As Georgia Tech brings its run-heavy offense to face a revamped Florida State squad in this Week 0 showdown, the Noles, despite their new-look lineup featuring a fresh quarterback, lead running back, and wideout, are still favored by 10.5 points.
Will Florida State’s newcomers rise to the challenge, or will Georgia Tech’s ground game grind out an upset in Dublin?
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With Tech as underdogs by 10+ points, they will most likely trail at some point in this football game in the 2nd half. Therefore, while State tries to limit anything behind them, GT’s Haynes King will be able to take what is given to him by this inexperienced defense.
King scored 10 times on the ground in 2023, including 7 times in his final five games giving GT momentum heading into an 8-point loss against Georgia and a Bowl victory against UCF.
This game will end up being close and if GT has a chance at victory, it will be due to King's dual-threat ability.
Toafili, now a primary back in Florida State's dynamic offense, is poised for a significant workload against a Georgia Tech defense that struggled against the run last season, surrendering over 200 rushing yards per game.
With Trey Benson, Keon Coleman, and Jordan Travis all in the league after a fantastic 2023 campaign, a playmaker has to emerge in these early weeks for FSU and Toafili could be that guy against a poor run defense.
Williams is a transfer RB from Alabama and due to Toafili’s slow progression within the FSU system and his connection to coach Norvell, I’m expecting Williams to sit as the RB2 or 3 in this football game.
Unless he breaks away for a big one, I’d ride with the player who knows his role on this FSU offense rather than a newly admitted transfer.
Another Week 0 game in Dublin, this one shapes out to be the best one over the last few years with Northwestern beating Nebraska in 2022 and Notre Dame blasting Army in 2023.
Georgia Tech has the experience at Quarterback to stay within reaching distance of this game, while Florida State has too many new faces to pull away with a large victory in my eyes.
While we wouldn’t go with the Yellow Jackets under +10, the dual threat upside of their Quarterback Haynes King should be a difference-maker Florida State team that didn’t have to deal with a whole lot defensively last season.