Tigertown Pump Up / Seminole Special

It's late October, when every gas station and grocery store from King Street to the Chattooga is proffering fat pumpkins alongside haystacks and corn husks. When your koozie no longer keeps your beer from getting warm so much as it keeps your palm from getting chilly when the sun goes down. When the schedule gets tough and the tough get balling.

We've got the biggest ACC showdown in years on our hands. FSU is coming in hotter than a tin roof in an electrical fire. Jameis Winston has been sleek. Their entire lineup is infected with athleticism. They've seen a bit of adversity so far and steamrolled right through it.

Jimbo Fisher has his team calibrated. A worthy adversary. If your heart isn't pumping for this one then you just must be a zombie decoration strung out across the lawn for trick or treaters to step over. It's gonna be a good 'un. And we've got our work cut out for us. Especially on O.

We can expect to see a good deal of 3 man fronts from the FSU defense. They've been running a a lot of 3 man fronts this year and it matches up well against our O. Not only does a 3 man front give them the ability to drop extra personnel against our pass happy O. But it also allows them to focus on pressuring gaps as opposed to controlling them. In other words they're gonna want to pierce the gaps and to try and knock Tajh down repeatedly. So here's my two cents we can take advantage of it.

We need a big game out of Brandon Thomas. The best way to beat a three man front is to attack the weak side of the LOS. I don't imagine we're going to be throwing a ton of trust on our RT. So I'm hoping to see us line up with the strong side to the right and put our faith in the big ole Brandon's ability to conjure up space for our backfield. He had some blown assignments last week. It can't happen against FSU. We'll need to be able to run the read option as well as just plain out run to win this game. But we all know that story and it's do or die time. And if we win? It'll be a franchise-defining victory.

Because we're back on center stage. The limelight will once again be sharply focused on Death Valley. You couldn't ask for anything more coming into this game.

And speaking of pumpkins. You know that magical carriage Jameis Winstonrella has been riding in all year? It's gonna turn right back into a pumpkin at the stroke of kickoff. And Vic Beasley does love himself some squash casserole.

Bring on them Noles.