Will Florida State's veteran-laden defense rank as one of the top 10 in the country? Will Jacques Patrick finish with the lion's share of the carries on offense? Will Deondre Francois pass for more than 25 touchdowns?
With Florida State's season opener against Alabama looming less than two weeks away, our Warchant Roundtable discusses several key over/unders for the Seminoles in 2017. Our panel consists of Gene Williams and Ira Schoffel of Warchant.com, and Jeff Cameron of ESPN-Tallahassee 97.9-FM.
1. Florida State will finish ranked No. 10 nationally in total defense.
Gene Williams -- UNDER (better). On paper, this is probably the deepest and most experienced defense in the Jimbo Fisher era. There is plenty of talent, experience and depth at defensive line, linebacker and defensive back. Even an injury or two shouldn’t have a major impact. It also helps that FSU won’t be facing as many elite quarterbacks this season -- Deshaun Watson, Mitch Trubisky and Quinton Flowers are no longer on the schedule. If the defense doesn’t finish in the top 10, Charles Kelly may no longer be the defensive coordinator in 2018.
Jeff Cameron -- UNDER, as in it will be better than that. The 'Noles are loaded with depth up front, which can hide potentially average LB play. When you mix that front with a loaded secondary, that spells domination.
Ira Schoffel -- OVER. Not by much, but I'm going to take the over here. Florida State hasn't finished in the top 10 nationally for total defense since 2013, and we haven't seen the consistency from these players yet to know that they will do it over the course of an entire season. The potential is definitely there -- there's no doubt the 'Noles should be dominant up front and in the secondary. But I'm just not ready to predict that they're going to play at a super-high level week in and week out.
