Florida State Football: 10 Things You Should Know About Charleston Southern

After pitching a season-opening shutout, Florida State fans have to be encouraged about the dominant performance their defense put together in a 34-0 thrashing of Louisiana-Monroe.  

They should expect more of the same when Charleston Southern comes to town to face the 'Noles on Saturday.  While La.-Monroe was a serviceable opponent who could've been a potential threat, the Buccaneers should be nothing more than a scrimmage for Jimbo Fisher's squad before Oklahoma comes calling.  

Charleston Southern faced Central Florida on Saturday and left the Sunshine State on the wrong end of 62-0 beating at the hands of the Knights.  After a dreadful performance against UCF, one can only imagine the daunting challenge that awaits them at Doak Campbell Stadium.  

Perhaps with the showdown against the Sooners looming, the Seminoles may play in a conservative manner in order to avoid giving away too much on film.  

Here are 10 things you need to know about the Charleston Southern Buccaneers.  

10. The Bucs Are a FCS School

From 2005-2009, the Buccaneers posted the most wins of any Big South Conference school.  That feat is quite an accomplishment, considering the fact that this is only their 20th year of playing football, and they started out as a Division III program.  

Last year was a disappointing and uncharacteristic down year for the Bucs as they finished 3-8.  The 2011 season doesn't appear to be getting off to a promising start.  However, Florida State represents the second and final FBS opponent for CSU this season.  

9. Charleston Southern Is 0-10 Against FBS Schools

For any of the Buccaneer faithful possibly dreaming of an upset in this matchup, let's just say history is overwhelmingly stacked against them.  

In their 10 matchups against FBS opponents, Charleston Southern has lost by an average of almost 48 points a game.  FBS schools have had very little resistance lighting up scoreboards against the Buccaneers, averaging more than 55 points a game.

8. The Buccaneers Are Even Worse Against FBS Schools from the State of Florida

Charleston Southern has faced FBS powers from the state of Florida six times in school history, and it hasn't been pretty.  They have traveled to play South Florida three times, and have made the trek to face Miami and Florida in addition to last week's trip to tangle with Central Florida.    

In their FBS matchups against schools in the state of Florida, they have given up over 50 points in every meeting while failing to crack double digits in any of them.  In those six games, the Buccaneers have only managed to score two touchdowns. 

7. Head Coach Jay Mills Turned a Doormat into a Winner

Before Charleston Southern hired Jay Mills to run its football program, the Buccaneers had 13 consecutive losing seasons.  Under Mills, they have only had two in the last seven years.  

All Mills has done is become the winningest coach in school history, and in the process, more than doubled the school's win totals.  In 2005, Mills guided the Buccaneers to their only conference title in school history.  

6. Offense Impact Players

Quarterback Malcolm Dixon is the trigger man for the Buccaneers' offense, and even though he struggled last week against UCF (6-for-15 for 50 yards, 0 TD, 1 INT), he is one of Charleston Southern's best playmakers because of his ability to scramble when things break down.  

At running back, freshman Tray Dorsey led the way in the season opener with seven carries for 25 yards.  Look for sophomore and Florida native Teddy Allen to rotate with Dorsey against the Seminoles.  

The Buccaneers' receiving corps returns little experience from 2010, but expect sophomore Nathan Perera and JUCO transfer Chase Jones to be Dixon's main targets as the season goes on.   

5. Defense Impact Players

Junior defensive back Charles James was an FCS preseason All-American after a stellar sophomore campaign that saw him rack up an FCS-best six interceptions.  James is far and away the Bucs' most talented defender.

Five starters return from last year's front seven, including sophomore linebacker Cornelius Sterling.  He is the Bucs' leading returning tackler for CSU after totalling 57 stops a year ago in his freshman campaign.  Sophomore defensive back Demaris Freeman led the Bucs against UCF with eight tackles.  

4. CSU Offense vs. FSU Defense

Charleston Southern managed just 119 yards of total offense against Central Florida in their season-opening shutout loss to the Knights.  That's bad news considering that the level of competition figures to increase when the Buccaneers travel to Tallahassee this weekend.  

With the Seminoles' defense coming off a shutout win, this appears to be a case of an overmatched opponent running into a buzz saw.  The 'Noles were stingy in their win over Louisiana-Monroe, and have an excellent opportunity to pitch back-to-back shutouts.  

3. CSU Defense vs. FSU Offense

As bad as Charleston Southern's offense appeared to be against Central Florida, their defense didn't fare any better. UCF hung 62 points and 560 yards of total offense on the overmatched Buccaneers defense. 

Florida State had some struggles in their running game against Louisiana-Monroe last week, but facing the CSU defense may be able to cure their ills.  UCF gashed Charleston Southern's defense to the tune of 316 yards rushing.  

The Seminoles' offense should be able to work on some problem areas, while giving plenty of playing time to their backups and third stringers.  

2. Charleston Southern Poses No Threat to FSU

One thing is clear about this game.  It will be nothing more than a glorified scrimmage for the Florida State coaching staff to work out any potential kinks from their season opener.  

Charleston Southern is overmatched in every area against a top-five FBS school.  They will show up to collect their paycheck and provide little resistance to the Seminoles.  The best case scenario for the Buccaneers is for them to keep their best players healthy going into the FCS and Big South Conference portion of their schedule.   

1. Perfect Tune Up for the Oklahoma Game

Charleston Southern provides the perfect opponent for Florida State before their monster showdown with top-ranked Oklahoma next weekend.  

Other than a bye week, there's nothing better than to face an opponent who has little, or in this case zero, chance to win.  Florida State's coaches will likely use a vanilla game plan and probably get their starters out of the game by halftime.  

FSU will likely empty their bench by the third quarter and get some playing time for their younger players. The key for the 'Noles is to execute early to put away an overmatched opponent and to avoid costly injuries. 

Expect Florida State to cruise to an easy victory over Charleston Southern