Syracuse (4-4, 2-2 Atlantic Coast) comes off its bye and goes right back to the state of Florida, this time for a matchup with Florida State (2-5, 2-4) at 12:20 p.m. Saturday. Before the bye, the Orange lost a matchup with then-No. 8 Miami, 27-19. Meanwhile, FSU got clobbered by Boston College, 35-3, one week ago.

Here’s what to know about the Seminoles:

All-time series: Florida State leads 9-1, and has won the last nine matchups

Last time they played: Syracuse lost to then-No. 17 Florida State, 45-14, on Nov. 19 one year ago. The Orange got torched by FSU’s Dalvin Cook, who ran for 225 yards and four touchdowns in the contest. Zack Mahoney started the game for Syracuse as Eric Dungey missed the matchup with an injury.

The Florida State Report: Florida State was the No. 3 team in the preseason Top 25. But its season went awry in the first game against Alabama when starting quarterback Deondre Francois left the contest with a season-ending injury. While it was without its quarterback, FSU still competed. Three of its five losses were decided by one score. Last week’s game was the first blowout loss of more than three scores for the Seminoles.

The FSU offense hasn’t been all that strong without Francois, ranking just 113th in total yards per game (335.6) and 122nd in points scored per game (17.4). Outside of last weeks matchup, the defense has been strong though. On the other side of the ball the Seminoles are 31st in the country in yards allowed per game (347.3) and as the 50th best team in points allowed per game (24.3).

This is the first year the Seminoles have started 2-5 since 1976.

How Syracuse beats Florida State: Play a full game on the road. Syracuse hasn’t won away from the Carrier Dome this season. Senior linebacker Zaire Franklin said that he and the other veteran members have talked about needing to play better on the road and finish off the games. Beat writers around the team said Florida State quit in last week’s matchup, and we’ve seen Syracuse play well for most of the season. As long as Syracuse doesn’t start off slow like it did in games against LSU, NC State and Miami, the Orange can maybe pull off its fifth win.

Player to Watch: Cam Akers, No. 3, running back

Akers had to take over for the best running back in school history, and he’s done an admirable job filling in. Akers has racked up 496 yards on 105 carries for the Seminoles. The Orange has shown that it can be slowed down by a solid running game as it was by NC State earlier this year. Syracuse slowed down Miami’s running game a week ago, and it’ll need to do the same on Saturday.

Published on November 3, 2017 at 4:53 pm

Contact Tomer: tdlanger@syr.edu | @tomer_langer