Tag: Florida State Seminoles

Florida at FSU: Tuesday betting odds for Friday night fight

Take a look at Tuesday’s odds for Florida’s final game of the season at FSU on Friday night.

Gators fans are a day closer to the final regular-season game for their beloved Florida football team with the Florida State Seminoles awaiting them in Doak Campbell Stadium for a Friday night tangle between two in-state rivals.

FSU looks to hold its ground with an 8-3 record and ranked No. 16 in the nation in both major polls while UF has sputtered to a 6-5 mark and is nowhere to be found in either poll. Additionally, the visitors have dealt with some roster attrition after the dismissal and departure of a handful of players. It might not be a pretty one in Tallahassee.

Florida holds an 11-game lead in the all-time series sporting a 37-26-2 record dating back to 1958. The Gators won five of the first six meetings — with a 3-3 tie coming in 1961 — and 16 of the first 19 games between the Sunshine State schools. Since then, it has been a bit of a tug-of-war over short stretches for each team, with the Orange and Blue prevailing in the last three games.

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Florida at FSU: Monday betting odds for Friday night fight

Here are the early odds for Florida’s final game of the season at FSU on Friday night.

The final game of the 2022 college football regular season is near for the Florida Gators, who wrap up the schedule with a meeting with their in-state rivals, the Florida State Seminoles, in Tallahassee this Friday coming night. It has been an up-and-down debut campaign for first-year head coach [autotag]Billy Napier[/autotag], who looks to end things on a high note before bowl season.

It will not be easy for Florida, however, as they enter enemy territory against a team carrying an 8-3 record and ranked No. 16 in both the Coaches and AP polls. Considering the Gators’ complete collapse against the Vanderbilt Commodores the weekend before, Napier and his staff have their work cut out for them.

Florida holds an 11-game lead in the all-time series sporting a 37-26-2 record dating back to 1958. The Gators won five of the first six meetings — with a 3-3 tie coming in 1961 — and 16 of the first 19 games between the Sunshine State schools. Since then, it has been a bit of a tug-of-war over short stretches for each team, with the Orange and Blue prevailing in the last three games.

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Florida basketball erases 17-point halftime deficit to beat FSU in Tallahassee

Florida was down 17 points at the half, but Colin Castleton took over in the second period and led the Gators to victory, 76-67.

The Florida Gators mounted a comeback for the ages on Friday night, taking down the Florida State Seminoles by a final score of 76-67 after trailing by nearly 20 at the half.

Although it’s a cliche in sports, this truly was a tale of two halves. The Gators scored twice as many points in the second half of the game and slowed down a red-hot FSU offense until a lead was firmly established. The Seminoles could not stop turning the ball over in the second half, allowing the Gators to go on a 20-3 run through the first 6:15 of the period that erased a 17-point halftime lead.

Florida’s big man [autotag]Colin Castleton[/autotag] contributed 10 of his 25 points during that stretch and completely took over a game he appeared to be struggling in before the half. As the clock whittled down, it became clear that there would be no slowing down the Gators’ offense and the FSU faithful began filing out of the building.

[autotag]Will Richard[/autotag]’s 13 points were good enough for the second-best number on the team, and [autotag]Trey Bonham[/autotag] finally played meaningful minutes off the bench, seemingly in place of true freshman [autotag]Riley Kugel[/autotag] who struggled.

As good as it feels to leave Tallahassee with a win, there’s clearly a lot for Florida to work on if the Gators are going to be successful in the Phil Knight Legacy Tournament, which begins in just under a week on Thanksgiving Day.

Here are five takeaways from Florida’s first win in Tallahassee since 2012.

PHOTOS: Highlights from Florida basketball’s comeback win over FSU

Take a look at the best photos from Florida’s win over FSU on the parquet Friday night.

For a while, it looked like Florida basketball would get run out of the gym by the Florida State Seminoles on Friday night, but instead, [autotag]Todd Golden[/autotag]’s squad showed a massive amount of might in fighting back for a 17-point victory. The road win represented a solid bounce-back from a loss to the Florida Atlantic Owls on Monday night — a game in which the Gators were bombed on their own home court.

