The winner of the annual showdown between Florida State and Clemson has gone on to win the ACC Atlantic in each of the last six years and this season looks to be no different as the No. 16 Seminoles head to Death Valley to take on the top-ranked Tigers on Saturday.
Florida State has won the last three meetings in the series and four out of five under head coach Jimbo Fisher, including a 51-14 beatdown in its last trip to Death Valley. This time around however, it’s FSU that will be playing the role of decided underdog.
The line opened with the Tigers as a 12-point favorite, which has since shrunk to 10.5, but if it holds, it would mark the first time ever that FSU was a double-digit underdog under Fisher. It would also mark the first time the Seminoles were a double-digit underdog against an ACC opponent since being a 2-touchdown underdog to Virginia Tech in the inaugural ACC Championship in 2005.
“They’re one of the well-established teams in the country,” said Fisher of Clemson at Wednesday’s ACC teleconference. “When you’re No. 1, you’re not good on either side, you’re good on all sides.”
Since the 2011 season when Clemson defeated Florida State 35-30 at Memorial Stadium and went on to win the ACC, the Seminoles have been the biggest hurdle for the Tigers or the proverbial monkey on Clemson’s back. Since the start of 2012 season, the Tigers have lost just seven games total and only four conference contests, but three have been to FSU.
From the get-go in 2015, many felt like this was the season for Clemson to dethrone the Seminoles, who have won the conference in each of the last three years. The Tigers were returning Deshaun Watson, their top two rushers and top three receivers from last year while FSU was replacing four starting offensive linemen, a Heisman Trophy winning quarterback in Jameis Winston, the school’s all-time leading receiver in Rashad Greene, a John Mackey Award winner at tight end in Nick O’Leary and four defensive starters who declared early for the NFL Draft, with all being selected in the first three rounds.
While FSU did begin the year ranked higher than the Tigers in the human polls, the media picked Clemson to win the ACC. Since avoiding an upset against Louisville and holding off a top-10 Notre Dame team, Clemson has defeated each of its last four opponents by at least 15 points.
As a result, the Tigers ascended to No. 1 at the release of the first College Football Playoff rankings, marking the first time Clemson had been No. 1 in any major poll since the 1981 season. The Florida State head coach however, said Clemson is one of the nation’s elite programs every year.
“This team is tremendous, they’re playing at a such tremendously high level but they were when (Tajh) Boyd was there and Sammy Watkins was there,” Fisher said Wednesday. “This looks like a typical Clemson team to me. They’ve always had great teams. They’re as successful as anybody not only in the ACC, but as anyone in the country.”
FSU playing as the decided underdog could have its perks. It’s possible that the Seminoles could come in looser with the Tigers expected to win convincingly, but there’s no denying that Clemson has more to lose.
Florida State’s 22-16 loss to Georgia Tech on October 24th not only ended an ACC winning streak that spanned more than three years, but it likely ended the Seminoles’ dreams of making the College Football Playoff. Clemson not only is in line for a shot at a national championship, but the Tigers could clinch the ACC Atlantic with a win on Saturday.
If Florida State were able to pull the upset, the Seminoles could clinch a fourth straight trip to Charlotte and a fifth in six years just by beating N.C. State the following week. Being unable to unseat FSU in the division in a season most perceived as a rebuilding year for the Seminoles would serve as a huge damper to an otherwise splendid season for the Tigers.
With a plethora of young talent and a lot less to lose, there’s no denying that the Seminoles serve as a dangerous team for No. 1 Clemson. Despite being the top-ranked team in America for the first time in over three decades however, Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney said the Tigers’ recent history of success had made them a target for whoever lines up across from them.
“We’ve been a highly-ranked team for a long time,” Swinney said at Wednesday’s teleconference. “We get everybody’s best shot.”
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