We be live bloggin'! Join the regular Thursday night chat, kicking with Florida State at North Carolina at 8 p.m. ET.

On the desperation decibel scale, North Carolina's anxiety has been much quieter than Florida State's, which is about two more losses from forcing them to replace noble Chief Osceola and his flaming spear with a witch doctor character who attempts to hex the opposing sideline; FSU, obviously, needs a win bad. But the Tar Heels are 0-2 in the conference, too, a long way from their preseason perch in the top 20 and languishing among the worst offenses in the country.

Prior to blasting Georgia Southern last week (UNC's second win, out of four, over a I-AA team), Carolina had dropped two straight ACC games with a grand total of 10 points, six turnovers and 54 rushing yards, just weeks after being brutalized by the UConn defense through the first three quarters in an eventual 12-10 win. It says something to rank dead last in the ACC in scoring and total yards, and that something is, "We are basically terrible." Sans the receiving stars of the last two years, Brandon Tate and Hakeem Nicks, the 'Heels have no proven playmakers and the only starting quarterback in the conference who's thrown more interceptions than touchdowns.

The good news for viewers is that UNC faces its mirror image in Florida State, which is dead least in the conference in rushing, passing, pass efficiency and total defense and next-to-last in scoring D, and has been nothing if not entertaining in shootouts with Miami, BYU, Boston College and especially Georgia Tech two weeks ago. Even in corralling South Florida overall, USF quarterback B.J. Daniels escaped for 126 yards rushing in his first start and hit two 70-plus-yard passes to score one touchdown and set up another in the Bulls' win. If Carolina can't score on these guys, it's going to be hard to salvage anything against four top-40 defenses in the last five.

On the other hand, the only offense that's managed even a little success against the Tar Heel defense is Georgia Tech, and the Seminoles aren't exactly running the triple option. If Christian Ponder does anything consistently well in the passing game, he'll be the first against UNCS's top-ranked pass defense, which has given up one touchdown pass all year behind an athletic, experienced, heat-seeking front seven. This is the kind of game where you can almost see the color going out of one team's face in the fourth quarter, its eyes start to roll back in its head, and you know the death rattle is imminent. I'm not sure which team that will be here, but as a rule, it's probably not the one with the defense.