There is a Florida State and Alabama weakness. It was exposed first in November of last year, then during the Bowl season, and once again Saturday night. It’s the spread offense.
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The spread offense is the almost-kryptonite for both teams. I say almost, because they managed to win both games Saturday. But clearly, this is the way to get at them.
Florida State coasted against mediocre ACC offenses last year and was never seriously threatened. Then, as they reached the national title game, they got smacked in the mouth against the most well-run spread offense in college football last year, to the point that Nick Marshall outplayed Heisman trophy winner Jameis Winston passing the ball until the very end. The Seminoles still managed to pull out the victory, but that was a big scare that they shouldn’t have had.
A month earlier, Auburn did the same thing to Alabama, torching them with the spread offense. Which Texas A&M did to the Tide the year before. And Oklahoma did a similar thing to Alabama at the end of last year.

With the First Pick
Then, Saturday happened. Oklahoma State opened the season giving the Seminoles a huge scare. And the Cowboys were breaking in an entirely new offense under the leadership of Mike Gundy’s offensive genius.
Fortunately, the Seminoles won’t be faced by a legitimate spread offense the rest of the season. But what happens if they run into Auburn or Oregon in the college football playoff? How will they handle it then?
Alabama, meanwhile, has to deal with Auburn, Texas A&M, and Mississippi State during the regular season. How will they handle that?
Florida State and Alabama are clearly the most talented teams in college football, and it would be the national championship everybody wanted to see last year. But there are a lot of hurdles both teams will have to overcome in order to get there. Will it happen? That remains to be seen.