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.
Hosting Northern Illinois in Week 4 will break up three ACC road games, starting with Syracuse the week before and being followed up by Louisville and Miami, respectively.
This will be a nice change of pace from the tough ACC schedule though the Huskies did finish with eight wins a season ago. They return eight starters to the offensive side of the ball which ranked fourth in the MAC in scoring and just ninth in total yardage per game.
Sophomore quarterback Marcus Childers is back after passing for 1,674 yards and 16 touchdowns last season as a freshman. Two of his leading receivers, Spencer Tears and D.J. Brown, are also back to five the offense a boost after averaging less than 200 yards per game through the air.
Childers is the lead returning rusher, putting up over 470 yards and five touchdowns on the ground last season but his running back will be first-year starting junior Marcus Jones who had 350 yards and three scores on 4.2 yards per touch.
Defensively, the Huskies bring back six starters to a unit that ranked No. 1 in the MAC in scoring and total yardage allowed, so this could give the Seminoles a slight test.
Wake Forest isn’t a pushover anymore, as evidenced by their 8-5 record a season ago with wins over the likes of Boston College on the road, Louisville, NC State and Texas A&M.
No, the Demon Deacons are no longer a sure-win in the ACC, so that’ll make this matchup even more interesting.
The Seminoles should be hitting their stride by this point in the season, though. They will have their quarterback — either Deondre Francois or James Blackman — gaining confidence with each game and Cam Akers should become one of the ACC’s leading rushers.
They’ll get a decent test, at least on the defensive side of the ball, as Wake Forest ranked 17th in the country in yards per game last season and 21st in scoring — both good for second-best in the ACC. The Demon Deacons do, however, lose John Wolford who passed for 3,192 yards and 29 touchdowns, but return backup Kendall Hinton who had 399 yards and four scores.
Matt Colburn is back to lead the run game and could reach that 1,000-yard mark after just missing last season, but the offense won’t be the issue for Wake Forest — the defense will.
No one wants to play in the Carrier Dome — just ask Clemson.
The reason the Syracuse game is ranked ahead of the Wake Forest matchup is because this comes on the road and the Orange aren’t the easiest team to beat at home. Especially since this will be an elite foe, the Carrier Dome should be rocking and that adds pressure to opponents.
Clemson found itself in a nightmarish situation in Syracuse last season, spoiling a perfect season for Kelly Bryant and the Tigers in a raucous home environment.
Couple that with the fact that Eric Dungey returns to an offense that ranked 23rd in college football in yards per game and 18th in passing and Florida State could have its hands full here. Dungey accounted for 2,495 passing yards and 14 touchdowns as well as 595 rushing yards and nine more scores last season.
The Syracuse defense is nothing to fear, though. The Orange ranked 106th in total yards allowed per game a season ago which was good for second-to-last in the ACC. This unit has a long way to go.
If there’s one thing Florida State should be truly worried about in this matchup, it’s All-ACC running back AJ Dillon. There’s a chance the Boston College Eagles could be ranked by the start of the 2018 season, but by this point in the year, that could change.
Boston College will be coming off a tough stretch of four straight losable ACC games, starting with a road game against NC State and leading up to a home game against Clemson before traveling to Florida State. It would be considered a success if Boston College beat three of NC State, Louisville, Miami, Virginia Tech and Clemson.
Realistically, the Eagles will go 2-3 or 3-2 in that stretch and a road game in Tallahassee may just be too much for the young team to handle.
Dillon could put up some big numbers but he needs some help on the offensive side of the ball. The Eagles are returning their entire offensive line and quarterback Anthony Brown, but they ranked just 84th in the country in total offense last season.
Defensively, Boston College brings back just six starters to a team that ranked 57th in total yards allowed and 36th in scoring.
This could be a sneaky tough game for Florida State.
A Louisville team without Lamar Jackson? Now this is going to be a weird matchup.
It’ll be interesting to see how sophomore Jawon Pass adjusts to the full-time starting job after learning behind Jackson. Could he take the reins of the offense and become a more-than-capable replacement for the Cardinals? He surely has the talent. He showed accuracy in limited action last year, completing 23-of-33 passes for 238 yards and two scores.
Behind him will be Dae Williams, a sophomore running back with little experience. He had just 235 yards and three scores as a backup last season.
Luckily, Pass will have some of the best receivers in the ACC to sling the ball to. Jaylen Smith, Seth Dawkins and Dez Fitzpatrick make up a frightening corps of wide outs.
Bobby Petrino returns just two starters on defense, which could cause major problems for this team. The defense ranked just 10th in the ACC last season and they’ll be hitting the reset button which could work out really well or turn into a nightmare.
Ryan Finley took the ACC by storm last season, passing for 3,518 yards and 17 touchdowns with only six picks. He went from little-known NC State quarterback to one of the NFL draft’s top prospects at the position, but he since decided to return for his senior year.
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Still, Finley doesn’t get the respect or attention he truly deserves. He’s a tremendous passer with the ability to throw for 300 yards in any given game — this could be one of those 300-yard showings.
