NC State will host Florida State for the division lead. Both come off byes and will be plenty prepared for this game. Many have said Florida State's defense has improved well we will find out tonight as Florida State gave up 349 yards passing and 5 TD's in a 45-42 win at home against NC State and Russell Wilson a year ago.
One thing is for sure both teams are better and right now Florida State is hotter as they won 5 in a row and NC State just lost to East Carolina. So that's why you see NC State as a home dog here, but I'm not buying into FSU just yet. This is just the second time they are facing a team with a passing game in the top 20. The first time they lost 17-47 at Oklahoma. NC State has a better passing game ranked #7 and a similar rushing attack ranked 83rd. I also like the fact that NC State has faced a much stronger schedule. Their offense has faced an average defense ranked 48th, while FSU has faced 64th. On defense NC State has seen an average offensive attack ranked 53rd, while FSU stands in at 69th. I just feel NC State has been tested on both sides of the ball on a consistent basis. The key will be can they stop the run. They got killed on the ground against Virginia Tech which is the closest resemblance of what FSU does which is run the ball. Virginia Tech is a bit better than FSU on both sides of the ball yet NC State led 24-13 in the third and 27-21 in the 4th quarter and were losing 34-30 before a garbage TD with 34 seconds left. They were +67 yards despite the loss. I believe the time off has allowed them to put together a plan for a one dimensional offense and FSU's QB Skinner will have some issues here as he is not 100%.
Another key is whether or not Wilson will turn the ball over when he doesn't NC State has the passing game to compete with any. I still don't like Florida State's secondary they are still young and Oklahoma's Landry Jones just tore him up. Boston College's pass game is awful so the 10 pass defenses do not surprise me. FSU has just 6 picks this year so Wilson's INT problems shouldn't be a huge issue going into tonight.
