Florida State QB Jameis Winston’s stunning debut spoils Pitt’s

Jameis Winston faced unfair expectations heading into his Monday night debut, but he exceeded them anyway.

He completed 25 of 27 passes for 356 yards, four touchdowns, and no picks. He took a couple of sacks, but he also carried six times for 34 yards and a score. He completed passes to seven receivers, directed Florida State for scores on seven consecutive drives and left Pittsburgh the talk of college football. Not bad.

The Florida State Seminoles dominated the Pitt Panthers in their ACC debut on Monday night, picking up the 41-13 win at Heinz Field.

Playing in front of a loud home crowd, Pittsburgh came out with plenty of energy and took an early 7-0 lead. It was mostly all downhill from there, though, with the Panthers turning the ball over twice and struggling to slow down Winston and the high-flying Florida State offensive attack. Senior quarterback Tom Savage, who was making his Pitt debut, played decently. He threw for 201 yards and a touchdown, but Savage was also responsible for two interceptions.

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This will be Pitt’s first contest in the ACC after 22 years in the Big East, where the Panthers won two conference titles. It is also former Wisconsin offensive coordinator Paul Chryst’s second year as the Panthers’ head coach after a 6-7 campaign last year that ended in a blowout loss to Ole Miss in the Compass Bowl.

Pitt certainly had its ups and downs last year -- namely, losing its opener to FCS program Youngstown State by two touchdowns only to come back two weeks later to easily defeat Virginia Tech -- and the potential is there for Chryst to build on. While the defense looks to be strong again this year, the offense lost some significant pieces, and the Panther faithful will have to see if the old Wisconsin mastermind can make something out of this.

Florida State was a 10-point road favorite earlier this week, but the role of road chalk has not been kind to Seminole bettors lately. FSU is 0-6 ATS the last six times in this situation. While the Seminoles didn’t cover the spread much last season at just 5-9 ATS, Florida State did enjoy a solid campaign where it counted with a 12-2 SU record that included an ACC Championship and a blowout win over Northern Illinois in the Orange Bowl.

It leaves FSU as the close second betting choice in ACC conference odds at 5/2. Pitt is the 7th betting pick at 33/1.