Every Objective Measure Has South Carolina Over Florida State

I am a bit curious about some of the bowl predictions. In particular (as I am a SC fan) the prediction that Fla State will win the Chick-Fil-A Bowl handily. I am a bit baffled about some of the reasoning, such as FSU is faster and bigger and SC just cannot keep up with them. Another comment was "did you see what they did to the Gators?"

I find that comment perplexing if it was intended to be a statement of FSU's strength. I have to ask the question "did you see what SC did to the Gators?"

Some comparisons: SC played Fla @ Fla. FSU played them at home. SC gained 395 yds. FSU gained 333.

On defense, SC gave up 226 yds, FSU gave up 276.
The other common opponent was Clemson and the results and comparisons are similar. SC gained 322 yds, FSU gained 307.

On defense SC gave up 251 yds, FSU gave up 391.
SC played @ Clemson and FSU played at home.
Combined yardage differential between the two games shows SC to +240 and FSU to be -33.
SC beat Fla 36-13. FSU beat them 31-7
SC beat Clemson 29-7. FSU beat them 16-13.
Point differentials were SC 65-20, +45
FSU's were 47-20, +27.

You could very well be right. FSU may beat SC handily. But, by every objective measure, it would seem that SC has performed significantly better against the two common opponents.

One other factor that I think is significant is the difference between the SEC and the ACC. SC's schedule is ranked 13th most difficult and FSU's is ranked 25th.