The Virginia Tech Hokies and the Florida State Seminoles play their season openers on Monday. Bobby Bowden Field at Doak Campbell Stadium has the Week 1 contest. This game could do a long way in determining who plays in the ACC Championship Game.
Oddsmakers opened the Seminoles as -6.5-point favorites versus the Hokies, while the game’s total opened at 52. The line is now Florida State -7 and the total is at 54. ESPN will televise the game at 8 pm EST.
No. 19 Florida State begins the Willie Taggart era tonight. The 20th ranked Virginia Tech Hokies come to Tallahassee for an ACC showdown. Taggart coaches his third team in three years as he comes over from Oregon to replace Jimbo Fisher.
The Seminoles look to build off a four-game winning streak that ended 2017. They extended their streak of winning seasons to 41. Virginia Tech begins play after going 19-8 in the first two years under coach Justin Fuente.
Seminoles Have Lots of Question Marks
Taggart hands the quarterback reins to junior Deondre Francois. He beat out sophomore James Blackman for the job after missing most of 2017 with a knee injury.
Sophomore running back Cam Akers told reporters of the Seminoles’ offense: “A lot of weapons, a lot of big plays, a lot of touchdowns, and a lot of points. That’s all you can expect.” Akers is back after rushing for 1,024 yards. That was the most ever by a Florida State freshman.
Akers also had seven touchdowns in 2017. The Seminoles are experienced along the offensive line as well. Francois threw for 210 yards against Alabama in last year’s opener before going down with the injury.
He will look to senior receiver Nyqwan Murray who had 40 catches and 604 yards. Junior Keith Gavin chipped in 27 catches and 278 yards.
Hokies Return Some Key Starters
The Hokies will lean on talented quarterback Josh Jackson. He threw for a freshman school record 2,991 yards along with 20 touchdowns last year. They also boast a load of talent that they are excited to test on the big stage early on.
Jackson looks to take a step forward after registering 3,315 yards of total offense. He completed 59.6 percent of his passes last year. He will have plenty of weapons at his disposal.
Sophomore Deshawn McClease had 530 yards and three TDs last season. He is the leading rusher that returns. Junior Eric Kumah and sophomore Sean Savoy combined for 67 catches for 778 yards in 2017.
Long-time defensive coordinator Bud Foster must introduce seven new starters on his unit. Senior defensive tackle Ricky Walker had 4.5 sacks last year. Junior defensive back Reggie Floyd had 72 tackles and three interceptions return to lead the way.
PREDICTION: Florida State 34, Virginia Tech 27
Recent Form
Name
Record
ATS
Offense
Defense
Diff
ATS Home
ATS Away
OU Record
OU Home
OU Away
Virginia Tech
9-4
6-7
40.00
14.77
25.23
4-3
2-4
3-9-1
1-5-1
2-4
Florida State
7-6
4-8-1
14.00
21.23
-7.23
3-4
1-4-1
6-7
4-3
2-4
Power Stats
Yards Per Point
Name
Offense
Defense
Differential
VTECH
12.68
21.64
-8.96
FLAST
22.57
15.59
6.98
Yards Per Pass
Name
Offense
Defense
Differential
VTECH
15.01
14.96
0.05
FLAST
11.90
10.46
1.44
Yards Per Rush
Name
Offense
Defense
Differential
VTECH
4.55
3.39
1.16
FLAST
2.72
3.78
-1.06
Team Records
Virginia Tech Hokies
Name
Record
Home
Away
ATS
ATS Home
ATS Away
Offense
Defense
Diff
Overall
9-4
6-1
3-3
6-7
4-3
2-4
28.15
14.77
13.38
vs Conf
5-3
3-1
2-2
3-5
2-2
1-3
23.13
15.13
8.00
Last 3
2-1
1-0
1-1
1-2
0-1
1-1
17.00
14.67
2.33
Florida State Seminoles
Name
Record
Home
Away
ATS
ATS Home
ATS Away
Offense
Defense
Diff
Overall
7-6
4-3
3-3
4-8-1
3-4
1-4-1
27.85
21.23
6.62
vs Conf
3-5
1-3
2-2
0-7-1
0-4
0-3-1
19.50
25.13
-5.63
Last 3
3-0
2-0
1-0
3-0
2-0
1-0
40.67
15.00
25.67
Supergrid
Title
Stat
Rank
Stat
Rank
Away Team Overall Scoring vs Home Team Overall Defense
28.15
69
21.23
