Jackson already has 1,015 yards (697 passing, 318 rushing) and 13 touchdowns (seven passing, six rushing) in his first two games of the 2016 season. No. 2 Florida State at No. 10 Louisville.
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The conference, and two of its biggest stars, will take center stage in college football today at noon when second-ranked Florida State (2-0) and No. 10 Louisville (2-0, 1-0 ACC) meet in Kentucky.
“I think we saw what it looks like”, first-year Syracuse coach Dino Babers said.
Jackson is a Floridian – he was committed to Florida before switching to Louisville and actually staged quite the showdown with current Seminole tailback Dalvin Cook in high school.
The Cardinals offense has been one of the most dynamic in the country through two games, as Jackson has leapt into Heisman contention with a series of performances impressive on both the stat sheets and on the highlight film. However, he has developed tremendously, and he’s got a much stronger team around him.
Florida State’s offense is just as explosive (509 yards) and features redshirt freshman Deondre Francois, who has passed for 681 yards and five TDs.
The BCS and its computer rankings had effectively turned losses into such a negative that title-minded teams had little-to-no incentive to schedule hard nonconference games in the first place.
“We just have to make sure we’re sound when it comes to technique and fundamentals”, USF coach Willie Taggart said. “(This will) be another great test and challenge early in our season.
This is going off the Jameis Winston saying, “We some dogs, We ‘aint no puppies”. The Seminoles didn’t have time to ease into the season as they came out of the blocks against a very good and highly ranked Ole Miss squad. “There’s going to be more of us involved in the pass protection game”, Radcliff said, “but that’s nothing new for us”.
The loss of Derwin James: In last week’s win against the College of Charleston, FSU lost their best defensive player to injury at the worst time imaginable. And Florida State’s defense has allowed more 20-plus-yard pass plays than any team in a Power 5 conference.
Flowers leads South Florida (2-0) into the Carrier Dome on Saturday afternoon, a week after Jackson led the No. 10 Cardinals to a 62-28 victory indoors.
That too would be a huge win for Louisville and revive its conference title chances, depending on what happens when FSU plays Clemson.
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Third quarter, opening moments, Jaire Alexander got a 69 yard punt return for a touchdown for a 42-10 lead. Louisville’s shiny red chrome helmets featured a white butterfly sticker on the back with the “Ali” in the middle, and a 30-foot painting with the same design was displayed in the northwest corner of Papa John’s Cardinal Stadium end zone.
