FSU, UNC both struggle on D
Offenses could find points and yards plentiful today.
TA L L A H A S S E E — N o r t h Carolina and No. 12 Florida State have t wo of the better offenses in the ACC. When it comes to defense, that’s another matter.
Going into today’s game at Doak Campbell Stadium, both teams are struggling to find consistency when it comes to stopping opponents.
The Seminoles (3-1, 0-1 ACC) are last among Power Five conference teams in yards allowed per play (6.78). They have also have allowed 30 or more points in all three games against Football Bowl Subdivision opponents after not allowing a team to score
25 or more during the regular season last year.
Most of the problems are rooted in teams taking advantage of a young secondary. The Seminoles have allowed 14 plays of 30 yards or more, which is tied with Oklahoma State for worst among Power Five teams.
Coach Jimbo Fisher hopes his unit has found some confidence though after last week’s win at South Florida where they forced punts on nine straight possessions, including eight three-andouts.
After four weeks of facing dual-threat quarterbacks, the Seminoles face a tradi- tional passer in Mitch Trubisky. Fisher said the junior, who has a 74.5 percent completion rate, might be the most accurate quarterback his team will face this year.
The Tar Heels (3-1, 1-0) are having problems again stopping the run and getting off the field. In last week’s win against Pittsburgh, they went from a struggle-filled first 45 minutes to forcing threeand-outs on the Panthers’ last t wo series to give the offense a chance to make its last-second comeback win.
“They fought all the way down to the end” to set up the comeback, defensive coordinator Gene Chizik said. “What we’ve got to find is how to do that throughout the game because we’re not there yet.”
North Carolina is allowing 240.3 yards per game, which is second-worst among Power Five schools. The Tar Heels face another top back today in Florida State’s Dalvin Cook, who is coming off a career-high 267-yard day against USF.
Other things to watch in the first Tar Heels-Seminoles meeting since 2010:
Relaxed Francois: FSU quarterback Deondre Francois accounted for 244 yards of total offense last week. He had only 169 yards passing but is doing a better job of making checks at the line. Last week he checked into a run play which resulted in a Cook 75-yard touchdown.
Noteworthy: Former Cardinal Newman star Travis Rudolph leads FSU in receptions (16), yards (233) and touchdowns (three) but has been held to three receptions for 54 yards the past two weeks.