ACC Championship: #12 Florida State vs Georgia Tech Preview

Saturday night at 8:00 PM ET, the #13 ranked Florida State Seminoles will take on the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets in the ACC Championship game. The Seminoles have an overall record of 10-2, only losing to NC State earlier in the year, and losing last week to the Florida Gators. The Yellow Jackets however are sitting at .500 with a record of 6-6.

The Yellow Jackets are led by a very impressive quarterback by the name of Tevin Washington. Washington is 68/114. He has thrown for over 1,000 yards and tossed seven touchdowns with three interceptions. He also has 18 rushing touchdowns.

Tevin Washington and the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets
are ready to be crowned ACC Champions.

Georgia Tech is ranked 3rd in the country for rushing yards per game. They're averaging about 320 yards per game. Tevin Washington has picked up a lot of those yards, but so has their current starting running back Zach Laskey. Laskey has over 600 rushing yards, but only has one rushing touchdown. The reason for the lone rushing touchdown...Orwin Smith, who is another one of GT's running backs is currently injured. Smith was the starting running back for Georgia Tech, but was injured, and is doubtful for the ACC Championship.

Georgia Tech also has a few options at wide receiver, obviously trying to make Tevin Washington's day a little easier. One is named Jeff Greene. Greene has 18 receptions for 284 yards and two touchdowns. The other is Robert Godhigh, who has reeled in 15 catches for 227 yards and four touchdowns.

The Yellow Jackets are also ranked 23rd in the nation for points scored with an average of 36.2. Their defense however, is ranked 86, allowing about 30 points per game. Their defense is going to have to have a pretty solid game to shut down EJ Manuel and the Seminoles.

The Seminoles are ranked eighth nationally for points scored, averaging 41.5 points per game. They're also ranked seventh in the nation for points allowed, holding their opponents to an average of 15.1 points! That's impressive, on both sides of the ball!

EJ Manuel looks to lead the Seminoles right past Georgia
Tech, and to the ACC Championship this Saturday.

FSU is led by EJ Manuel. We've talked about him before. He has thrown for 2,967 yards, 22 touchdowns, and only nine picks. He has also punched the ball into the endzone three times. He is an incredible player that has all FSU faithful behind him.

FSU is also equip with two rather impressive running backs. Since their starter Chris Thompson is injured, Devonta Freeman and James Wilder Jr have taken the ball and ran with it (no pun intended). Freeman has carried the ball 84 times for 571 yards, while Wilder Jr has rushed it 89 times for 514 yards. They've also combined for 16 rushing touchdowns. A pretty solid ground game if I've seen one.

Manuel also has two weapons at wide receiver by the names of Rashad Greene and Kelvin Benjamin. Greene has 614 yards receiving and five touchdowns while Benjamin has 479 receiving yards and four touchdowns.

Bottom line is, Georgia Tech has to find a way to not only shut down the explosive offense of Florida State, but they have to be able to scored on this very tough defense. FSU has shut down most of their opponents this season. With Georgia Tech's high ranking in rushing yards, they do stand a chance, but they're going to have to be able to score fast and often. As long as they're able to shut down that Seminoles offense, and more specific EJ Manuel, they very well could win this game, and with it, the ACC Championship.

This game is being aired on ESPN at 8:00 PM ET Saturday night. You won't want to miss it.

- Matt Lytle

@mattlytle