Sam Singleton Jr. has been working for a breakout moment, and his patience paid off this past Saturday:
Running backs coach Kam Martin paid his compliments to Singleton Jr. during his availability on Wednesday, during which he also emphasized his message this week to his position group is to keep pushing for more:
“I don’t want guys thinking they’ve arrived. I always want to keep challenging them to be the best — and even me as a coach, I haven’t arrived. We had the performance that we had on Saturday, [but] let’s be better this week, you know, and that’s the mentality here…the theme this week is be a hammer. We go be the hammer this week.”
Running back Ousmane Kromah — the second-highest graded player of Week 0 according to PFF — is looking to build off his big game vs. New Mexico State, one that even his mom let him know could have been bigger:
“I’ll be real, I should’ve had like two [touchdowns]. My mom let me know about that after the game. I was like, “Yeah, that big run it was if I would have just kept it a little bit to the left, I was going to be gone.” So, I wasn’t tripping. But, it was it was exciting and it was great.”
FSU’s win over New Mexico State was the most-watched sports broadcast in the history of The CW:
No. 15 FSU soccer is back in action tonight, facing off against No. 25 Georgia in the Seminoles’ first ranked matchup of the season:
The Seminoles are 3-1-0 on the season, 1-0-0 at home and 2-1-0 on the road. Thursday’s top-25 matchup comes after 10 days off, as FSU will play three games in the next nine days before another 15 days away from competition. After a 3-1 loss on August 23, Florida State is 32-1-4 in regular-season non-conference games since the middle of the 2019 non-conference slate. The defeat 10 days ago snapped a nine-game win streak in all competitions dating back to last year’s national-title run, a streak that is tied for seventh-longest in school history. That stretch included five consecutive shutouts, tied for fourth-longest in the record books.
Florida State has scored 10 goals on eight assists. The goals have come from seven different players, four of them newcomers, and five players have at least one assist, all first-year Seminoles. That includes senior forward Tanner Strickland, who has two goals and an assist for a team-best five points. Junior forward Wrianna Hudson leads the team with 10 shots, nine on goal. Sophomore goalkeeper Kate Ockene has two shutouts with seven saves and a 2-1-0 record.
Georgia is 3-1-2 on the season after a 2-0 win at Mercer on Sunday night. The victory came after the Bulldogs’ week commenced with a 3-2 loss at TCU. In the August 30 win over Mercer, UGA scored in the fifth minute and added another in the 74th for the clean sheet win. All three of Georgia’s wins have been shutouts, the first two coming at home.
FSU is 3-2-1 all-time vs. Georgia, including 2-0-1 at home and 1-2-0 on the road. This will be the third matchup between the two teams in the last five years, as the Seminoles won 3-1 in Athens in 2022 before a 1-1 draw in Tallahassee in 2024. UGA took the first two games, both in Georgia, 5-4 in Florida State’s inaugural 1995 season and 2-0 in 1998. The Seminoles then won the next three, beginning with a 2-0 triumph at home in 1999, followed by a 1-0 win in 2004. It took 18 years for the next matchup in 2022.
The 2024 meeting also was between two top-25 teams, as No. 1 FSU and No. 24 UGA played to a 1-1 draw at the Seminole Soccer Complex. The visiting Bulldogs took a 1-0 lead in the 15th minute before the Seminoles equalized in the 64th. The home side held a 36-13 advantage in shots, 15-6 in shots on goal. UGA’s keeper made 14 saves and FSU’s stopped five shots.
The Seminoles begin ACC play on the road against Notre Dame on Dec. 6 in South Bend, Indiana. Florida State pulled off an upset win in its last visit to Purcell Pavilion in the 2024-25 season, taking down the then-No. 3 Fighting Irish in a 86-81 final.
The team returns home to host NC State on Dec. 17 before traveling to Atlanta for a meeting with Georgia Tech on Dec. 31. FSU will trek north to Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts to play Boston College on Jan. 3. The Noles hold a 33-27 record over the Yellow Jackets, including a 17-11 edge in McCamish Pavilion. FSU is 21-3 all-time against the Eagles, having claimed each of the past three matchups.
Back home, Florida State welcomes Louisville on Jan. 7 followed by Syracuse on Jan. 10. The Noles are 9-7 in the Donald L. Tucker Center when facing the Cardinals and, FSU holds the all-time record 8-7 with a strong 5-1 advantage in home games against Syracuse.
The Noles head south to face in-state rival Miami on Jan. 17. The Noles are 54-20 against the Hurricanes with a 7-3 edge under Wyckoff. FSU return to Tallahassee to host Pitt on Jan. 21 before traveling to Blacksburg, Virginia to play Virginia Tech on Jan. 24. Florida State holds a perfect 13-0 record over the Panthers and is 32-13 all-time against the Hokies, maintaining a 13-7 edge at Cassell Coliseum.
Back at the Donald L. Tucker Center, FSU hosts Duke on Jan. 28 before taking on Wake Forest on Jan. 31. Florida State will take a cross-country flight to California, facing Cal on Feb. 4 in Berkeley before taking on Stanford in Palo Alto on Feb. 7.
The Seminoles will host Clemson and Miami on Feb. 11 and Feb. 14, respectively. FSU is 39-29 against the Tigers all-time with a 22-12 mark at home.
Florida State will head to Virginia for a contest with the Cavaliers on Feb. 18 and North Carolina in Chapel Hill, N.C. on Feb. 21.
The Seminoles round out ACC play when SMU visits Tallahassee on Feb. 28. Florida State is 2-0 all-time against the Mustangs over the last two years.
