Dabo Swinney was impressed by the way his Clemson Tigers closed the month of September with three straight wins.
Now, the focus is on to October — something Swinney was quick to point out at his weekly Tuesday press conference. That starts with a familiar opponent in the Florida State Seminoles, who are having a season that is anything but familiar to the one it had just a year ago.
While Clemson (3-1, No. 14 in the US LBM Coaches Poll) finds its offense flourishing in the second year with offensive coordinator Garrett Riley and quarterback Cade Klubnik, Florida State (1-4) finds itself in the bottom 10 teams of all FBS schools in total offense.
Former Clemson quarterback DJ Uiagalelei won’t be starting for FSU this Saturday after suffering a broken finger in the Seminoles’ 42-16 loss at SMU last week. Mike Norvell will turn to Brock Glenn, last year’s starter in the ACC Championship Game vs. Louisville.
It’s the second time in three games that Clemson will see an opposing team’s backup QB as NC State starter Grayson McCall was sidelined due to injury and missed the Tigers-Wolfpack matchup in Week 4.
Oddsmakers favor Clemson over FSU, and USA TODAY Sports’ six-member panel unanimously predicted a Tiger win, as well.
With the game fast approaching, here are our own Clemson Wire staff score predictions for Clemson vs. Florida State.
Alex Turri’s Prediction – Clemson 38, Florida State 13
All offseason, I was saying how Clemson was a better team than Florida State and that I did not know why people were rating Florida State as high as the Tigers. On Saturday, Clemson gets to put the nail in the coffin and that conversation.
While I did think Florida State was overrated and Clemson was the best team in the ACC, I didn’t think the Seminoles would be this bad. Let’s just call a spade a spade here: FSU is a bad football team. On the other hand, Clemson is a team that has taken the next step with a quarterback in Cade Klubnik, who looks like a serious Heisman contender.
Even on the road in a hostile environment, Clemson should have no problems here.
Steve Holley’s Prediction – Clemson 34, Florida State 17
I agreed with Alex that Clemson was the better team in the offseason, but likewise didn’t imagine Florida State would be this bad through five games. One of the things I kept coming back to in this Clemson-Florida State “Who’s Better?” debate was that Dabo Swinney and the Tigers had something that Mike Norvell didn’t: continuity.
Swinney and Norvell couldn’t have gone about their respective approaches to roster-building any more differently, but for me, the stability of having most of the same roster from last year intact counted for something. For as much flack as he takes for not using the transfer portal (some of which is fair, in my opinion), Swinney looks a lot better than Norvell does after this recent offseason.
Florida State has a lot of talent, and Swinney was right when he said that the Seminoles have a bunch of players who will be playing on Sundays, particularly on the defensive side of the ball. But Clemson is the better team and the final score will reflect that.
Getting off to a faster start than last week against Stanford, and letting any wind out of the sails of an already deflated FSU team early, could be the start of a long night for the ‘Noles.
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