The Florida State football team returns home to face division foe North Carolina State this Saturday, looking to win its fourth game of the season.

Last week, the Seminoles battled Clemson on the road and led midway through the fourth quarter before falling, 30-20, to drop to 3-5 overall for their 2021 campaign. Still fighting for their bowl hopes, FSU and head coach Mike Norvell continue the season against N.C. State at 4 p.m. ET (ACC Network).

In their meeting last season, N.C. State put things away early with a 28-3 lead in the third quarter. The Wolfpack rolled for a 38-22 win and went on to go 8-4 in 2020 with a Gator Bowl loss to Kentucky.

After facing off against the nation’s No. 3 scoring defense last week at Clemson, now the Seminoles have to turn around and battle the No. 6-ranked NCAA scoring defense in the Wolfpack. N.C. State also has a plus-six turnover margin, which ranks just outside the top 10 in the nation.

Dave Doeren's team opened the season with a shutout win over South Florida, but fell at Mississippi State in Week 2. Since then, the 'Pack have gone 5-1 with wins over Clemson, Boston College and Louisville, plus just a one-point loss at Miami. They're 2-0 against common opponents with FSU this season; both games the 'Noles lost themselves.

Doeren is 61-48 overall and 3-5 against FSU since taking the job in 2013. He's knocked off FSU in three of the past four seasons (2017, 2018, 2020).

Here's our in-depth look at the positional matchups for both sides of the football and special teams, plus staff predictions for the Seminoles' eighth game of the season.

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After starting this season with four straight losses, FSU began to see winning results once the 'Noles tweaked their offense and streamlined their passing game for quarterback Jordan Travis to feature a more run-based attack. FSU still ranks outside of the top 100 nationally in passing offense (No. 106 in yards per game), but over the past four games, Travis is completing 67 percent of his passes with seven touchdowns and just one interception. And he’s run the ball for over 300 yards as well.

UCF transfer McKenzie Milton also saw extended action in September and started three games of his own. Now that reserve redshirt freshman Chubba Purdy has entered the transfer portal, that leaves FSU with just three scholarship quarterbacks on its roster: Travis, Milton and 2020 signee Tate Rodemaker.

At wideout, FSU has stuck with four main options so far this season, and three of the four have several years of experience starting at the collegiate level. Junior Ontaria “Pokey” Wilson has made the most explosive plays of the group, and he leads the unit in receiving yards and touchdowns. Fellow junior Keyshawn Helton has emerged as much more of a consistent threat in recent weeks. While his playing time has been a little sporadic, Kansas transfer Andrew Parchment brings plenty of talent, with 219 yards and three touchdowns through the air so far in 2021. Then there’s true freshman Malik McClain, who recently took a pass underneath for 51 yards against UMass and has big potential for the future. For added depth, second-year wideouts Kentron Poitier and Darion Williamson round out the two-deep. Either one could play upwards of 20 snaps in a given game, and both redshirt freshmen caught a pass last week at Clemson.

Florida State’s starter at tight end, Camm McDonald, continues to improve and leads the team with 18 catches this season. The junior has at least two catches in each of the past six games but did leave the Clemson game with an apparent injury; his status for Saturday is unknown. Backup Jordan Wilson has chipped in seven grabs of his own (three for 36 yards last week), and third-teamer Preston Daniel is utilized mainly as a blocker.

Most teams haven’t been able to throw on North Carolina State with much success, at least in situations where starters were still in the game on both sides. Their defensive back group leads the ACC with nine interceptions and make up three of the team's top five tacklers. Safety Tanner Ingle has 47 tackles, and corners Derrek Pitts and Tyler Baker-Williams are also big contributors. Only allowing an average of 219 yards through the air, FSU will likely have a tall task producing passing yards.

However, in their two losses, the passing game has actually been what’s stung N.C. State. Mississippi State beat the Pack 24-10 in Week 2 despite only gaining 22 yards on the ground on 15 attempts (quarterback Will Rogers threw for 294 yards and two touchdowns). In their Miami loss two weeks ago, N.C. State denied the Hurricanes 100 yards rushing but couldn’t stop 'Canes quarterback Tyler Van Dyke, who went 25-of-33 for 325 yards and four scores.

WINNER: N.C. STATE