Florida State Football: Ranking 2018 opponents by difficulty

The 2018 Florida State football season is right around the corner and the schedule has some roadblocks. Which games are the toughest?

Florida State is gearing up to kick off a new era, not just a fresh season. Willie Taggart has taken over as head coach, which is something no Seminole fan expected to hear a year ago.

Jimbo Fisher left the program for Texas A&M’s vacant job and Taggart is headed back home to take on his dream job in Tallahassee. He’ll have his work cut out for him as the Seminoles will be looked at as underdogs in the ACC, chasing Clemson for the crown.

The schedule won’t be a cakewalk, however. Florida State will open the season with a rare Monday evening matchup against Virginia Tech, looking to begin the race for the ACC title early.

How do the Seminoles’ 2018 opponents rank, by toughness level and difficulty.

While this may seem like a walk in the park to open the season, which it should be for Florida State, the Samford Bulldogs are a surprisingly competitive team.

Samford finished with an 8-4 record a season ago and the Bulldogs are coming off back-to-back playoff appearances under head coach Chris Hatcher. They’re projected to finish first in the Southern Conference of the FCS and they have one of the best NFL draft prospects from this level of play in Devlin Hodges at quarterback.

The Bulldogs had one of the best passing offenses in the FCS last season and it’ll surely test the defensive backfield of the young Seminoles.

Defensively, the Bulldogs allowed a Southern Conference-low 22 points per game but only five starters return. The defensive unit should still be strong, but it may not be enough to slow down the Seminoles’ attack led by Cam Akers.