The start of the Willie Taggart era was awful, as Florida State struggled badly in 2018. The grace period is gone and the former Oregon coach could already be on the hot seat if the Seminoles don’t show significant improvement in 2019. Florida State went only 5-7 a year ago and missed a bowl for the first time in 37 years. The current college football odds do foresee a bounceback with some more regular season victories this year, but another underwhelming showing could be the cause of great alarm for the program.
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Florida State regular season win total
o7.5 -109
u7.5 -111
Florida State Win Total Odds Analysis
The Seminoles will need to secure eight victories in the regular season in order to cover the projected win total for 2019. Florida State plays 12 games on the year, beginning with non-conference matchups with Boise State and Louisiana-Monroe. The Seminoles play in the ACC, which is not a super tough conference, which is why the win total is attainable.
Florida State’s first conference games comes against Virginia, followed by matchups with Louisville, North Carolina State, Clemson, Wake Forest and Syracuse. The Seminoles will wrap things up with matchups against Miami, Boston College, Alabama State and Florida. The games against Clemson and Florida will be tough, but if Florida State can do well in the rest it will have a chance to hit the “over” on the total.
Florida State Odds
Florida State’s issues ran deep a season ago and the team is hoping for better production this year. The offense will be led by James Blackman, who won the quarterback competition and will head into the season aiming to turn things around. Tamorrion Terry is expected to be the go-to guy at receiver once again after showing off some serious big-play ability in 2018. The running game will be led by Cam Akers. He showed some serious potential in 2017 before taking a step back last year, although the team’s offensive line did not pave many holes for him.
The defense was a sieve against the pass last year, and if that is an issue again in 2019, the team can kiss away any chance at coming up with eight wins. The Seminoles do have a good deal of experience, with eight key cogs returning. However, those players are going to need to step up and play better. Florida State’s best pass-rusher is gone as Brian Burns took his talents to the NFL. There are a lot of question marks with this group and it could be tested right away by Boise State in the opener.
Key Stats or Trends
Florida State hadn’t suffered a losing season for decades until last year’s issues. The Seminoles have been on a decline of late, dropping from 10 wins in 2015 and 2016 to seven wins in 2017 down to five last year. The oddsmakers believe this team will turn things around, and the schedule is favorable.
The defense should be able to take a small step forward this year but the onus will really be on the offense to turn things around. Blackman looked pretty good in the offseason and if he can build on that, the Seminoles think they can be revitalized. This is a crucial season because another bad one could make Taggart vulnerable to getting fired after only two years.
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