If you're the prayerful type, keep freshman wide receiver Avis Commack in your prayers.  One of our readers relayed that his grandmother passed away.  That's sad news and our condolences are with Avis.

After last week's thrilling and disappointing loss to the Miami Hurricanes, Florida State looks to bounce back.  And the Noles really struggled on defense, allowing 38 points.  

This week their opponent is the Jacksonville State gamecocks.  That's a D-1AA team ("FCS" Division).  They are a better than average D-1AA Team, and have two really impressive players in QB Ryan Perriloux, a former 5* QB prospect who was booted from LSU for infractions ranging from identify fraud to theft to drug tests, etc.  But he's really really talented.  They also have former UF Nose Guard Torrey Davis.  

The game will be played at 6PM Eastern and is only available on ESPN360.COM  That's free and it's available to almost every major internet provider. Get to TomahawkNation.com and participate in our excellent live game threads since you'll already be online watching!  Maybe some of our users can help us out by finding other ways to watch the game online?  

Weekeng Sporting Action?  We got you covered.  

On offense, Jackonville State runs a lot of shotgun and they mix in some spread option elements.  That's a scary proposition for FSU, as the 'Noles' defensive coordinator Mickey Andrews has absolutely no idea how to match up with this style attack, particularly not when facing one of the most talented quarterbacks in any level of college football.  They are led by Senior wideout James Wilkerson, who was was the top target downfield against the Yellow Jackets (six catches for 70 yards) and should be a viable option all season long for Perrilloux. The ground game, which generated just 98 yards in the season-opener, will be headlined by tailbacks Brandon George and Calvin Middleton.Still, of Jax State's 300 yards in their 37-17 loss to Georgia Tech, 171 of them came when the game was a 31-7 blowout in the 4th quarter.  So they have a talented quarterback and not much else.   Be on the lookout for new players on defense! Safety Nick Moody (freshman) will start over Korey Mangum who has a mysterious injury.  True freshman Greg Reid is now in front of  A. J. Alexander as the No. 2 boundary cornerback behind Patrick Robinson.  Reid will get a lot of playing time.  Also expect Terrance Parks to get some playing time at Free Safety.  Also look for Dionte Allen to play more at field cornerback, along with Ochucko Jenijie.  Can FSU muster a pass rush?  That's the question on the mind of Nole fans.  The other question is one of assignments.  It's not whether FSU's young guys can make plays, but rather, whether they can consistently play their assinments.  They can use their athleticism to recover against this team, but if they blow assignments against a good team, they won't be able to just make up for that with athleticism.  And FSU can't play guys who blow lots of assignments.  

On defense, Jacksonville State runs a 3-4 defense, and they are not afraid to blitz.  Normally, this would be a concern because no team wants to face an unorthodox defense off of a short week against a team that is easy to overlook.  But the Noles lucked out here:  their next opponent, BYU, also runs a 3-4.  So FSU is getting to play against that style of defense for an extra 3 days of practice going into next week, whcih is some good practice.  That won't help them against Jacksonville State, but it could really help next week against BYU.  Look out for LB's Junior linebacker Andrew Ridgeway and senior LB Alexander Hightower.  FSU should be able to put up 250 passing yards and 250 rushing yards against this group.  Look for some of the young players to get some time, including the freshmen:  WR Willie Haulstead, RB Chris Thompson, and RB Lonnie Pryor.  Oh, and hopefully QB E.J. Manuel will get in the game as well.  

There's also the motivational issue.  FSU is not motivated to play this game.  They are coming off a huge letdown loss, are on a short week, and are looking ahead to BYU.  They will come out listless.  This isn't a judgment on them- it happens to every college team under these circumstances.  The crowd will be very small, probably under 60K people, and it is going to rain...

FRIDAY UPDATE

The forecast has actually worsened for Saturday and into Saturday night. Starting Friday night, rain and thunderstorms will overspread the entire gulf coast from Texas to the Big Bend. The updated NWS forecast still calls for a 70 percent chance of rain Saturday and a 50 percent chance Saturday night. The problem is the AMOUNT of rain forecasted to fall has been ramped up -- there could be more than an inch of rain over the area through Saturday night.

The good news: There is a chance the worst of it could be over by gametime and that it will be showery, but not a deluge during the game or that in the best case, mostly dry. Still, fans should be prepared for a sopping wet stadium upon arrival and should be ready for rain at any time before, during or after the game.

Obviously, this type of forecast is great news for an underdog -- but it will be good practice for our offense in terms of ball security. Perhaps our defense are a bunch of "mudders." (that's a batting practice fastball offered up for our wittier posters).  _Fsued

Inferior opponent, a team of a letdown loss, on a short week, and in a lookahead situation.  Oh, and this is Jacksonville State's superbowl.  They will be jacked.  

There are only two goals for this game:  win and avoid injuries.  Granted, winning big would be better because it would garner good press and more importantly, the starters can leave the game earlier, but with the weird circumstances and scheduling of this game, an injury-free win is the goal.  I have no doubt FSU will win because of Christian Ponder and the offense.  JAX STATE 24- FSU 48  

See you here at 6!