Who: Chattanooga Mocs (8-2, 6-1 Southern) at No. 14 Florida State Seminoles (8-2, 6-2 ACC)
When: Saturday, November 21st at 3:00 P.M. eastern time
Where: Doak Campbell Stadium in Tallahassee, Florida (Raycom Sports Network)
No. 14 Florida State will celebrate Senior Day on Saturday as it takes on Chattanooga in the final home game of 2015. The Seminoles are coming off a 34-17 win over N.C. State while Chattanooga defeated The Citadel 31-23 last week.
Notables seniors for FSU include quarterback Everett Golson, safeties Tyler Hunter and Lamarcus Brutus, defensive tackles Nile Lawrence-Stample, Derrick Mitchell and Giorgio Newberry, linebackers Terrance Smith and Reggie Northrup, cornerback Javien Elliott and punter Cason Beatty. With a victory, the FSU senior class would tie a school-record for wins over a 4-year period with 48. That mark was set last season.
The offensive spotlight however, will be on sophomore running back Dalvin Cook, who last week, broke Warrick Dunn’s single-season FSU rushing record. Cook has 1,369 yards on the ground this season and ranks second nationally in yards-per-game behind only LSU’s Leonard Fournette.
Redshirt junior Sean Maguire will make his third start of the season for Florida State. Maguire came in for an ineffective Golson last week and passed for 231 yards and two touchdowns to lead an FSU comeback. Receivers Travis Rudolph and Kermit Whitfield have combined for over 1,200 yards receiving and 10 touchdowns.
Chattanooga is a run-heavy team that comes in ranked ninth in the FCS Coaches Poll. Quarterback Jacob Huesman has passed for 1,651 yards this season while completing nearly 68 percent of his passes, but may be most dangerous with his legs. Both Huesman and running back Derrick Craine could break the 1,000-yard rushing mark for the season this week against the Seminoles.
Huesman has 997 yards rushing this season and 10 touchdowns while Craine has 966 yards on the ground and 12 rushing touchdowns. Both are averaging 5.5 yards-per-carry.
The Mocs’ defense is led by defensive end Keionta Davis, who leads the team with 10.5 sacks and 13.5 tackles for loss. Linebackers Nakevion Leslie and A.J. Hampton each have more than 70 tackles on the season. Leslie, a junior, also has 12.5 tackles for loss.
Cornerback Jalen Ramsey is the star for the Florida State defense, but Ramsey will be used more as a run-stopper on the edge than a cover guy this week. Defensive end DeMarcus Walker has had a breakout year for the FSU defense, ranking second in the ACC with 8 sacks in 2015. Walker also ranks ninth in the conference with 12 tackles for loss.
The Seminoles will likely be without Northrup, the team’s leading tackler, this week after he suffered an arm injury against the Wolfpack. Freshman safety Derwin James has come on of late and will be used to try to shut down the Chattanooga ground attack on Saturday. James ranks second on the team in tackles and sacks and third in tackles for loss.
Saturday’s game will be the first meeting between the Seminoles and Mocs since early in 2008 when FSU defeated Chattanooga 46-7. The Seminoles are 2-0 all-time in the series.
