Florida State
vs.
Oklahoma State
College Football Pick
8/30/14
The defending National Champs, Florida State, open their season in Prime Time on Saturday Night, August 30th against Oklahoma State. The Game will be played at AT&T Stadium, Arlington, Texas and can be seen on ABC-TV. Florida State is favored by -17.5 with a total of 63 at 5 dimes sportsbook.
I love to go against teams like Florida State the year after a run like the one they had last season. You know you’re going to be getting iNFLated lines and you also know you’re going to be getting a 110% effort from every opponent. The Seminoles will have a target on their backs all year long. This is especially true in Game #1 when a coach like Mike Gundy has essentially had 7 months to prepare a Game plan for this one (and don’t think he didn’t start doing just that back in January!!).
Unfortunately, I’m not so sure we can pull the trigger. For starters, the line has been set right around where it would have been had these two played at the end of last season. In fact looking back at my numbers from a year go, I would have had Florida State -18.
Both teams have lost players of course, but Florida State is in MUCH better shape in that department returning several key players from a year ago including QB Jameis Winston. Oklahoma State returns just 4 starters on each side of the ball and lost 28 Seniors in what was the winningest class over a 4 year period in program history.
Based on that alone, it has to be Florida State in this one. Oklahoma State is rebuilding while the Seminoles look as though they are going to continue winning. Florida State -17.5