A Way to Early Prediction for FSU's 2012 Season

The 2012 Florida State Football schedule was released yesterday, and the overall reaction was mild cheer.
This was for a few reasons.

• First, we are so conditioned by poorly timed and poorly called penalities and/or fouls by ACC officials during games involving the state of North Carolina darlings that we think the ACC hates FSU. This may or may not be true, but it is the perception by many fans. So when the schedule was released and it did not have any crazy back to back opponents we did not know how to act.
• Second, we are missing West Viriginia. We are not sad about this from a win/loss angle, but it does take some luster off the schedule. Oh well, Savannah State is in its place, and plenty of Boy Scout troops and Boys and Girls clubs will be getting group tickets.
• Third, we don't know what our team will be like. We know our defense will be sick starting with the line. Our linebackers will be fierce, and our secondary will be experienced. Our offense will return a healthy, very good QB, a stable of running backs, and a deep recieving core. We will be explosive at best. At worst, we will be stale and impotent because our line will be young. Last year we lost seniors to injury and had 18 year olds starting. That is not a recipe to get a run push on the goal line or time for our QB. In other news, our "overrated" QB played portions of the year with a separated shoulder and a broken fibula. #onions

So from a tepid response to a tepid season, I give you a game by game prediction:

Murray State: W
Savannah State: W
Wake Forest: W*
Clemson: W*
@ USF: L
@ North Carolina State: W
Boston College: W
@ Miami: W
Duke: W
@ Virginia Tech: L**
@ Maryland: W*
Florida: L

*Revenge Game
** Annual Thursday night against an opponent that can upset FSU because the ACC hates its most nationally prominent program.

You may be asking why the Maryland game is a revenge game. Good question. Randy Edsall onside kicked after we ran it with our backup fullback on fourth down and he scored a touchdown late in the fourth quarter. Therefore, I think Jimbo will be in F-you mode.

As for the Wake game, it's our conference opener and DI opener. We will be prepared and our defense will eat someone. Clemson will be similar to wake except Sammy Watkins will make a crazy long TD catch... or three. Honestly, though, I worry those two games will cause the team to look past an in state opponent because it is close to home. I think USF will be ready to play. We will, too, but those types of games do not match up well for the establishment. Sure we will have the home loss from a few years ago in our mind, but that is an entirely different team and coaching staff. So it will not carry the same revenge factor if it were a loss from last year. If we win that one, look for us to lay an egg in Raleigh simply because we lose a game every year after some sort of let down. At USF and at NCST have those qualities.

As for VT and UF. They are good programs despite poor ends to last year. VT is dangerous at night and at home. I can't imagine a more difficult atmosphere to play in except if we were at the Swamp at night. Speaking of UF, I think they come in with upset on the mind. I think we are missing two important players to injury because that is what happens by the end of football seasons. I think they break the streak... and if they don't (and if they do), SCREW YOU FLORIDA.

The other games are run of the mill games. Gotta show up to play. I'm not sorry UM doesn't rank as important enough for a potential upset or big game. They had an exodus of upper classmen to the NFL and they have looming sanctions. They did it to themselves... well not the young players, but the President and Boosters. Just because the media has died of the story doesn't mean it is going away. It affects their strength as a program and will in the future.