Seminoles’ steep test:
Clemson awaits as a heavy favorite while Florida State soaks up the challenge.
It’s not often Florida State is in situations like the one it finds itself in entering this weekend.
On Oct. 6, FSU (3-2, 2-1 in Atlantic Coast Conference) opened as a 27.5-point underdog for the Oct. 12 game at No. 2 Clemson (5-0, 3-0).
Although the line has moved down to 26 points, it will remain largely in Clemson’s favor as the matchup between the current and former giants of the ACC looms.
Pending a drastic move in the line that isn’t coming, the game against the defending national champion will be just the second time since 1978 – head coach Bobby Bowden’s third season – that the Seminoles are an underdog of 20-plus points.
If the current line holds, it will be the biggest line FSU has been on the wrong side of since 1978. The Seminoles were 251⁄2-point underdogs at Florida in 2009 for Bowden’s last regular-season game, which UF went on to win 37-10.
All of this has FSU coach Willie Taggart entirely aware of what it’s going to take for the Seminoles to be competitive and have any chance to win this week in Death Valley.
“Another opportunity to get on the field and compete, and not only get to compete, we get to compete against the defending national champions this week, go to their place, and one unbelievable opportunity for our football team. I know our guys are practicing hard, practicing well, and getting ready to take on a great challenge,” Taggart said.
“It’s going to be about us. Again, we’re getting better and I think we’re getting better because we’ve been focusing on us and focusing on the things we need to do in order to get better. We’ve been playing winning football for the most part, and we’ve got to continue to play.
“I’ve said it before, you guys probably think I sound like a broken record, but the challenge for us each week is to see if we can play our best, and that’s something we haven’t done yet, and we’re shooting to try to do that. We know against Clemson we’ve got to be at our best to win that game.”
In 2018, the Seminoles closed as 18-point home underdogs to the Tigers, the largest home spread FSU had been an underdog by in over 30 years.
Clemson covered that spread easily en route to a 59-10 win, handing FSU its most-lopsided home loss.
Any notion of that game remains off the Seminoles’ minds as they enter Clemson game week.
“We’re not on last year. Last year is last year. We’ve gone from that. Clemson is a different team from last year. We know Clemson is a good football team and they’re the defending national champs,” Taggart said.
“They’re the defending ACC champions, and I think that’s what we’re all shooting to do is to be champions, and we’ve been working all season to try to be ACC champions, and we know that we’ve got to go through Clemson, and fortunately, that game is this week, and that’s what we’re up against. We’ve got to play our ‘A game’ to keep our goals intact and what we want to get accomplished, and that’s what we’re focusing on.”
FSU leads the all-time series 20-12, but Clemson is currently on a four-game winning streak, its longest winning streak over FSU in program history.
Overall, the Tigers enter on a 20-game winning streak, the winners of four consecutive ACC championships and four consecutive College Football Playoff berths.
The buzz surrounding the Tigers has slipped slightly as they lost their preseason No. 1 ranking after narrowly escaping with a 21-20 win at North Carolina two weeks ago. Taggart doesn’t subscribe to any of these beliefs about Clemson not meeting their lofty expectations early this season.
“I really don’t buy into any of that talk,” Taggart said.
“Clemson is the defending national champion. These guys played for the national championship the last two years, and they haven’t lost. All that is just talk, which that’s what happens this time of year, and they’re still defending national champs the last I know.
“It’s been a while since they lost a ballgame, I think that’s the obvious. They found a way to win last week and they’re still undefeated. All that talk is what it is. Again, we’ve got an opportunity to go against the defending national champs this week.”
While Clemson survived UNC’s upset bid, the Tar Heels did provide a blueprint of sorts in staying competitive against the Tigers, something that is far easier said than done.
“They played smart football. They didn’t turn the football over. I think the quarterback didn’t get sacked much. They didn’t have a lot of penalties, I think they had like three penalties for 20 yards. Again, they played winning football for the most part,” Taggart said.
“They just didn’t finish at the end and they didn’t give up a lot of explosive plays. I think that’s something Clemson lives on is explosive plays, and they did a good job of limiting those. Clemson is very talented, and North Carolina did a great job of eliminating those explosive plays or minimizing them and did a great job of tackling in space.
“Those are always a challenge playing against a team like Clemson and they did it for 60 minutes. I just thought they played really smart football.”
Taggart knows the odds his team is facing entering the weekend. He knows his Seminoles will likely have to play their best game of the season by a wide margin to keep up with the Tigers.
But referencing the gradual yet constant improvement his team has had through five weeks this season, Taggart cited a childhood legend, professional wrestler Ric Flair when discussing the Clemson game.
“In order to be the man, you’ve got to beat the man,” Taggart said.
“Clemson is the man and we understand the challenge, but we look forward to it.”