November 09, 2022

Seminoles are No. 23 in College Football Playoff, FSU favored vs. Syracuse, Noles soccer set for title defense -- all the latest in Florida State Seminoles sports

6 minutes

Hello everyone, happy Wednesday and welcome to Noles News Now, the latest in Florida State Seminoles sports, brought to you by Tomahawk Nation. I’m your host Perry Kostidakis -- let’s jump right in.

Florida State has earned its first College Football Playoff ranking since 2016, the year that FSU faced off and beat Michigan in the Orange Bowl. The Seminoles debuted at No. 23 in the second edition of this year’s rankings, an improvement of two spots from the squad’s standing in the AP Top 25. FSU isn’t ranked in the Coaches Poll, but, hey, you can’t win them all, and also -- it doesn’t matter.

The ranking is a reflection of the fact that, despite 3 losses, FSU has performed as at least one of the top 25 teams in the country. I’m going to drop a couple of stat bombs on you --

FSU has put together one of the most explosive offenses in the country, a balanced rushing and passing attack led by a significantly-improved Jordan Travis, who has established himself as one of the best quarterbacks in the ACC and arguably, the country. Florida State is now No. 1 in the country in 20+ yard plays, having logged 69 on the season (62 vs. Power 5 competition.) According to FSU Sports Info, Florida State is one of four teams in the country (and the only team in the ACC) averaging at least 270 yards of passing offense and at least 210 yards of rushing offense per game this season.

On the defensive end, while there is still room for improvement in a variety of areas, the Seminoles have also taken a step forward — FSU has allowed the fourth-fewest 20+ yard plays this season (24) while holding opponents to just 19.8 points per game (No. 22 in the country). Also via FSU Sports Info, Florida State is first in the ACC and fifth in the country in pass defense, holding opponents to an average of 165.0 yards per game through the air. The Seminoles also are first in the ACC and rank nine nationally, holding opponents to an average of 6.1 yards per pass attempt

FSU leads the nation with 15 touchdown drives of 80+ yards and with seven 90+-yard touchdown drives this season. The Seminoles also rank fourth in explosive play rate differential, trailing only Georgia, Ohio State and Tulane, with an offense explosive play rate of 16.8 percent that ranks sixth nationally and a defense explosive plays allowed rate of 9.2 percent that is 15th in the country

So basically -- yeah, Florida State is a pretty good football team. The Seminoles face off against the Syracuse Orange this Saturday at 7 p.m. and are currently 6.5 point favorites.

In other FSU news, the soccer team is getting set to take on FGCU in the squad’s NCAA Tournament opener. FSU, the defending national champs and winners of the ACC Tournament, are the overall no. 1 seed and look to be set up well to at the very least make a deep run. Our Prince Akeem Joeffer, the best of the best when it comes to Florida State women’s athletics, has you covered with a layout of the bracket and other thoughts on the program up on the site right now.

Those are the main big things of the day -- you can read up on them and more on TomahawkNation.com right now, as well as catch up on all of our past coverage from the week, from football breakdowns to basketball look through. Thank you for listening and supporting us -- if you want more of something we’re doing, if you want us to change anything up, please please either leave a comment on the website or in a review.

Thank you again for listening -- we’ll see you next time.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

...more

View all episodes

By FFSN

4.8

133133 ratings