Ingram Smith and Bud Elliott return for another edition of The Nolecast, this time to preview the the Florida State Seminoles and the Texas State Bobcats, Saturday at 8 ET on ESPNNews. We are joined by Will Butler of UnderdogDynasty.com, a TSU expert. Will joined us from Starbucks, so the audio quality is not as good as usual for his interview portion, but the information is excellent. Florida State is favored by 28 and the over/under is 64.
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A brief synopsis of the podcast preview, as well as some visual aids and links to visual aids can be found, below.
Texas State's offense
Texas State runs a spread triple-option offense behind a very good offensive line by Sun Belt Conference standards. They do run tempo, and are mostly out of the shotgun. Texas State's goal is to spread a defense out horizontally to create vertical seams for its triple option attack -- think a blending between Oregon and Georgia Tech.
Florida State's task will be keeping leverage on the football, playing with good eye discipline to avoid having open pitch men, and to play blocks with the appropriate arm. Texas State won't give FSU much of a chance to show off its new pass rush, but will test the Seminoles discipline quite a bit. Texas State is much better running the football than it is throwing, and while it can throw off play action, it is very unlikely to have success in long down and distance against Florida State.
Interested in seeing this offense create horizontal movement to open vertical lanes? Texas State ran quite a bit in this highlight film.
What coverage will Florida State play? Zone, mostly, because defenders need to be keeping their eyes on the football and the motion and action. Specifically, look for FSU to run lots of Cover 4 and some Cover 3, allowing for defenders to come downhill in run support.
Texas State's defense
Aggression. Texas State brings a lot of aggression and will blitz often and from every spot. The Bobcats run a 4-2-5 scheme similar to FSU's alignment, but lost several key players and it will be interesting to see if they can hold up against Florida State's athleticism when it does blitz.
Florida State has major questions along the offensive line and at receiver, and starting QB Everett Golson has only been working with the offense for a few short weeks. Can FSU make enough big plays to offset the inevitable mistakes and blow out the Bobcats?
The pick: Florida State 41, Texas State 17