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Staff Predictions: Florida State vs. North Carolina

Will the Seminoles win two in a row?

By FrankDNole, Tommy Mire, NoleThruandThru, Jon Marchant, KevinLittle16, Perry Kostidakis, and brianpellerin
COLLEGE FOOTBALL: SEP 05 Notre Dame at Florida State Photo by David Rosenblum/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

Florida State will travel to Chapel Hill to take on the North Carolina Tar Heels on Saturday, and the Seminoles are a big underdog once again as they look for their second win of the season.

Your Tomahawk Nation Staff, as they do every week before a game, have broken down the film, charted every play-by-play snap, performed A.I. (Artificial Intelligence) virtual simulations of the individual man-to-man matchups [by position], compiled, sorted, and analyzed all of the data, and have come to the conclusion that the Noles should indeed be the dogs this Saturday afternoon.

Florida State Seminoles vs. North Carolina Tar Heels:

Pre-Game Coverage from Tomahawk Nation

After looking over all of this FREE pregame content, please read what your Tomahawk Nation prognosticators predict how this Saturday’s showdown will go, and then share your opinions and your thoughts about this game.

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NoleThruandThru (Season prediction record: 4-1): It was so nice to see FSU get its first win last week. Winning a football game can do wonders for a team. I’m afraid those wonders will have to wait for another week, though. This UNC football team is by no means living up to the preseason hype it received, but it’s still good enough to beat the ‘Noles handily if they don’t turn in four quarters of damn-near flawless football. With revenge on their minds from last season’s upset, the Tar Heels get it done at home.

North Carolina 41, Florida State 27

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Tommy (Season prediction record 2-3): Whew! One second on the clock with a walk-off field goal to seal the deal. Can the Seminoles continue that momentum and bring home some sod on Saturday night? Coach Norvell said he was not dropping the sacred tradition of tomahawk stickers so let’s hope he doesn’t stop there. Bring home a little baby Sam Howell to plant in the sod cemetery and watch this team grow as the season goes on. UNC has lost a lot of weapons on offense, so I’m curious how the Tar Heels game plan for the Noles. If the Seminoles can get some consistency in the wide receiver room, I believe they can pull a two-for and come home with that oh so gracious dirt. If not, we will be here for emotional support. DEFENSE—play lights out and do Nole Nation proud.

“Woahhhhh we’re (almost) halfway there! Woah ahh! Living on a prayer!”

Florida State 31, North Carolina 28

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Jon Marchant: (Season prediction record 4-1): Last year FSU was a 13.5 point dog and wound up beating UNC by 3. This year the spread (last I checked) is 18. I think UNC is worse than they were last year due to all the talent they lost to the NFL and their OL regressing, but I also think FSU had a lot of turnover luck in that game. I think this season’s FSU squad suffers from very high variance — meaning they are capable of being competitive and getting blown out against almost every opponent. More than that, that kind of variance can change from quarter to quarter within any game. So like Forrest Gump says, you never know what you’re gonna get. For the offense, it hinges on their frequency of explosive plays. For the defense, apparently, it’s effort and opponent matchups. I believe FSU certainly has a chance in this game. But unfortunately, I don’t think Vegas will get it wrong twice.

North Carolina 38, FSU 23

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FrankDNole: (Season prediction record 1-4)

I have a love/love relationship with Mack Brown

I love Mack Brown obviously because of his ties to FSU, as a student, as a football player, and as a Gradute Assistant Coach, during his time in Tallahassee.

I love Mack Brown as a rival coach even more.

During last Saturday’s game it became apparent that the Noles have finally figured it all out and Norvell now has his team firing on all cylinders.

The Seminole players will use the disrespect from Vegas as their battle cry and will win this game with a deceiving score that seems closer than how the actual game played out.

Never a doubt.

The Florida State Seminoles 41, Baby Blues 31

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Kevin Little: (Season prediction record 3-1):

North Carolina isn’t as good as they were last year and FSU is better. However, I don’t think FSU will repeat the feat again this year.

When given time Sam Howell has shown to be one of the best qbs in the country but he hasn’t gotten much time. The best chance FSU has of slowing down the Tar Heels is for Thomas and Johnson to have huge games.

The defense has been vulnerable to dual threat qbs but they’ll have a full week of prep for Jordan Travis.

Ultimately I think FSU keeps it closer than many would guess but still fall short.

UNC 42, FSU 31

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Perry Kostidakis (Season prediction record 3-2):

Did FSU turn a corner last weekend? That’s the question on everybody’s mind as the Seminoles look to upset the Tar Heels for the second straight year UNC has looked beatable, while Florida State has barely put together a consistent performance. If the Seminoles truly got their groove back with the confidence of a walk-off win, this could be a fun one.

FSU 34, UNC 27

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Brian Pellerin (Season prediction record: 3-2):

This is not a game I think anyone can EXPECT Florida State to win. They certainly CAN win with their rededication of the offense to Jordan Travis but expecting a three-score underdog to win is just not likely. I like the shift back to Travis. He’s done a solid job keeping the offense on schedule and limits the possibility for disastrous mistakes using the run game and quick passes. Teams will step up, opening the door for big shots. That allows them to compete with anybody but not the firepower of UNC

UNC 42, FSU 27

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