The first half left a lot to be desired but if the second half is any indication of the fire this team has, the ceiling might be higher in the first season with a new head coach than many had thought previously. Anchored by center [autotag]Colin Castleton[/autotag], this lineup has some formidable athletes who should be ready for the Southeastern Conference gauntlet.

Take a look below at the best highlights from Florida’s Friday night win over FSU to take the second-straight game in the in-state rivalry series.

 

Brian Kelly explains why LSU has improved so much since Week 1 loss

Kelly discussed LSU’s keys to success in Year 1.

In Brian Kelly’s first season as the head coach of the LSU Tigers, he has taken a team that was 6-7 last year to an 8-2 record so far and an appearance in the SEC Championship game against Georgia.

So, what changed? Kelly brought a whole new staff of coaches to the Bayou with him and a top-ten recruiting class that included [autotag]Harold Perkins[/autotag]. Add to that a ton of transfers on both sides of the ball to try and revamp a depleted team.

Even with all of those changes, the Tigers looked rough in the first game of the season against the Florida State Seminoles as LSU lost 24-23 in New Orleans.

Kelly was asked this week what have been the keys to the Tigers’ success this season.

“I think it’s pretty clear that when you look at where we were against Florida State,” Kelly began. “We had a lot of new players playing. Transfers, freshmen, new quarterback, new system. And, it’s no excuse. My job is to prepare them and get them ready and I didn’t have them ready to the level that they needed to be for that game.”

The Tigers have certainly come a long way since that loss and now sit in College Football Playoff contention heading into the final two games of the regular season.

LSU will welcome the UAB Blazers to Baton Rouge this weekend for Senior Night.

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Florida at FSU: Betting odds for Gators-Seminoles basketball game

Take a look at the lines for Friday night’s men’s basketball action in the Tallahassee.

Florida basketball returns to action on Friday night following a hugely disappointing loss to the Florida Atlantic Owls in the O’Connell Center on Monday. The first loss of the [autotag]Todd Golden[/autotag] era was an ugly one as the visitors shot the lights out from beyond the arc to upset their in-state sister school for the first time in four tries.

Next up for the Gators is another Sunshine State sibling in the Florida State Seminoles, who host the Orange and Blue on Friday night in Tallahassee. FSU has had an even rougher start to the season having lost all three games so far. Both teams will come out looking to correct the ship with a win against their bitter rivals.

Florida holds a commanding lead in the all-time series with a 44-28 record in a series that dates back to 1951 when UF won the first meeting between the two to start one of two seven-game winning streaks for Florida. However, FSU had run off seven straight of its own recently before the Gators snapped the streak last year in Gainesville.

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Florida completes flip of this 4-star FSU OL commit

Billy Napier and Co. have successfully flipped four-star offensive lineman Roderick Kearney from the Florida State Seminoles.

The Gators continued to dominate the state of Florida on the recruiting trail Monday. Four-star offensive lineman [autotag]Roderick Kearney[/autotag] took to Twitter to announce a flip in his commitment from FSU to Florida, bringing the class of 2023 to 22 commits.

It doesn’t take a college football expert to understand the significance of beating out a rival program for an in-state blue chipper, but Kearney should be the highest-ranked offensive lineman signed by Florida since 2018 ([autotag]Richard Gouraige[/autotag] was ranked in the top 100). For a school and fanbase looking for signs of a swift turnaround, nothing could be more promising than a win in the trenches. The previous regime struggled to recruit offensive linemen, and [autotag]Billy Napier[/autotag]’s crew is looking to change that narrative.

Landing Kearney is a good start. He’s an aggressive interior lineman that’s constantly working on the little things to get where he wants to be. His strength is against the run right now, but he’s looking to grow and become a better all-around player by the time he’s in Gainesville.

Kearney picked FSU over UF shortly after visiting the Swamp, but the Gators’ persistence paid off in the end. Kearney’s commitment secures Florida’s spot at No. 8 in 247Sports’ team rankings for now. Clemson was breathing down UF’s neck, and now there’s about a 2.5-point gap between the two programs. Passing LSU would take a major signing or two, though.

The 247Sports composite ranks Kearney at No. 123 overall in the class of 2023 and No. 4 among interior offensive linemen. On3 is even more bullish on him, ranking him at No. 66 overall in the class.

