Wake Forest at Florida St – Preview and Prediction
FLORIDA ST 21.5 WAKE FOREST (53.5)
MEGALOCKS LINE – Florida St -18.5 Sagarin ratings – Florida St -18.5
“Vegas” Implied Projected Score: Florida St 37.5 Wake Forest 16
Massey Ratings Projected Score: Florida St 34 Wake Forest 14
The Game
Pop question. Who has more wins ? Yup. Wake Forest. The Demon Deacons are sitting at 5-1 while the Seminoles have a record of 4-2. Now of course, MEGALOCKS ACC INSIDERS know that Florida St has played the #2 toughest schedule according to the Sagarin ratings, but the fact remains that Wake Forest is well on their way to bowl eligibility after back-to-back 3-win campaigns. Good to see.
The Match-Up
Florida St offense vs Wake Forest defense
As noted earlier, Florida St has had a really tough schedule (Ole Miss, Louisville, So Flo, UNC, Miami) and managed to cobble together the #22 ranked offense in the FBS with excellent balance between run and pass. QB Deondre Francois really impressed us last week with his toughness and leadership ability. Of course, they can always count on all-world RB Dalvin Cook. The Wake Forest D has been pretty good this season (again) even when accounting for a fairly soft schedule and some beneficial weather conditions. Florida St will get their points but we do not see a steamrolling of any kind on Saturday.
Wake Forest offense vs Florida St defense
This is where is gets tricky for Wake Forest. The Florida St defense has given up a lot of points and they are really beat up. Do the Demon Deacons have the ability to make things difficult ? They only have 3 TD passes (!) all season and are going to need to depend on the running game. Miami has a very good running game and was pretty much held in check last week. We can see the Deacons being annoyingly efficient at times but have a hard time seeing them scoring more than 14 points.
MEGA-MAZEMENT !
The last two times Wake Forest visited Florida St they got pounded 43-3 and 52-0…..Florida St has a bye next week….Hard to say how they perform of the win vs Miami…..Both teams are very good in the time of possession department but there is only one football….hmmmm???
Summary
The spread seems a bit high. Then again, Wake Forest has not exactly been ACES the last two visits to Tallahasee. Seems like Wake Forest or nothing, however, based on the quality of their defense and the fact that Florida St made sleepwalk a bit after the Miami game.
Conclusion
Official play: None.
Leans: Wake +21.5 or better for really small potatoes.