A dark horse ACC contender has emerged. Well, more like exploded out of the gate.
Louisville has turned some heads after posting an NCAA-best 1,508 yards of offense in its first two games. Most of that is due to quarterback Lamar Jackson, who totaled a school record eight TDs in the season opener against Charlotte and set the ACC single-game record for total yards (610) against Syracus last weekend.
Jackson, who SN pegged as a Heisman dark horse, accounts for 67 percent of the Cardinals' offense (1,015 total yards). But Louisville is faced with its first obstacle of the season on its way to a possible ACC title: Florida State. College GameDay will be there to break down the matchup between two top 10 teams.
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Here's how you can watch Florida State and Louisville, and the keys to victory for both teams.
Florida State at Louisville
When: Saturday, Sept. 17, 12:00 p.m. ET
Where: Papa John's Cardinal Stadium, Louisville
TV: ABC
Online: Watch ESPN
Florida State-Louisville all-time series
The Florida State-Louisville series has been pretty one-sided in its history, as the Seminoles hold a 14-2 lead in the series. The Cardinals' last win came in overtime, a 26-20 win in 2002 over the fourth-ranked Seminoles, and their other win was a 41-14 drubbing in 1952. However, Louisville's had a first-half lead in the last two games — in 2015, they were up 7-6 before being outscored 35-14 in the second half, and in 2014, the Cardinals were up 21-0 before Jameis Winston led a second-half comeback. Third time could be the charm for Louisville.
Numbers that matter
754
That's the insane number of yards per game the Cardinals are averaging. Louisville's offense is easily the highest-scoring in the nation in yards per game and points per game (66), and also leads the ACC in rushing offense (343 ypg), passing offense (411 ypg) and passing efficiency (189.00). Let's see if Bobby Petrino's crew can keep it up.
1-2
Florida State went 1-2 in 2015 when Dalvin Cook rushed for less than 100 yards. Both losses came to ranked opponents (No. 1 Clemson, No. 18 Houston). This year, the story's been a little different — the Seminoles are 2-0 and Cook hasn't broken the 100-yard threshold yet — but it would be concerning if Cook didn't hit the 100-yard mark against Louisville.
233
Florida State's secondary got smoked on the long ball against Ole Miss, giving up 233 yards on eight plays of 20+ yards. Those 233 yards accounted for 75 percent of the Rebels' total passing yards in the game (313) on just one-third of their passing plays. The Seminoles should be worried about Lamar Jackson doing the same thing — against Syracuse, 316 of his 431 passing yards came on eight plays of 20+ yards.
Social buzz
Be prepared to be dazzled by the offenses in this game. Louisville's Lamar Jackson is a special talent, a dual-threat QB who will burn defenses with the long ball or with his legs. Florida State's Deondre Francois is just a freshman but was impressive under pressure as he led the Seminoles back from a 28-6 deficit. And both QBs have a host of receivers —Louisville has eight players who have caught a TD, including Jamari Staples and James Quick, and Florida State's got the talented Travis Rudolph — at their disposal. Plus, there's Dalvin Cook to consider.
Neither team's defense is particularly great, either, so expect this to be a high-scoring affair.
The big question
What happens to the loser in the ACC race? This is just the first of three games that will most likely decide the ACC champion, and the loser of this game isn't necessarily out of the race. The ACC Atlantic is similar to the Big Ten East in that the three best teams (Florida State, Clemson, Louisville) will play a round robin to decide the division winner. But if the loser of this game wants to stay in the race, it needs to win against Clemson and root for the Tigers to win against the winner of Saturday's game. Circle these dates: Louisville travels to Clemson on Oct. 1 and Florida State hosts the Tigers on Oct. 29.
