The Bulls are averaging 48.1 points over the past seven games, which is the second best average in the FBS over that span.
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The last time Florida State suffered a similar loss was in the inaugural College Football Playoff, where it lost 59-20 to OR in the 2015 Rose Bowl.
USF is a 5.5-point underdog, but I’ve yet to see a Vegas line on Plies by himself vs. all of Florida State.
Bulls are 7-1-1 ATS in their last 9 home games. Last week USF went to the Carrier Dome and handled Syracuse, 45-20.
“Everybody had them rated No. 2 for a reason”, the South Florida coach said, adding the Bulls are aren’t looking to take a page out of Louisville’s playbook to upend the Seminoles, who have not lost consecutive games since 2011, when they dropped three straight to Oklahoma, Clemson and Wake Forest. Last year, the two teams played in Tallahassee. Seminoles quarterback Deondre Francois had a rough outing, completing 7-of-18 passes for 101 yards with one touchdown and one interception, while rushing 12 times for minus-34 yards.
South Florida junior quarterback Quinton Flowers might not be Louisville’s Lamar Jackson, but he is a very capable dual-threat.
USF has what some experts are calling an NFL-ready running back in Marlon Mack, who is averaging close to 10 yards per rush attempt. The Seminoles trailed Ole Miss 28-6 in the first half before rallying to open the year and last week, they trailed 35-10 at halftime against Louisville.
Still picking up the pieces left by the shattering 63-20 beatdown at Louisville, No. 13 Florida State (2-1) might have desired an easy place to land this week. The Seminoles, who will again be without Derwin James and now Josh Sweat, need to tighten up their coverages and run fits especially against tempo.
“I think it would be big for our program”, Taggart said of a potential win.
The suspicions began about 30 minutes into the season, in an opening game in which one of the preseason Heisman Trophy favorites finished with 192 total yards. In the first three games this season he has only 226 yards, two touchdowns and only one carry over 20 yards. One aspect of USF’s game Fisher has noticed the most is the Bulls’ increased comfort in Willie Taggart’s scheme this season.
The good news for Cook, however, is that this week he’ll be facing a defense he had a great day against previous year.
In that sense, this might be the most important game in USF’s history.
“This is kind of just the next game”, USF linebacker Auggie Sanchez told the media Tuesday, “and it’s the biggest game on our schedule, because it’s the next game”. That south Florida heat can be pretty brutal this time of year, so that could heavily influence this game, too. He’s also run for two TDs.
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Virginia averages over three goals per game since 2012 and has only been shutout six times in its last 119 matches, but five of those shutouts have been to Florida State. Leg injuries hampered the star Seminole last season and he underwent shoulder surgery in the offseason, but Fisher shrugged off concerns that there might be a physical problem, here, going so far as to say that Cook is “p$3 robably healthier than he was a year ago when you get right down to it”.
