Who: No. 13 Florida State Seminoles (9-2, 6-2 ACC) at No. 12 Florida Gators (10-1, 7-1 SEC)
When: Saturday, November 28th at 7:30 P.M. eastern time
Where: Ben Hill Griffin Stadium in Gainesville, Florida (ESPN)
Florida State looks to notch a third straight victory over Florida when the teams meet Saturday night at the storied “Swamp” of Gainesville. With first-year head coach Jim McElwain at the helm, Florida has been one of college football’s pleasant surprises at 10-1. Despite having the better record, being at home and having the SEC East clinched, the Gators are a slight underdog against FSU on Saturday.
Florida needs a win Saturday to keep its hopes alive for a berth in the College Football Playoff while FSU could find itself in a New Year’s Six bowl by earning a 10th victory with a win on Saturday. Florida State defeated Chattanooga 52-13 last week to get to nine wins for a sixth straight year.
Florida is coming off a 20-14 overtime victory over Florida Atlantic and in recent weeks, the Gators have been a bit sluggish, beating Vanderbilt, South Carolina and FAU, who have combined to go 9-24 this season by an average margin of just six points. Still, Florida has played to its competition for most of the year and having the Seminoles come to town will certainly bring about its best effort.
With quarterback Will Grier suspended, the Gators have turned to the ground game a bit more in recent weeks. Kelvin Taylor leads Florida with 841 yards on the ground and 13 touchdowns. Quarterback Treon Harris is Florida’s second leading rusher and good when it comes to extending plays with his legs. Florida has four receivers with at least 25 catches this season, led by Antonio Callaway, who leads the team with 541 yards receiving and four touchdowns while averaging better than 20 yards-per-catch.
The Gators will be trying to get things going on the ground against a very deep defensive front for Florida State. DeMarcus Walker leads the Seminoles with 8 sacks, 12 tackles for loss and three forced fumbles on the year. Reggie Northrup leads FSU with 78 total tackles, but it was fellow senior linebacker Terrance Smith, who turned the tide in last year’s game with a 94-yard interception return for a touchdown after FSU fell behind 9-0 early.
Junior cornerback Jalen Ramsey leads a talented, but banged up secondary for FSU. Freshman safety Derwin James has come on in recent weeks and ranks second on the team with 68 total tackles and seven for loss. FSU is the only defense in the nation yet to give up 25 points in a contest.
Like Florida, the Seminoles will rely heavily on the ground game and that means a lot of carries for sophomore running back Dalvin Cook. Cook has 1,475 yards rushing this year in 10 games and 17 total touchdowns.
Redshirt junior Sean Maguire is expected to make just his second road start at quarterback. Maguire has 8 touchdown passes compared to just 2 interceptions. At wide receiver, Kermit Whitfield and Travis Rudolph have nearly identical numbers with 51 catches and six touchdown grabs. Rudolph has a 3-yard edge over Whitfield with 693 yards receiving this year.
FSU will be facing a Florida defense that is yielding the third fewest points-per-game in the country. Junior cornerback Vernon Hargreaves III was named a Jim Thorpe Award finalist this week. He and sophomore Jalen Tabor are tied for the team-lead with four interceptions.
Senior linebacker Antonio Morrison is the leading tackler for the Gators, but Florida could be without defensive tackle Jonathan Bullard, who is nursing a knee injury. Bullard leads the Gators with 13.5 tackles for loss on the year. Junior defensive end Alex McCalister leads the team with 6.5 sacks this season.
Florida State is 23-34-2 all-time against Florida, but 4-1 under current head coach Jimbo Fisher. The Seminoles beat Florida 24-19 last season in Tallahassee and are aiming to win three straight in Gainesville for the first time ever. FSU defeated Florida 37-7 in its last trip to the Swamp in 2013. The Gators have won the last three contests in the series where both teams were ranked, with a 37-26 win at Doak Campbell Stadium in 2012 being the most recent.
