Oklahoma to slow Seminoles’ rise

Since 2001, the Seminoles have faded into mediocrity. On many occasions, pundits have suggested they were poised for a climb back to the top of college football’s upper echelon.

Once again, many believe Florida State is ready to turn the corner in coach Jimbo Fisher’s second season, a fact evidenced by a No. 5 spot in this week’s Associated Press rankings.

However, I have the Seminoles at No. 11 in my power rankings. I’m far from sold on quarterback E.J. Manuel, who has as many interceptions (12) as touchdown passes (12) during his career.

As for top-ranked Oklahoma, it has one of the country’s premier passers in Landry Jones, who has a career touchdown-to-interception ratio of 65-26. He led the Sooners on four consecutive touchdown drives to begin last year’s 47-17 shellacking of the Seminoles in Norman, Okla.

Florida State has the revenge angle. And it’s logical to think things could be different tonight at Doak Campbell Stadium.

But the prevailing logic is Oklahoma has more talent. It also has a big advantage at quarterback and an edge in experience, especially when it comes to big-time games in the national spotlight.

The Seminoles, 3-point underdogs, will hang around and might even have the lead at halftime. But over the course of 60 minutes, superior talent will take over, and the Sooners will pull away to win by double digits.

Eleven years after coach Bob Stoops’ team put an end to the Florida State dynasty, the Seminoles will be reminded that the glory days in Tallahassee are still a thing of the past.

Four more plays for today (home team in CAPS):

■ Wisconsin (-16½) over Northern Illinois — The Huskies allowed 26 points to Army and 45 to Kansas, so I have a hard time believing quarterback Russell Wilson and the Badgers won’t score at least 48 in this game at Soldier Field in Chicago. I like Wisconsin, which shut out Oregon State last week, to win, 48-20.

■ Auburn (+3) over CLEMSON — Clemson’s defense is struggling mightily, surrendering 822 combined yards to Troy and Wofford. Clemson barely got past the Terriers last week in a 35-27 win. Meanwhile, Auburn is coming off a 41-34 victory over a quality foe in Mississippi State. Auburn has to feel good about the play of quarterback Barrett Trotter, who has five touchdown passes and only one interception.

■ Tennessee-FLORIDA (Over 50½) — Tyler Bray looks like the Southeastern Conference’s best quarterback. The Volunteers sophomore threw for a career-high 405 yards in last week’s 45-23 victory over Cincinnati. Bray has seven touchdown passes and zero picks through two games. The Gators have scored 81 points in two games thanks to explosive plays from wide receiver Chris Rainey. Both of these offenses could get into the 30s at The Swamp.

■ Stanford (-9½) over ARIZONA — The Cardinal blasted San Jose State and Duke by a combined score of 101-17. Sure, those are not top-tier opponents, but Arizona appeared to have issues galore in a 37-14 loss at Oklahoma State. Making matters worse, Wildcats star wideout Juron Criner, a Canyon Springs High product, remains out. I made this number 14, so we’re getting excellent line value. Let’s lay the points, as quarterback Andrew Luck will lead Stanford to a double-digit victory.

Last week: 3-1-1 against the spread

Season: 3-1-1

Brian Edwards of VegasInsider.com and BrianEdwardsSports.com is providing college football analysis for the Las Vegas Review-Journal.