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Herbstreit gives takeaways from Clemson-FSU game, big-picture thoughts on Tigers

During ABC’s broadcast of the Clemson-Florida State game on Saturday night at Doak Campbell Stadium in Tallahassee, Kirk Herbstreit gave his takeaways from the Tigers’ 34-28 win, as well as some big-picture thoughts on Dabo Swinney’s team going …

During ABC’s broadcast of the Clemson-Florida State game on Saturday night at Doak Campbell Stadium in Tallahassee, Kirk Herbstreit gave his takeaways from the Tigers’ 34-28 win, as well as some big-picture thoughts on Dabo Swinney’s team going forward this season.

Clemson (7-0, 5-0 ACC) scored 27 unanswered points after trailing 14-7 to take command of the game with a 34-14 lead, though FSU (4-3, 2-3) rallied late with two fourth-quarter touchdowns to get within six points before falling short when the Tigers recovered an onside kick and ran out the clock.

Herbstreit sees the game as a “win-win” for Swinney’s Tigers, who came away with a big road victory and still have plenty of tape to learn from and use as motivation heading into Saturday’s game against Syracuse.

“I think he (Swinney) saw what you and I saw – he saw a Florida State team that didn’t give up when they were down 20,” Herbstreit, ESPN’s lead college football analyst, said to play-by-play man Chris Fowler. “He said my defense was playing to the scoreboard. I think he was right a little bit there. So you get a win, 34 to 28, and yet you can still walk away and go to the film room and say guys, second half, what’s going on here? So, you can keep your team hungry, you can keep your team motivated to get ready for that next game against Syracuse.

“So, it’s a win-win for Clemson to get on the road against a good Florida State team and win it. It wasn’t pretty in the second half, but they still win, and just keep building for the rest of the year.”

The good news for Clemson fans, Herbstreit pointed out, is the Tigers are an inspired group that takes the season one game at a time with an eye toward ultimately reclaiming the conference crown and getting back to the College Football Playoff.

“The greatest thing, if you’re a Clemson fan – forget all the looking down the road at a potential ACC Championship and all that – you have a motivated football team,” Herbstreit said. “So, I don’t think they’re going to get ahead of themselves. They’re not going to think about looking at this game or that game. I think Dabo Swinney, because of the year that they went through last year, he’s got a team that’s anxious to get back to where they think they belong, which is winning the ACC and getting back into the playoff.”

Based on what he’s seen from Clemson this season, Herbstreit believes the Tigers – who have five regular season games remaining vs. Syracuse, at Notre Dame and then three straight home games against Louisville, Miami and South Carolina – belong in the conversation of the best teams in college football.

“You start to look at who they have to play… I mean, they’re going to be heavily favored,” Herbstreit said. “You start to look at what’s happening with Tennessee and Alabama, Ohio State and Michigan and Georgia and all these great teams that are out there. I don’t know why, after watching Clemson now for over half the year, why you can’t throw, clearly, their hat in the ring. A lot of people are kind of still waiting to see who they are, but I think from the NC State game on, I think they really have shown to be a complete team. Because in the preseason you talk about Georgia and the SEC and the Big Ten, and people are starting to forget about Clemson a little bit.”

Saturday’s game against the ACC’s only other unbeaten team in Syracuse (6-0, 3-0) is set for noon at Death Valley and will be televised on ABC.

“They have Syracuse next week, early kick, big energy, and they’ll try to just keep this ‘revenge tour’ – what we would call ‘revenge tour’ that they’re on – keep it going, see if they can win again and keep the momentum built that they have going right now,” Herbstreit said.

“I guess if it were at the dome, you would think uh oh, be careful,” he added. “But at Death Valley, I don’t know, can Syracuse go in there and win? I guess things happen. I don’t know what the spread will be, but I think Clemson will be pretty heavily favored.”

The Tigers opened as a 14-point favorite over the Orange according to Caesars Sportsbook.

Dear Old Clemson is excited to announce a limited edition football and poster signed by Clemson’s Avengers.

Now there is a new way you can support Clemson student-athletes. Purchase collectibles from Dear Old Clemson and the proceeds with go to support Clemson student-athletes. Visit Dear Old Clemson to find out how you can help!

