Florida State vs. Florida: 10 Things to Know About the Seminoles

With the storied history of this rivalry, it’s hard to believe that this game is not getting near the amount of publicity it has in the past. That is due largely in part to the disappointing seasons of both programs. 

Florida achieved bowl-eligibility last week in a scary win over Furman, but had already clinched its first losing season in conference play since 1986. 

Florida State eclipsed the six-win mark weeks ago, but with a No. 6 preseason ranking, this is absolutely considered a failure for Jimbo Fisher, especially after last week's loss to Virginia. 

The cure for any disappointing season is a rivalry win, and this would be huge for either program, especially with this being the last game on the schedule before bowl season begins. Florida has dominated this decade, but Florida State got revenge last season and will be eager to create a win streak of their own in the series. 

A Little History

This storied rivalry dates back to 1958 when Florida won the inaugural in-state clash. Since that first gridiron meeting, the Gators and Seminoles have played every single year and met twice in the Sugar Bowl.

Florida owns the edge in the series going 33-20-2 and has won six of the last seven. The one loss in that stretch came last season in Tallahassee when head coach Jimbo Fisher became the only first-year Seminoles coach to beat Florida. He also notched FSU’s ninth win of the season, marking the most wins by a first-year coach in the last 50 years; not even the famous Bobby Bowden accomplished that. 

Coaching records aside, the 31-7 victory was FSU's third-largest victory over Florida all time, and their 31 points were the most against Florida since 2003. Needless to say, the Seminoles are eager to build off last season’s historic win and get their first win in Gainesville since 2003.

A Lot of Common Ground

Florida State head coach Jimbo Fisher and Florida head coach Will Muschamp are not only good friends off the field but they used to work for the same team. 

Fisher was the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at LSU from 2000-2006, overseeing an offense that went 70-20 in his tenure. 

Will Muschamp was the linebackers coach at LSU in 2001 and the defensive coordinator/linebackers coach from 2002-2004. As a defensive coordinator in 2003, his defense led the country, allowing 67 rush yards per game for the best mark by an SEC team in the 2000s. 

As a coach you develop tendencies, and when you work side by side for years you learn them. Muschamp and Fisher will be playing a big game of cat and mouse on Saturday, and Muschamp will be eager to salvage an otherwise disappointing first season with a rivalry win.

E.J. Manuel Is No Stranger to the Gators

Despite this being the first year that E.J. Manuel is the everyday starter, he began his playing career at Florida State way back in 2009 during the heart of the Christian Ponder era.

During that season, Ponder was injured and unable to play in the rivalry game, so a young Manuel stepped into the spotlight. He went 19-of-32 for 198 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions. He led the team in rushing with 27 yards and was sacked three times in the 37-10 Gator win that saw Tim Tebow throw for three touchdowns and rush for two more. 

Fast forward one year later. Manuel came into the game in the waning moments of the fourth quarter to run out the clock and secure the 31-7 victory for Jimbo Fisher and the Seminoles. 

This will be the third time in three years that Manuel will take the field against the Gators, and he will be "chomping" at the bit to get his first win as a starter.

Where’s the Running Game?

This season, aside from E.J. Manuel's 88 scampers for 186 yards outside the pocket, Florida State running backs have barely made it over 1,000 yards for the season. Bobby Rainey of Western Kentucky, Montee Ball of Wisconsin and David Wilson of Virginia Tech have all rushed for more yards than the whole Florida State team this season!

When you have a one-dimensional offense that relies on your quarterback, setbacks are inevitable. 

As a team, they average 126.1 yards per game on the ground, ranking them 86th out of 120 teams in the FBS. Their leading rusher, Devonta Freeman, has rushed for 487 yards on 92 carries, averaging 5.3 yards per rush. At 5.3 yards per rush, he should be getting the ball more often. 

The team as a whole this season is not rushing to its potential, but rushing against Florida is a different story. There hasn’t been a 100-yard rusher since Leon Washington ran for 134, and since then, they haven’t even gone for more than 65 on the Gators.

If you want to win the game, establish the run early; pound it up the middle, and open up play action for Manuel.

The Wide Receivers

In order to have a successful passing game, you need good wide receivers.

Sounds dumb, but true nonetheless.

E.J. Manuel has found chemistry with two particular wide receivers who have accounted for 10 of the 23 touchdown receptions this season: Rodney Smith and Rashad Greene. 