30
Awy Team Road Passing vs Home Team Home Passing Defense
245.50
44
221.00
75
Away Team Road Rushing vs Home Team Home Rushing Defense
175.50
44
117.00
28
Home Team Overall Scoring vs Away Team Overall Defense
27.85
71
14.77
4
Hme Team Home Passing vs Away Team Road Passing Defense
219.71
79
219.83
51
Home Team Home Rushing vs Away Team Road Rushing Defense
204.86
35
136.50
26
Head To Head Summary
Name
Record
ATS
OU
Score
Rush
YPR
PA
CP
PY
TY
TO +/-
Virginia Tech
2-5
3-4
6-1
27.71
128.29
3.10
30.43
54.46
251.14
379.43
1.86
Florida State
5-2
4-3
6-1
30.71
60.57
2.07
31.43
56.82
257.71
318.29
1.43
Head To Head Detail
Date
Away
Home
Score
Line
Total
OU Result
ARY
APY
ATY
ATT
HRY
HPY
HTY
HTT
Away Team Attempts
Home Team Attempts
Away Team Completions
Home Team Completions
Nov 8, 2012
FLAST
VTECH
28-22
-15
326
311
2
87
298
385
3
Dec 4, 2010
FLAST
VTECH
33-44
53
288
341
2
179
263
442
0
Oct 25, 2008
VTECH
FLAST
20-30
82
161
243
2
89
159
248
0
Nov 10, 2007
FLAST
VTECH
21-40
116
151
267
3
188
207
395
1
Dec 3, 2005
FLAST
VTECH
27-22
47
225
272
0
41
335
376
2
Jan 1, 2002
VTECH
FLAST
17-30
43
269
312
2
104
326
430
2
Jan 4, 2000
VTECH
FLAST
29-46
278
225
503
3
30
329
359
1
College Football Betting Odds & Trends
Virginia Tech Hokies
Virginia Tech is 1-4 ATS in its last 5 games
VTech is 18-7 SU in its last 25 games
The total has gone UNDER in 5 of Virginia Tech’s last 6 games
VTech is 1-4 ATS in its last 5 games on the road
Virginia Tech is 6-3 SU in its last 9 games on the road
The total has gone UNDER in 4 of Virginia Tech’s last 5 games on the road
Virginia Tech is 2-5 SU in its last 7 games when playing Florida State
The total has gone OVER in 5 of Virginia Tech’s last 5 games when playing Florida State
Florida State Seminoles
FState is 4-1 ATS in its last 5 games
Florida State is 4-8-1 ATS in its last 13 games
FState is 5-1 SU in its last 6 games
Florida State is 4-1 SU in its last 5 games at home
FState is 5-2 SU in its last 7 games when playing Virginia Tech
The total has gone OVER in 5 of Florida State’s last 5 games when playing Virginia Tech
Team Last 5 Games
Virginia Tech Hokies
Date
Opponent
score
Result
line
ATS Result
offensive rush yards
offensive passing yards
offensive total yards
defensive rush yards
defensive passing yards
defensive total yards
turnovers
Location
Dec 28, 2017
OKLAST
21-30
L
6.5/60.5
L/U
248
270
518
141
351
492
2
A
Nv 24, 2017
VIRGNA
10-0
W
-6.5/48.5
W/U
202
143
345
5
186
191
0
A
Nov 18, 2017
PITT
20-14
W
-14/48.5
L/U
157
218
375
55
311
366
-1
H
Nv 11, 2017
GATECH
22-28
L
-3/47.5
L/O
105
153
258
261
140
401
-1
A
Nov 4, 2017
MI-FL
10-28
L
2.5/49.5
L/U
102
197
299
219
210
429
1
A
Florida State Seminoles
Date
Opponent
score
Result
line
ATS Result
offensive rush yards
offensive passing yards
offensive total yards
defensive rush yards
defensive passing yards
defensive total yards
turnovers
Location
Dec 27, 2017
S.MISS
42-13
W
-11.5/48
W/O
214
238
452
131
129
260
-1
H
Dec 2, 2017
UL.MON
42-10
W
-25.5/63.5
W/U
305
199
504
38
262
300
2
H
Nov 25, 2017
FLA
38-22
W
-5/43.5
W/O
88
128
216
96
184
280
-3
A
Nv 18, 2017
DELAST
77-6
W
-51/
246
236
482
15
177
192
-2
H
Nov 11, 2017
CLEM
14-31
L
16/44.5
L/O
21
208
229
227
151
378
0
A
Next up:
Virginia Tech home to William & Mary Saturday, September 8
Florida State home to Samford Saturday, September 8
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Dirty has been an employee or owner of some of the top online sports gambling forums since 1998. He worked at EOG.com from it's inception until 2008 when he left and opened GamblingIQ and then in 2012 opened Handicappers Hidaway. He has written hundreds af articles over the years and always has his "Dirty Dozen" College Football poll up starting the first week of October.
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