Florida State Seminoles at Miami Hurricanes Betting Preview

Opening point spread odds - total lines at 5Dimes : Seminoles +6.5 / Hurricanes -6.5 O/U 64.5

Time: 8 PM EST Saturday October 9, 2010 on ABC/ESPN3

In a Saturday night prime time game the 13th ranked Miami Hurricanes (3-1) host the 23rd ranked Florida State Seminoles (4-1). Both teams have yet to lose in ACC Conference play and FSU has won 3 straight after losing to Oklahoma in their second game and Miami has won 2 straight after losing to Ohio State in their second game.

The loser of this game will likely climb in the national rankings while the loser may fall out of the top 25.

Heading into this game Miami is 3-1 ATS and Florida State is 4-1 ATS.

In their last games Florida State beat Virginia 34-14 last week and Miami beat Clemson 30-21.

Miami is led by electric QB Jacory Harris, who passed for 205 yards with 4 TD and 2 INT last week against Clemson His main target is WR Leonard Hankerson, who caught 3 TD passed last week and had 147 receiving yards. Florida State will have their hands full in this game trying to contain Harris and the Seminoles rank 71st in the nation in pass defense and last week gave up 279 yards through the air against Virginia.

Miami only has the nation's 77th ranked rushing offense, but last week RB Damien Berry had 101 rushing yards. Florida State has the nation's 4th ranked rushing defense, but it is their pass D that has to play well, as they cannot allow Harris to have a big game through the air.

QB Christian Ponder leads Florida State and he leads an offense that racked up 428 yards against Virginia. He has a solid WR corps, but he will be facing the strength of the Miami D, which is their pass defense ranking 6th in the nation and had 3 INT last week against Clemson.

FSU has the nation's 26th ranked rushing offense and the featured RB is Jermaine Thomas, who rushed for 122 yards with 2 TD averaging an impressive 7.6 yards per carry in the win over Virginia. Miami ranks 43rd in the nation on rushing defense and they have to play well in this game.

Florida State is 5-1 ATS in their last 6 games and has an Under record of 6-2 in their last 8 games.

Miami is 2-5 ATS in their last 7 ACC games and has an Over record of 5-1 in their last 6 ACC games.

Our Selection : There is no arguement in the fact that overall the Hurricanes have played tougher competition in 2010. However, Miami QB has been prone to INTs and the Seminoles are certain to bring lots of pressure (leading the nation with 25 sacks this year). Florida State didn't fare well earlier on in Oklahoma, but this an improving unit. The Seminoles can win this game and any time that you can get nearly a TD with a team that has a decent shot at an outright victory it's worthy of a solid play.
Take Florida State +6.5 at 5Dimes.


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