The good, the bad and the ugly from Clemson’s win over Florida State

Clemson notched another win over Florida State late Saturday at Doak Campbell Stadium. The Tigers’ seventh straight win in the series kept them atop the ACC’s Atlantic Division standings heading into next week’s suddenly intriguing matchup with …

Clemson notched another win over Florida State late Saturday at Doak Campbell Stadium. The Tigers’ seventh straight win in the series kept them atop the ACC’s Atlantic Division standings heading into next week’s suddenly intriguing matchup with unbeaten Syracuse, though Clemson had to hold on to do it.

Here’s the good, the bad and the ugly from the Tigers’ 34-28 victory:

The good

Florida State likes to drop into coverage and let its defensive front handle stopping the run. Clemson’s coaches and players talked about as much afterward, which made taking advantage of numbers at the line of scrimmage a necessity for the Tigers’ run game.

The Tigers did that more often than not behind one of the more productive nights Will Shipley has had this season. Clemson’s sophomore running back had gotten more than 14 carries just once this season heading into Saturday’s game, but offensive coordinator Brandon Streeter said afterward one of his objectives was to get Shipley more involved, particularly given the Seminoles’ defensive approach.

Shipley matched his season-high with 20 carries and averaged 6.1 yards per tote to finish with 121 on the ground, his highest rushing total against a Power Five opponent this season. He was the key cog in helping Clemson rush for 167 yards after the Tigers failed to break the 150-yard rushing mark the previous two weeks in wins over NC State and Boston College.

It also helped Clemson dictate what FSU did on the back end, which assisted the Tigers’ passing game. D.J. Uiagalelei completed more than 65% of his passes (15 of 23) and accounted for three more touchdowns with both of his passing scores coming against man coverage.

Shipley got involved there, too, with a career-high six receptions. Add his 69-yard kickoff return to start the second half, and Shipley accounted for a career-high 238 all-purpose yards. As Streeter noted afterward, that’s an indication of the kind of production the former five-star recruit is capable of when his skill set is utilized in that many ways.

Clemson played turnover-free football, the third time it’s done that this season. The Tigers forced one of their own to improve to 84-6 under Dabo Swinney when they win the turnover margin.

The special teams also continued its knack for coming through with momentum-shifting plays, even if the Tigers got help from some questionable decision-making by FSU coach Mike Norvell. The Seminoles made the curious call to dial up a fake punt from their own 30-yard line with more than 12 minutes still left in the third quarter, but Clemson sniffed it out to converge on the upback well short of the line to gain, leading to a field goal that gave the Tigers their largest lead of the night.

Speaking of special teams, Aidan Swanson came through with his most consistent game of the season. It’s something Clemson has needed from its punter with Swanson averaging just 40 yards a boot coming into Saturday’s game, but Swanson helped neutralize one of the nation’s top 15 punt return teams by averaging 45.8 yards per boot. One of them was a 54-yard boomer, a season-long for Swanson.

The bad

Clemson came into Saturday’s game allowing the second-fewest rushing yards in the country, and FSU was without leading rusher Treshaun Ward because of an injury. Throw in the fact the Tigers’ defensive line was fully intact for the first time all season, and it was supposed to be a mismatch up front.

Instead, FSU’s offensive line spent a good chunk of the night pushing the Tigers around.

Clemson – Myles Murphy, more specifically (two sacks, 3.5 tackles for loss) – was disruptive at times, but FSU racked up 206 rushing yards, repeatedly gashing the Tigers on the ground. Trey Benson, who stepped in as the starter in Ward’s absence, averaged more than 9 yards per carry while FSU’s top three rushers each ripped off runs of at least 20 yards, including quarterback Jordan Travis’ touchdown scamper to cap the Seminoles’ opening possession.

It was a strange sight considering Clemson was yielding less than 63 rushing yards on average entering the game. FSU had more than that before the first quarter was over and had 139 at halftime, more than Clemson had given up in any game this season. There’s something FSU exploited that Clemson will have to get shored up before Syracuse’s Sean Tucker – the ACC’s second-leading rusher – comes to town next weekend.

The defense wasn’t the only side of the ball that had its lulls. FSU was able to rally late in part because Clemson’s offense bogged down for much of the second half. After going up 31-14 on a reverse flea-flicker to start the third quarter, Clemson netted just 58 yards on four of its final five possessions, three of those ending with a punt. FSU outgained Clemson 460-370 in total yards and had 10 more first downs than the Tigers.

