FSU Ready To Maul Savannah State
TALLAHASSEE (CBSMiami) – Poor Savannah State. The Football Championship Subdivision school was mauled last week by Oklahoma State 84-0 and now must follow it up with a trip to Tallahassee to face the number six ranked Florida State Seminoles.
The Noles are coming off their own demolition of Football Championship Subdivision team Murray State, 69-3. The Racers are a much better team than Savannah State, which is not a good omen for the Tigers.
Savannah State head coach Steve Davenport said on Monday the score from the Oklahoma State game could have been a lot worse had Cowboys head coach Mike Gundy not called off the proverbial dogs and slowed down his Air Raid offense in the second half.
Florida State will be playing its first game without defensive end Brandon Jenkins who suffered a Lisfranc foot injury in the first game of the season and will not play again in 2012. But, it's not like the Noles have a bare cupboard as number one overall recruit in the country Mario Edwards, Jr. is likely to get more playing time now.
The game against Savannah State is an eleventh-hour replacement for West Virginia who bought itself out of a game against Florida State before the season. That leaves FSU with two games against lower division schools, which could hurt the Noles if the team can make it into the BCS at the end of the year.
Plus, it's unknown exactly how good the Seminoles are after one week. While some teams have been tested, like Alabama, Florida State will have had essentially two glorified scrimmages by the time Wake Forest comes to town next weekend.
So what does Savannah State get out of volunteering to get thrashed by Oklahoma State and Florida State? Both schools will pay the Tigers roughly $860,000 for the honor of giving up way more than 100 points in the first two games of the season.
Add in the fact that Savannah State's coach said the team's starters and second-stringers are "kind of beat up" and the FSU game has the makings of getting out of hand very quickly.
FSU will get to see how many sacks defensive end Bjoern Werner can pull down. Last week against Murray State, he had four sacks and could easily double that number against an overmatched and outmanned Savannah State team.
The Seminoles will also be looking to hold its 10th straight opponent to fewer than 19 points in a game. Las Vegas oddsmakers have not put a line on the game because it's so one-sided.
FSU and Savannah State will kick off Saturday at 6 p.m.
