Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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GAME PREVIEW: FLORIDA STATE ing dynamic receiver Rashad Greene (683 yards and three touchdowns in six games this season) to form one of the nation's top receiver groups and one Winston could unconditionally trust in any situation. "It was a perfect storm around him, given the offensive line was intact and together and Bryan Stork was a senior center that was able to help him out," Sonnone said. "The wide receivers Kel- vin Benjamin, Rashad Greene and Shaw were really tight in the rotation and they didn't really deviate from that. "Benjamin had a huge season as a big red-zone target for Jameis Winston. He had a lot of confidence that he could put the ball up and Benjamin would come down with it." Instead of the record-breaking average margin of victory from a year ago, this season Florida State is defeating oppo- nents by 18.3 points per contest, which is a bit inflated considering the struggles at North Carolina State (an early 24-7 deficit turned into a 15-point win) and against Wake Forest (the game was tied until Winston rushed for a touchdown with one minute to play in the first half in an eventual 43-3 blowout). Head coach Jimbo Fisher's squad is a reminder of how difficult it is to win each week in college football. "This team has won [22] games in a row and Florida State can look all around and see the battle of attrition," Sonnone said. "The heavyweights that are in the same tier as Florida State like Alabama, Oregon and Oklahoma, they all went down the same week. Florida State struggled with Wake Forest, but ended up winning by 40. It just shows that winning in college football isn't easy and there's more parity than ever. "With Florida State's struggles, the Seminoles keep finding ways to win, and that's what's impressive about this year's team. They're resilient and scrappy." ✦ 2014 FLORIDA STATE SCHEDULE Date Opponent (TV) Result/Time (ET) Aug. 30 Oklahoma State W, 37-31 Sept. 6 The Citadel W, 37-12 Sept. 20 Clemson W, 23-17 (OT) Sept. 27 at NC State W, 56-41 Oct. 4 Wake Forest W, 43-3 Oct. 11 at Syracuse W, 38-20 Oct. 18 Notre Dame (ABC) 8 p.m. Oct. 30 at Louisville (ESPN) 7:30 p.m. Nov. 8 Virginia TBA Nov. 15 at Miami TBA Nov. 22 Boston College TBA Nov. 29 Florida TBA 2014 NOTRE DAME SCHEDULE Date Opponent (TV) Result/Time (ET) Aug. 30 Rice W, 48-17 Sept. 6 Michigan W, 31-0 Sept. 13 vs. Purdue* W, 30-14 Sept. 27 vs. Syracuse^ W, 31-15 Oct. 4 Stanford W, 17-14 Oct. 11 North Carolina W, 50-43 Oct. 18 at Florida State (ABC) 8 p.m. Nov. 1 vs. Navy+ (CBS) 8 p.m. Nov. 8 at Arizona State TBA Nov. 15 Northwestern (NBC) 3:30 p.m. Nov. 22 Louisville (NBC) 3:30 p.m. Nov. 29 at USC TBA * at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis; ^ at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J.; + at FedEx Field in Landover, Md.