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Gameday Central: Florida State Seminoles vs. LSU Tigers

Jordan Travis is the only player in FSU history with 20 TD passes and 7 rushing TDs in a season (2022)

By FrankDNole
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COLLEGE FOOTBALL: SEP 04 Allstate Louisiana Kickoff - Florida State vs LSU Photo by Kevin Langley/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

The 8th ranked Florida State Seminoles and the 5th ranked LSU Tigers will be kicking off the Camping World Kickoff Game tonight at 7:30 p.m. from Orlando. The game will be televised on the ABC Network for a football hungry national viewing audience.

FSU’s Heisman Trophy candidate Jordan Travis was the only player in the country to lead his conference in yards per play, yards per pass attempt, yards per completion, pass efficiency rating and fewest interceptions thrown (min. 200 pass attempts) last season.

With 43 career starts, LSU’s Heisman Trophy candidate Jayden Daniels ranks No. 3 among active FBS quarterbacks in games started. He trails only Bo Nix (Oregon) with 47 and Sam Hartman (Notre Dame) with 46. Daniels has rushed and passed for a TD 15 times during his career (6 at LSU, 9 at Arizona State). LSU is 6-0 in games in which he accounts for a rushing and passing TD.

The Seminoles’ offensive line is by far the most experienced group in the country as they enter the season with a nation’s-best 307 games played and 214 combined starts, ranking 41 games played and 35 starts ahead of the next-closest team nationally. Nine different offensive lineman have started at least one collegiate game, and seven different offensive lineman on the 2023 squad have made at least 20 college starts.

LSU’s returning starters on the offensive line have combined to start 62 games with OG Miles Frazier leading the way with 14. Frazier was the only player on the offensive line to start every game in 2022 (10 LG, 3 RG, 1 RT).

Preseason first-team All-American Jared Verse returns as the consensus ACC Defensive Player of the Year favorite. Verse earned the most votes among defensive players on the preseason All-ACC team after leading the conference in sacks and ranking 10th nationally in tackles for loss last season.

LSU linebacker Harold Perkins, one of the nation’s top playmakers on defense in 2022, is back after leading the Tigers in tackles for loss (13), sacks (7.5) and QH hurries (14). Perkins had at least 1 tackle for loss in LSU’s final 7 games.

Florida State won its final six games to finish 10-3 overall last season. FSU scored at least 35 points in its final six games of 2022, the longest active streak in the nation entering 2023, and the program’s longest 35-point stretch points since the 2013 national championship season.

The Tigers are coming off a 10-4 record and the SEC Western Division title last year. LSU closed out the 2022 season with a 63-7 win over Purdue in the Citrus Bowl. LSU has won 12 straight games when rushing for 200 yards. The Tigers were 6-0 in 2022 when reaching that mark.

Should be a fun game.

According to DraftKings, the Seminoles are now a 1.5-point underdog against the Tigers, with the over/under set at 58.5.

Join us here in each quarter-by-quarter live game thread and show your support, while sharing in all the emotions, excitement, and frustrations, that being a true NOLE is all about.

Florida State Seminoles vs. LSU Tigers Game Threads:

Florida State Seminoles vs. LSU Tigers

Pre-Game Coverage from Tomahawk Nation

How to Watch

Date
Sunday, September 3

Time

7:30 p.m.

Watch

ABC

Stream

ESPN, Hulu, FuboTV

Listen

Seminoles Radio Network

Florida State vs. LSU: Game Notes

—Florida State enters year four under Mike Norvell ranked No. 8 in the preseason polls, the program’s highest preseason rank since 2017, after doubling its win total from the previous year and finishing 10-3 in 2022.

—FSU is playing in a top-10 season opener for the fourth time in program history and first time since 2017 when No. 3 Florida State faced No. 1 Alabama in the first collegiate game inside Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta. This season’s game is the fifth top-10 season opener nationally in the last 10 seasons, and Florida State is the only program to be involved in two of those contests.

—Florida State is 10-0-2 all-time in Orlando and has won nine straight contests in Orlando since a 17-17 tie with Georgia in the 1984 Citrus Bowl. The Seminoles are 2-0 in season openers played in Orlando, defeating No. 11 Ole Miss 45-34 in 2016 and beating Duke 70-26 in 1995.

—The Seminoles return 77 players from the 2022 squad, including 11 all-conference selections and the ACC’s Defensive Rookie of the Year. Those players combined to account for 89.2 percent of FSU’s total offense, including 99.5 percent of passing yards and 76.4 percent of rushing yards, and 68.7 percent of its defensive production, including 80.0 percent of tackles for loss, last season.

—FSU also added a top-20 high school recruiting class, with seven true freshmen included on the opening week’s depth chart, and a top-5 group of transfers, including the nation’s highest-rated tight end, offensive tackle, cornerback and defensive lineman in the portal as well as top-five additions at defensive end and wide receiver.

—Florida State’s roster features 78 different players who have combined for 1,584 collegiate appearances and 39 players who have started at least one game combining for 626 collegiate starts.

Odds/lines are subject to change. T&Cs apply. See draftkings.com/sportsbook for details.

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