The ugly

With other top-ranked teams falling all around them, Clemson had a chance in front of a national television audience to leave no doubt about its status as a legitimate College Football Playoff contender. And with a 34-14 lead midway through the third quarter, the Tigers looked like they were primed to send that message.

Instead, the Tigers let their guard down and had to hold on against an FSU team coming off consecutive losses to teams Clemson has already beaten this season. The Seminoles deserve some credit for their execution to get back in it, but it was too easy at times for FSU, which put together back-to-back touchdown drives in the fourth quarter, neither one taking more than a minute and a half of game time to complete. The last one covered 94 yards in just 1 minute, 35 seconds

If not for Brannon Spector’s recovered onside kick and Shipley’s ensuing 11-yard run that allowed Clemson to milk the final 2 minutes off the clock, things could’ve gotten very interesting. It wasn’t exactly the killer instinct Clemson fans had hoped to see from a team that’s trying to return to elite status in the sport and left the question lingering as to whether or not Clemson is there yet.

Dear Old Clemson is excited to announce a limited edition football and poster signed by Clemson’s Avengers.

Now there is a new way you can support Clemson student-athletes. Purchase collectibles from Dear Old Clemson and the proceeds with go to support Clemson student-athletes. Visit Dear Old Clemson to find out how you can help!

Clemson patiently waits, cashes in on trick play

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Brandon Streeter had two thoughts when he dialed it up. “The first thing I yelled is, ‘I’m so glad we don’t have to practice it anymore,'” Clemson’s offensive coordinator said. That’s because Streeter said the Tigers had been …

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Brandon Streeter had two thoughts when he dialed it up.

“The first thing I yelled is, ‘I’m so glad we don’t have to practice it anymore,’” Clemson’s offensive coordinator said.

That’s because Streeter said the Tigers had been practicing a reverse flea-flicker for “five or six weeks at least.” And with Clemson having all the momentum coming out of the locker room for the second half against Florida State, Streeter finally called for it to be run in a game.

That’s the other thing Streeter had in mind when it came to the timing of reaching into his bag of tricks.

“We just wanted to keep the pedal to the metal and do a great job of continuing to attack like we did in the first half,” Streeter said.

Clemson did it on the first play of the second half, and it helped the Tigers pull out a 34-28 victory Saturday at Doak Campbell Stadium. Before the call came in, Clemson had scored the final 17 points of the first half to take a 24-14 lead into the break.

Not wanting to let up, Streeter sent in the call the first chance he got after Will Shipley returned the opening kickoff of the third quarter 69 yards into FSU territory. With Clemson at the Seminoles’ 31-yard line, quarterback D.J. Uiagalelei handed off to running back Phil Mafah, who gave it to freshman receiver Antonio Williams running in the opposite direction. 

Williams then pitched the ball back to Uiagalelei, who waited for fellow receiver Joseph Ngata to clear out on the left side, leaving Davis Allen to operate alone down the sideline. Allen eventually slipped out and raced past linebacker Tatum Bethune.

Uiagalelei hit Allen in stride, and Clemson’s senior tight end took care of the rest, holding off Bethune on his way to the end zone. That extended Clemson’s lead to 31-14. The Tigers tacked on a field goal on their next possession to make it 27 unanswered points.

“I don’t know how many weeks we’ve been working that, but we’ve been working that,” Uiagalelei said. “Davis slipped out right there and did a really good job. The running back set it up, Antonio flipped me the ball, and I think (receiver) Joe (Ngata) won in the middle. I heard Beaux won on the outside. But right there, I was just looking for Davis, and he came wide open. He did a really good job of staying up and scoring a touchdown.”

Clemson bogged down for the majority of the second half offensively, totaling just 40 yards on its last three drives before running out the clock with a few kneel-downs on its final possession. But Clemson coach Dabo Swinney said the coaching staff talked at halftime about wanting to pull the trick play out early in the half if things aligned.

They did, and the Tigers capitalized for what proved to be an important sequence in their latest victory.

“Everybody has specials in their inventory, and we’ve had that,” Swinney said. “It’s got to be the right situation, right hash, right timing. All those type of things. And we were ready for it. It was perfect.”