Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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GAME PREVIEW: FLORIDA STATE tainly been the focus, and it will have to be this fall … "We can't go down to Florida State and hope to win 10-7. We're going to have to put some points on board." During its 14-0 national title run last season, Florida State led the nation in scoring with an average of 51.6 points per game. Only twice did it fail to break at least 40 points, a 37-7 victory versus Florida and the 34-31 win over Auburn in the national title game. Entering the Oct. 11 Syracuse game, 5-0 Florida State had averaged 43.3 points per game with Jameis Winston at quarterback, never scoring fewer than 37. Without Winston during his suspension versus Clemson Sept. 20, the Seminoles scrapped and clawed to a 23-17 overtime win at home against the Tigers. Without Winston in the lineup, Flor- ida State is vulnerable. With him in the lineup, the opposition might need to reach the 30s to give itself a chance at victory. THE FINE LINES Much attention will be devoted to the two glamour quarterbacks. Florida State's 2013 Heisman Trophy winner and redshirt sophomore Jameis Win- ston is 18-0 as a starting quarterback. Notre Dame senior Everett Golson, oft mentioned as a Heisman candi- date this year, entered last weekend's North Carolina game 15-0 as a starter in regular-season games. All great football begins up front, though, and the winners of those matchups likely will receive the spoils. Florida State entered 2014 with 113 career starts among their offensive linemen, whereas Notre Dame's defen- sive line had 10, eight by junior Shel- don Day. A broken arm has shelved Seminoles center Austin Barron, but it remains a veteran group. Three of Flor- ida State's starting offensive linemen — tackle Bobby Hart and guards Tre' Jackson and Josue Matias — started as freshmen in the 18-14 Champs Sports Bowl victory versus Notre Dame in December 2011. A fourth starter, tackle Cameron Erving, is projected as a fu- ture first-round pick. Notre Dame's offensive line entered 2014 with 54 career starts but had to be shuffled around after the third game because of some ineffectiveness. It will have to be at optimum level against a Florida State unit laden with five-star recruits from the past, including Eddie Goldman, the No. 2 defensive tackle in the class of 2012, in the interior and Mario Edwards Jr., the top high school defensive tackle in the nation in 2012, along the perimeter. 2002 & 2012 REVISITED Since 1994, this is only the third sea- son Notre Dame finished September unbeaten. The other two were 2002 and 2012. In both seasons, a mid- to late-October victory on the road against a heavy fa- vorite suddenly made believers of the Fighting Irish as bona fide contenders. In 2002 under first-year head coach Tyrone Willingham, 7-0 and No. 6- ranked Notre Dame featured a fab- ulous defense that would finish in