This Saturday, the Florida State Seminoles will host the Wake Forest Demon Deacons—a team that has handed the ‘Noles three losses in the past four years, including the last two in Tallahassee (30-0 in ’06, 12-3 in ’08).

The Wake Forest offense employs a complicated misdirection scheme that forces defenses to play assignment football—the precise type of defense that the ‘Noles haven’t been able to play this decade.

The real threat to FSU’s defense is senior running back Josh Adams.  He’s had a very slow start, rushing for only 69 yards on 18 carries.  He’s also been overshadowed by the play of redshirt freshman running back Josh Harris (139 yards, two touchdowns).

Adams seems to show up and play the game of his life when it’s against FSU.  Adams had two rushing touchdowns last year versus the ‘Noles.

The Demon Deacons weakness thus far has been the pass defense.  They’ve given up 882 yards and 10 touchdowns through the air.

Worse, their red zone defense has been embarrassing.  Wake’s opponents are a perfect 13-for-13 inside the 20-yard line, including 12 touchdowns.

It looks like FSU should cruise to an easy win.  Season statistics, however, never seem to equate to victories in this series.  Wake Forest has won their last two meetings against the Noles in what were horrible performances by the Seminoles offense, one a 30 – 0 drubbing and the other a 12 – 3 win over the Seminoles.  Florida State will look to change that pattern, and for all intents and purposes they should.

Final Score – Florida State 42, Wake Forest 24

Pitt Panthers vs. Miami Hurricanes

The No. 19 Miami Hurricanes blow into Heinz Field in Pittsburgh, PA to take on the Pitt Panthers in an ACC versus Big East matchup this Thursday night with kickoff scheduled for 7:30 p.m.

The Miami Hurricanes (1-1) are coming off of a bye week in which they had time to recover from a very physical 36-24 loss to No. 2 Ohio State on Sept. 11 which saw a mistake filled performance from the Hurricanes. They will look to clean up their act against a Pitt team that does not present nearly as many challenges as the Buckeyes did.

Pittsburgh (1-1) are coming off a bye week as well after pounding out a 38-16 win over New Hampshire two weeks ago. This game followed a bitter opening day 27-24 OT loss to Utah that knocked the Panthers from the ranks of the top 25. Pittsburgh was an underdog coming into the Utah game despite being ranked No. 15 at the time.

The Panthers are led by QB Tino Sunseri, who has completed 64.5 percent of his passes for 459 yards and three TD’s this season.  Running Back Dion Lewis has been the workhorse for the Panthers, leading the team with 35 carries for 102 yards.  Expect Pitt to try and establish the run early in this game in order to open up some opportunities for Sunseri to take a few shots deep downfield.

The Hurricanes and Panthers are old conference rivals from their days in the Big East, but they have not met since 2003 because of Miami’s move to the ACC.  In their last meeting Miami came away with a 28-14 win against the Panthers.  The Panthers defense will have to keep this game close by keeping pressure on  Harris, and may find some success early with one of Miami’s offensive lineman Joel Figueroa possibly not playing on Thursday.  Expect the Hurricanes to bottle up Lewis and force Tin Sunseri to beat them with his arm, and the Miami offense will break through in the second half to put this game away.

Final Score – Miami 31, Pitt 20

Florida Gators vs. Kentucky Wildcats

The ninth-ranked Florida Gators have won the last 23 meetings with the Kentucky Wildcats and they will try to continue that run in SEC play this weekend in Gainesville.  The Gators enter the weekend a perfect 3-0 and that takes into account a 31-17 victory at Tennessee in last weekend’s SEC opener.

The Wildcats, meanwhile, are also 3-0 on the young season, as Joker Phillips is the first Kentucky head coach to capture his first three contests on the job since Bear Bryant did so in 1946. Kentucky hasn’t exactly been tested yet, but the team has taken care of business, including a 47-10 victory over Akron last weekend. The Wildcats, though, now turn their attention to an always tough SEC schedule and they are seeking their first league opening win since 2007.

Kentucky has gone over 200 rushing and 200 passing yards in each game this season, so balance has played a big part in this group’s success.

Defensively, the Wildcats have also been good, although they could use a little more turnovers, having forced just four. The unit, though, has limited opponents to just 257.7 total ypg and that includes only 109.7 ypg through the air.

The Gators haven’t been all that impressive on offense this season, averaging a modest 319.0 total ypg, but they have come up with the big plays when needed. QB John Brantley hasn’t exactly flourished and has thrown for a mere 452 yards through three games. He has yet to be picked off though and has a string of 140 consecutive passes without an INT dating back to 2008.

The defensive side of the ball is where Florida has really stood out, limiting challengers to 276.7 total ypg, including just 92.3 ypg on the ground. The unit has also been opportunistic, forcing 12 turnovers, with 10 coming on INTs.

The Gators came up with three takeaways, including two INTs, in the win over Tennessee, which managed only 11 first downs. Florida stuffed the run, allowing just 29 yards on 23 carries, while bringing the pressure with six sacks.

The Wildcats are enjoying a nice start to the season, but they have yet to face an opponent that is close to the level of Florida. The Gators should be able to control the game with their defense, while the offense comes up with enough key plays to take the victory.