Smith has 30 receptions this season for a team-leading 511 yards. He's caught four touchdowns and came up big in the Florida game last season, catching four passes for 79 yards and a touchdown. It was the best performance by a receiver against Florida since Chris Davis caught six for 85 yards in 2006. He’s averaging 17.0 yards per catch and has caught big passes from both Manuel and Clint Trickett. 

True freshman Greene leads the team in receptions with 33 and touchdowns with six. He's second on the team with 497 yards and is the first freshman since 1976 to catch a 50-yard TD pass in back-to-back games. Greene set an FSU freshman record for receiving yards in a game with 163 and is fifth in the NCAA in touchdown receptions by a true freshman despite missing four games due to injury.

I can go on with the records but you get the idea—this guy is good.

Two Green’s Are Better Than One

Two freshmen. Same name. One extra letter. 

When you take the "e" off the end of Rashad Greene's name, you get a totally different Green—Christian Green. Christian is quietly putting in a productive first season for the Seminoles. He's caught 23 balls for 420 yards and is still looking for the first touchdown of his career. 

Against Wake Forest earlier this season, Christian combined with Rashad and became the first FSU freshmen to ever register 100 receiving yards in the same game and just the 20th pair to accomplish that feat in FSU history. That same game, they became just the sixth and seventh freshmen receivers in school history to surpass 100 yards receiving in a game. 

Prior to the Wake Forest game, the last time a freshman recorded 100 yards receiving in a game was Greg Carr in 2005. Bravo to Jimbo Fisher for recruiting them, bravo to the Green(e)'s for coming through for their team and bravo for the program, who will have them for at least one more year.

De-Fense

When FSU's punter Shawn Powell pins you inside your own 20-yard line, the chances of you scoring are slim-to-none on this defense.

Opposing running backs are managing a meager 84.4 yards per game this season against the brutal Seminole rush-defense. They have held the likes of Oklahoma's Dominique Whaley, Clemson's Andre Ellington, Maryland's Davin Meggett and Miami's Lamar Miller all under 100 yards this season.

They will have their hands full with the combination of Florida's Chris Rainey and Jeff Demps. Rainey is coming off 90 and 132-yard performances in his last two games, while Demps has been held in check as of late, but is always capable of breaking one off on any given play. 

The Seminole pass-defense is also worthy of recognition, holding their opponents to 198.5 yards per game to rank 30th in the nation. Florida's John Brantley has only broken the 200-yard mark four times this season out of nine games, but is coming off a career-high four-touchdown, 329-yard performance against the FCS's Furman.

It will be a battle of consistency against the hot hand Saturday in Gainesville, and since the Seminoles only average 15.9 points against all season, I give them the edge.

The Leader of the Defense

In a defense chock full of NFL prospects, one stands out: senior linebacker Nigel Bradham.

Bradham has been on an absolute tear during the second half of the season and leads the Seminole defense with 75 tackles. Should he continue at this pace and lead the team in tackles, he'll become the first player to lead the FSU defense in tackles for three consecutive years since Marvin Jones did it from 1990-1992. 

In addition to his team-leading tackling numbers, Bradham is tied for second on the team with nine tackles for a loss, has two sacks, an interception, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery. The best player on one of the best defenses speaks through his stat-line.

Speaking of Kickers

Seminole punter Shawn Powell has been arguably the nation's best punter this season.

Last game alone, in the disappointing loss to Virginia, Powell averaged 50.3 yards per punt and leads the nation with 47.6 yards per kick. Sixteen of his 40 punts have pinned their opponents inside the 20-yard line, and nine of them have been inside the 10, making it nearly impossible for them to salvage anything against the powerful Florida State defense. 

Punters are unsung heroes in football, and you don’t realize what you have until it's gone. Powell will be missed next season and will make an NFL team very happy on draft day.

More Love for the Kickers

In a season where Top 10 teams are plagued by poor, untimely kickers, Florida State and Florida can lay claim to two of the best, most consistent field goal kickers in the nation. The Lou Groza Award, given to the nation’s top kicker released the three finalists; two of them will take the field in Gainesville Saturday. 

Florida State's Dustin Hopkins is the leading scorer in the ACC this season and has missed on only four of his 24 attempts thus far. Points after touchdowns have become second nature to Hopkins, as he's connected on a nation-best and school-record 127 consecutive PATs. 

Florida's Caleb Sturgis leads the nation in field goals per game (2.1) and has put 21 of his 25 attempts through the goal posts. He leads the SEC in field goals made and has connected on three 50-plus-yard tries on the season—also better than any other SEC kicker. 

If the game comes down to a field goal, you can bet that the kicker on the line will not crumble under pressure.