virginia problems.

The Cavaliers could make this one interesting—haven't all of FSU's games seemingly been close this year?—but look for the Seminoles to pull away in the second half.

FSU 38, Virginia 13

Bob Ferrante is the Florida State Lead Writer for Bleacher Report. All quotes obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted. Follow Bob on Twitter. All stats courtesy of seminoles.com and theacc.com. All recruiting information is courtesy of 247Sports.