Jimbo Fisher, Florida State Seminoles in eye of Hurricanes

With Hurricane Matthew now beyond South Florida, bitter in-state rivals Miami and Florida State look like a sure bet to tee it up Saturday night at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens.

The season’s first five weeks were a tale of two mini-seasons for the Hurricanes and Seminoles.

While 10th-ranked Miami (4-0) was feasting on a smorgasbord of mostly overmatched opponents, Florida State (3-2) locked up with the likes of Mississippi, Louisville and North Carolina — the latter two of which were crushing Atlantic Coast Conference losses.

Jeff Sagarin, whose rankings appear during the season in USA Today, rates Florida State coach Jimbo Fisher’s schedule as the third toughest in the country to date. Miami’s is No. 112.

The Seminoles’ defense, which has given up an average of more than 20 points per game once in the past six seasons, ranks among the nation’s worst units in several key categories, including points per game (35.4) and yards per play (7.1).

With the Seminoles wounded and with little left to lose, expect them to bring great energy and play their best game of the season, so take Florida State as a 3-point underdog.

Five more plays (home team in CAPS):

Oklahoma (-11) over Texas — With both teams already sporting two losses, the Red River Showdown has lost some luster. About 2½ seasons into his tenure, Texas coach Charlie Strong is three games under .500 and the calls for his job are starting to grow louder. Neither side plays much defense, but look for the Sooners to avenge last year’s loss to the Longhorns in a big way.

Texas State (+10½) over GEORGIA STATE — Texas State is inarguably among the worst FBS teams in college football, but Georgia State badly misses graduated quarterback Nick Arbuckle and has only 55 points in its first four games. Georgia State has covered only one of five games as a favorite since the start of the 2014 season.

Colorado-SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA (Over 63½) — Without question one of the top turnaround stories in college football, Colorado plays an up-tempo style of offense (83 plays per game) and has scored points whether it’s been Sefo Liufau or Steven Montez at quarterback. USC’s offense, featuring the likes of receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster and tailback Justin Davis, received a jolt two games ago when redshirt freshman Sam Darnold replaced Max Browne as the Trojans’ starting quarterback.

SAN DIEGO STATE (-15½) over Unlv — The Aztecs, who feature one of the nation’s most underappreciated running backs in Donnel Pumphrey (1,653 yards rushing last season), figure to be in a foul mood after losing last week to South Alabama of the Sun Belt Conference for the second straight season. The Rebels lost wide receiver Darren Woods Jr. to injury last week, delivering another blow to their passing attack.

Hawaii (+3½) over SAN JOSE STATE — The Rainbow Warriors have been piling up lots of frequent flier miles after opening the season in Australia (against California) and then following that with September trips to Michigan and Arizona. Former Hawaii quarterback Nick Rolovich has made strides with the program in his first season as coach.

Last week: 1-5 against the spread

Season: 11-18

Paul Stone of VegasSportsAuthority.com is providing college football analysis for the Las Vegas Review-Journal. Follow on Twitter: @paulstonesports