While some teams in college football have played three games and a majority have played two, the third-ranked Seminoles are 1-0 and have had to wait 11 days before playing the Wolfpack tonight.
To make matters worse, Florida State has had terrible practice weather this week, with outside workouts called off Monday and shortened Tuesday because of heavy rain.
"It seems like the season is halfway over and we haven't got but one game under our belt," Florida State coach Bobby Bowden said yesterday.
"I think our kids would go absolutely crazy if we had another open date, and there probably wouldn't be any room in the crazy house because the coaches would already be there," Bowden added.
Bowden said he and his staff have tinkered with the team's offense since a 44-7 win over Duke on Sept. 7 in which the Seminoles gained an uncharacteristically low 221 yards and averaged 3.8 yards a play.
"We need to try (the offense) again against another football team and see if we're on the right road," Bowden said.
The Seminoles, who have outscored the Wolfpack 173-23 in the last three Atlantic Coast Conference meetings, might also want to look sharp in front of a national television audience and poll voters, considering No. 2 Tennessee plays No. 4 Florida Saturday.
"I would like to be impressive every time we play. I don't know how much our kids think about it, I think about it because people call me and ask me about it, but I'm more concerned about LSU and Auburn,'' said Bowden, whose son coaches at Auburn.
The Wolfpack (0-1) hasn't been competitive against the Seminoles since a 34-13 loss in Raleigh in 1992, coach Dick Sheridan's last season at N.C. State.
"I can see a difference in maturity, but I don't see a difference in their heart and in their fight," Bowden said when asked about the Wolfpack's talent level.
N.C. State has turned the ball over 17 times in the last three games against the Seminoles, including six lost fumbles in an embarrassing 77-17 loss last season in Tallahassee, Fla. The loss was the most lopsided in ACC history.
"There shouldn't be any pressure, nobody gives us a shot to win the thing," Wolfpack coach Mike O'Cain said. "A pregame speech is not going to beat Florida State. We talk all week about the little things that you have to do.
"The first thing that I did talk to (the team) about was believing that you can win. As far fetched as that seems, you think people thought Wake Forest was going to beat Northwestern? Heck no, but they did. How about Southwest Louisiana and Texas A&M? So every week there is one, why can't it be us?"