TALLAHASSEE — Florida State has shown resiliency and found an answer for every injury that has happened this season. The Seminoles will have to do it one more time.
Senior defensive end Tank Carradine, who led the team with 80 tackles and was second with 11 sacks, has a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee and will miss Florida State's final two games.
Carradine hurt his knee in the second half of Florida State's loss to Florida on Saturday.
"He handled it very well," Florida State coach Jimbo Fisher said. "Very sad because he wanted to finish the season with his teammates."
Carradine had been an answer to Florida State's first major injury of the season. When All-American defensive end Brandon Jenkins went down with a foot injury in the season opener, Carradine stepped in.
His 11 sacks are second in the Atlantic Coast Conference only to teammate Bjoern Werner, a defensive end who had 3.5 sacks in Saturday's loss to Florida and now has 13 this season.
While Carradine excelled as a pass rusher, he was also a capable run-stopper. And his loss could hurt the Seminoles (10-2) on Saturday when they play for the ACC title against Georgia Tech (6-6), which runs a triple-option offense that features misdirection and cutbacks by its quarterback Tevin Washington and running backs like Orwin Smith and Zach Laskey.
Fisher said he has not decided who will start in Carradine's spot. Florida State could use redshirt freshman Giorgio Newberry or true freshman Mario Edwards Jr. Newberry has 13 tackles and Edwards has seven tackles and 1.5 sacks.
Carradine was considered a first-round pick by NFL draft analysts. But now he will miss the senior all-star games, NFL combine and Florida State's pro day.
Fisher thinks Carradine will still fare well in the NFL.
"He'll be fine," Fisher said. "Maybe a round at most. I think he'll still paly in the NFL and be very highly drafted."