Final Score Florida 31, Kentucky 13

If you went to sleep early and missed the ending of the Kansas State versus Xavier Sweet 16 NCAA tournament game, you probably missed the game of the year.  I do not think we are going to see a game with this many twists and turns in any sport for the rest of the year, but the tournament still has a long way to go so who knows.

Kansas State prevailed in double overtime 101 – 96, but that is really the least exciting part of the whole game.  How they arrived at that final score is what was so intriguing, and had me and I am sure countless others on the edge of our seats.

The stars of the game Denis Clemente and Jacob Pullen were the stars for Kansas State, while Jordan Crawford and Terrell Holloway were the stars for Xavier, between these four players 110 of the points were scored.

This was your typical good NCAA tournament game going down to the wire, but at the end of the game Kansas State went up by three points and they were instructed by their coach to foul the Xavier player.  This would have put him on the line for two free throws thus giving Kansas State another possession, and seemingly a way to close out the game.

Well Denis Clemente fouled Terrell Holloway on his way up the court, but the referee standing right behind the play did not call it.  Another Kansas State player came over and fouled while Holloway flailed like he was in the act of shooting and a foul was called.

Holloway drained all three free throws, and Kansas State missed a subsequent three pointer by Clemente to send the game into overtime.  Over the next five minutes in the first overtime, Kansas State built a three point lead off of great plays by Clemente, although Pullen was off of his game they were able to keep the lead most of the overtime.

Kansas State got into serious foul trouble having two players fouling out, which resulted in inexperienced players coming into the game for K-State.  With Kansas State up by two points and Chris Merriewether at the free throw line looking to put the game away by sinking both shots, he misses one of them.

Xavier takes it down the floor and Jordan Crawford takes an NBA three pointer and drains it to tie the game up sending it into the second over time.  At this point you can see the wear on the players as fatigue starts to set in, but Jacob Pullen seemed to have his legs under him as he woke up and hit two big three pointers in the second overtime.

One of the shots had to be one of the biggest clutch shots I have ever witnessed, the score was tied under a minute to go and time is ticking.  Xavier is playing tight defense and K-State can get nothing inside and Pullen fakes a drive to the basket to create space and pulls up for three.  He drains the shot, and Xavier could not answer.

Pullen hit the free throws along with Clemente down the stretch to put the game away and preserve a wildcat victory.  This game should have been over in regulation, and I am glad the wildcats still won the game, but now they have a big challenge.

They are going to have to face Butler after playing an extended, hard fought game.  Butler is going to be the fresher team, so Kansas State is going to have to find a way to prevail.  This game exemplifies what the NCAA tournament is all about it is too bad a team had to lose.

This tournament has been great so far; maybe even the best one ever.  My bracket has long been busted, but at this point it really doesn’t matter.

On September 11th, 2010 the Miami Hurricanes will fly into Columbus to take on the Ohio State Buckeyes.  This is going to be one of the toughest tests of the season, as Ohio State has been one of the top programs in College Football over the last eight years.  I would say a lot of that has to do with playing in the Big Ten which is a weakened conference up until last season, but Miami as always can match Ohio State athlete for athlete and should be able to win this game.

This game is about revenge. Ohio State stole a National Championship from Miami in 2002 and now the Hurricanes will have a chance to right that wrong.  This game is not for a National Championship this time, but the loser of this game is going to have an early blow to its National Title hopes for 2010.  Had it not been for a horrible pass interference penalty on what should have been the last play of the game, the Hurricanes would have won back-to-back National Titles and Jim Tressel would still have none.  Look at the video below to relive the moment and judge for yourself.

The Buckeyes are going to be strong; they are losing four starters on defense and two starters on offense and handled a high-powered Oregon offense in the Rose Bowl.  The Hurricanes are a balanced team by boasting a high-powered offense and a solid defense. The keys to victory will be simple: force Terrelle Pryor to throw the football, and shut down any semblance of a running game.

I know people will say that Pryor threw the ball against Oregon, but everyone knows that the Ducks do not play any defense.  The Hurricanes secondary is good enough to shut down the passing game of Ohio State, and I believe the Hurricanes will rise to the occasion.  All the pundits will count the Hurricanes out, and I am sure most will predict an Ohio State victory. Those spots are where this team plays best. The Hurricanes will win a hard fought close game in the horse shoe.

Final Score: Miami – 20 Ohio State – 17

9/2/2010 vs. Florida A&M

Miami plays FAMU every few years, being that my father and two siblings graduated from FAMU I know all too much about Rattler football.  I know enough to tell you that there is no way Miami loses this game too many athletes, too much speed for the other team from Tallahassee.  What many may now know is FAMU beat Miami in their first meeting in 1979, but that has not happened since and 2010 will not show a shift in the recent trend.  Miami leads the all-time series 7 – 1, expect it to go to 8 – 1 after this game.

With that being said this is an important game for the Hurricanes, it is a tune up for their game the next week against Ohio State.  It will be imperative that the coaches have the players focused, and get them to run the offense play hard on defense to tune up for the Buckeyes.  It will also be a great time to get the youngsters a bit of playing time as well.

Of course we all know that FAMU will get one victory in this game, the famous marching 100 will make quick work of the Hurricanes band.  It will be interesting to see what the Marching 100 break out for this game with it being the first one of the season, at least the Rattlers can take something positive away from the game.

Final Score:  Miami – 38 FAMU – 7