DraftAce: Is Florida State Overrated? | DraftAce Blog

Much is being made of the 'resurgence' of Florida State. The Seminoles are 6-1, ranked 16th in the BCS and are the popular pick represent the ACC in a BCS Bowl. Personally, I'm not buying into it. Let's look at home Florida State got to this point.

The Seminoles opened the season with blowout victories over Western Carolina and Tennessee-Chattanooga. Not exactly resume building wins. In those two games FSU rolled up 1,055 yards of total offense while putting 115 points on the scoreboard.

Much of the argument for the Seminoles being the favorite in the ACC is the fact that they lead the ACC in total offense, averaging nearly 400 yards per game. Pretty impressive stats, but when you break down the numbers further, Florida State starts looking more like the FSU we've known over the past few seasons.

Overall statistics can be deceiving. The more accurate measure of a team is how it does against conference opponents. In reality, Florida State ranks a mere 5th in the ACC in total offenese against conference opponents, with a full 70 fewer yards per game. Ahead of them are Georgia Tech, Boston College, Maryland and the surprise leader with just over 350 yards per game, Virginia.

As you can see, Florida State's statistics are misleading. The numbers they racked up in games against FCS opponents have skewed their win-loss record as well as their overall stats. In reality, Florida State is no better than the rest of the mess that is the ACC this season. Had Bobby Bowden and company faced some legitimate non-conference opponents, such as USC or Alabama, as others in the ACC did, then we may be looking at a 5-2 or 4-3 team.

The ACC race is far from over. The Seminoles are in the hunt, but don't think that Christian Ponder and gang are as good as their overall numbers may lead you to believe. This team is very capable of choking away their spot in the BCS.

For more from Ryan McCrystal visit DraftAce.com