FSU quarterback Deondre Francois out for the season after injury

Hurricanes head coach Mark Richt may not be ready to talk about week three’s matchup against Florida State right now, but it seems like everyone else is.

While fans and media already can’t help but look ahead to the historic, ranked showdown coming in a couple weeks, today’s news didn’t help.

It was announced that Seminoles starting quarterback Deondre Francois will be out the entire 2017 season after suffering an injury to his patella tendon last night in the team’s season opener against Alabama.

In the fourth quarter of the game, Francois ran out to his right to make a pass when he got blindside sacked by Crimson Tide safety Ronnie Harrison. Francois got his legs rolled over from beneath him when he fell. He then clutched his left knee in obvious pain while laying on the turf of Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

He was carted off the field with an air cast around his knee and returned to the sidelines later on with a brace on his leg while using crutches.

Now the question is, how will this affect the Canes’ face-off against the Noles on Sept. 16?

Miami will now most likely have to game plan for freshman quarterback James Blackman, who finished the game for Florida State against Alabama.

There is no question that both teams are talented on both sides of the ball, but from the looks of it, it seems that the Hurricanes’ defense should have the advantage in this situation. They are regarded to have one of the top front-seven units in college football, which will likely look to put pressure on a quarterback that will be starting his first ACC football game.

For now, however, Miami remains focused on its next opponent, Arkansas State, whom it will play at 3:30 p.m. on Sept. 9 at Centennial Bank Stadium.

“If anybody thinks about FSU this week, we’ll be a sad bunch of football players and coaches,” Richt said Sunday. “We play an excellent team this week, and that’s who we’re going to focus on right now.”