Syracuse Football: Week 9 Florida State Seminoles crystal ball predictions
Ryan Lee, Contributor (6-1)
Florida State 14-6
Syracuse Football is in Tallahassee looking to snap a losing streak and build a winning streak against Florida State. The promise of the Orange season is gone and salvation is the key for the remaining five games.
A pair of teams that sit 3-4 in this Week 9 matchup. The biggest difference is the Orange is 0-3 against ACC teams and 0-4 against teams in Power 5 conferences. Syracuse joins Rutgers, Northwestern, Kansas, and Arkansas as the only five Power 5 teams who have yet to win a conference game in 2019.
The Seminoles are going through a rough transition under 2nd-year head coach Willie Taggart. Since taking over for Florida State Taggart is 8-11 since returning to the state of Florida, after only coaching Oregon for one season.
Since Taggart took the helm in 2018 the Seminoles have struggled with protecting the quarterback. A fatal flaw that will sound extremely familiar to Syracuse faithful. In 2018 Syracuse just edged out Florida State by allowing 37 sacks the 20th worst mark in the nation while Florida State allowed 36 sacks.
This season the Orange has gone over the top with sacks allowed. Alarmingly the Orange have surrendered 35 sacks already for the worst mark in the country so far. That is only two less than last year and 13 away from the 48 Oregon State gave up.
In their past two contests SU opponents have accounted for 17 sacks; eight by Pittsburgh and seven from North Carolina State. This season FSU has seen the quarterback go down 23 times the 11th most of the year. They also gave up eight sacks in a win against NC State.
Considering both Syracuse and Florida State offer offenses who give up sacks, and both teams hold defenses who get after the quarterback. Both teams ranking in the top 50 of the country in sacks: Syracuse 14th with 23 sacks, Florida State T-47th with 17 sacks.
With these struggles, you will have to consider both teams will lean on the running game to alleviate the opposing pass rush. FSU has had better luck on the ground this season with running backs Cam Akers and Khalan Laborn who have combined for 184 rushing attempts for 938 yards and slightly more than 5 yards a carry. Akers was once a Heisman hopeful at running back and one of the most talented in the nation.
Florida State has not allowed their pass blocking woes affect their running game with that kind of production. For Syracuse, that same case is tougher to make. Moe Neal and Abdul Adams have both been productive but are averaging career lows in yards per carry. Neal and Adams have combined for 590 yards on the year; just barely 4 yards per carry.
Florida State’s running game will play the difference in Week 9. Both offenses will struggle and you may see a game that reminds you of the NC State game in Week 7. Tommy DeVito, Clayton Welch, and James Blackman, FSU’s starting QB, will be under pressure all game long. FSU will have enough to get into the endzone while I cannot see SU doing the same until I see it.