Prior to donning the Silver and Black each Sunday, many of the Raiders players were wearing different colors on Saturdays, playing for their college teams and representing their respective universities.
This time of the year in particular college rivalries run deep, so we're here to highlight some of the matchups between current Raiders teammates, but former college football foes.
The Matchup:
For this week's Raiders.com College Football Matchup of the Week, we travel to Florida where David Amerson's North Carolina State Wolfpack travel to Tallahassee to take on Mario Edwards Jr, Rodney Hudson, Sebastian Janikowski, and Menelik Watson's Florida State Seminoles at Bobby Bowden Field at Doak Campbell Stadium.
Background:
After starting the season 4-0, the Wolfpack stumbled in early October, losing back-to-back games to Louisville and Virginia Tech. Following their bye week, they split decisions with Wake Forest and Clemson, but won their most recent game last weekend, beating Boston College 24-8.
They enter Saturday's matchup with an overall record of 6-3 and are led by senior quarterback Jacoby Briskett who has thrown for 1,798 yards and 14 touchdowns.
On the other side of the football, the Seminoles enter their matchup with NC State ranked No. 19 in the AP Poll and coming off the heels of a road loss to the Clemson Tigers last weekend at Memorial Stadium.
Saturday's game also marks a return to the starting lineup for quarterback Everett Golson after missing the past two games for the Seminoles.
The former Notre Dame signal caller started the first seven games of the season for the Seminoles but spent the last two on the bench.
Jimbo Fisher's squad is currently 7-2 and ranked second in the ACC.
A Walk Down Memory Lane:
Amerson:After growing up in Greensboro, N.C., Amerson stayed close to home and attended North Carolina State. He started 35 games during his time at NC State and recorded 18 interceptions and 3 touchdowns.
He also set school and league season records during his sophomore campaign after snatching 13 interceptions, which was good for best in the nation and helped propel him to win the Jack Tatum Award which is given annually to the nation's top defensive back.
Edwards:The rookie defensive lineman played three seasons at Florida State, starting 26 games and totaling 89 tackles (52 solo), 23 tackles for loss, 8 sacks, 7 passes defensed, 3 forced fumbles and 2 fumble recoveries.
He was also named All-ACC First Team after his junior year and earned Sports Illustrated second-team All-America honors in 2014.
Hudson:Hudson was quite the iron man during his time in Tallahassee, making 48 straight starts during his college career.
He earned All-Atlantic Coast Conference honors each of his four years as a Seminole and also set the conference record for being named the ACC Player of the Week nine times.
Janikowski:After playing just one year of high school football, Janikowski earned a scholarship to Florida State and enjoyed a very decorated career as a Seminole.
When his collegiate career came to a close, he finished ranked second on the school's career scoring list, was a consensus first-team All-American in 1999, won a pair of Lou Groza awards, given to the nation's top kicking specialist and was also elected into the Florida State Athletics Hall of Fame in September 2013.
Watson:The English national played just one season at Florida State, but after his lone season as a Seminole he was named honorable mention All-ACC, starting 12 games and allowing just one sack on the year.
Predictions:
With all due respect to David Amerson and the Wolfpack, I'm going to have to go with Florida State in Saturday's matchup.
The Seminoles are at home, coming off a tough loss to Clemson and are reinserting Everett Golson as their starting quarterback.
24-10, advantage Florida State.