Last year against Florida State, Finley played well enough to lead the Wolfpack to a road win, so that makes this season’s matchup even tougher in Raleigh. It’s ranked No. 6 because the games ahead are just that much tougher — it wasn’t easy to rank the Wolfpack this low on the list of Florida State opponents.
NC State went 5-1 at home last season and they should expect the same type of success in 2018 — the Wolfpack’s only loss was Clemson at home.
The Wolfpack defense could struggle against the Florida State offense with just three returning starters to a unit that ranked No. 58 in total yards last season and 104th in passing yards.
Why is this game so high after Florida’s tumultuous 2017 season which saw Jim McElwain get fired and a number of players in trouble off the field? Because this is a rivalry game.
In-state rivalry games are always the most heated, and this one is no different. The Gators and Seminoles do not like each other, and that much is evident. Plus, this game will take place in Gainesville which makes this matchup even more intriguing.
Does Florida have its quarterback chosen yet? Feleipe Franks looks like the favorite, but he has yet to truly prove himself as the collegiate level. He returns after throwing for 1,438 yards and nine touchdowns with eight picks in 2017. He will have some pressure taken off his shoulders with the return of All-SEC caliber back Jordan Scarlett who missed the entire 2017 season.
Florida has plenty of talent on both sides of the ball and now with Dan Mullen at the helm, the Gators could live up to their potential rather than struggling to find success.
Josh Jackson found himself in some trouble this offseason with academic eligibility and that almost cost him a spot on the roster.
If Jackson were to miss the season, this game may move down a spot or two in the toughness rankings, but since all signs are pointing to him taking the field when the season kicks off on Sept. 3, Virginia Tech is still a top-five opponent on the schedule for the Seminoles — even if it is a home games.
Kicking the season off with against one of the most improved teams in the ACC with an up-and-coming coach like Justin Fuente won’t be an easy matchup for Willie Taggart in his first action as the Seminoles’ coach.
The Hokies are returning plenty of key players, but only have five total starters returning to a defense that ranked second in the ACC a year ago. The linebackers and defensive backfield are hitting a reset button while that defensive line is remaining mostly the same.
Virginia Tech will give Florida State a much-needed early season test and this could be a good barometer game just to see where the Seminoles stand.
If you’re the Miami Hurricanes, you have to be somewhat upset at the way the 2017 season finished. Mark Richt led Miami to a 10-0 start and it looked like the Hurricanes may just have a spot waiting for them in the College Football Playoff after a thrashing of Notre Dame, but they completely melted down at the end of November.
In fact, Miami lost to Pitt in the season finale before losing to Clemson in the ACC Championship Game, losing all hope for a national title. They earned a trip to the Orange Bowl, losing to Wisconsin, 34-24.
Yes, three straight losses closed out the season for Miami and that means they’ll need to start the season strong to get rid of that bad taste.
By this point in the season, Miami should be on a roll and could very well see a 5-0 record before facing the Seminoles. It all depends on how well Malik Rosier does — will he improve from a shaky end to the 2017 season which even saw a benching against Pitt?
Travis Homer is back in the backfield and the Hurricanes have some talent in the receiving corps, even with little experience.
Defensively, the Turnover Chain could make another appearance with seven returning starters, including Joe Jackson at end and Shaquille Quarterman at middle linebacker.
Another rivalry game on the road could spell trouble.
Yet another tough road game awaits Florida State in 2018. The Seminoles seem to be finding that most of their ranked matchups are on the road, and Notre Dame is no different.
The Fighting Irish, like the Miami Hurricanes, had a rough end to their season, going 2-2 in the final four games, including blowout losses to Miami and Stanford. If they could have finished the season stronger, they could have made the College Football Playoff, even as an Independent.
Notre Dame returns Brandon Wimbush under center, but he still needs to prove he can be more than just a running quarterback. He finished the 2017 season with a sub-50 percent completion rate, and that’s not going to cut it against the Seminoles.
Also, playing in South Bend is not friendly for visitors. The environment in Notre Dam Stadium is electric and since this is a night game in November, it becomes even more intimidating.
Dexter Williams will be tasked with replacing Josh Adams, which won’t be easy. That could put a slight damper on the run game, but Williams has plenty of potential.
The defense should see improvement even with the departure of Mike Elko. Nine starters return and a few guys have All-American skill sets.
This will be one of those late-season must-see matchups.
There’s no doubt that this is the toughest game facing the Seminoles this season. Why? Because the Clemson Tigers are a consistent College Football Playoff team and they’ve been the one program that has given the Seminoles a run for the ACC title each year.
This year will be no different as Clemson will likely start the year as the No. 2 team in the country behind only Alabama.
Kelly Bryant is back under center after impressing in his first year as starter but he’s going to get some pressure from true freshman sensation Trevor Lawrence who broke out this spring.
Travis Etienne and Tavien Feaster form a scary backfield duo and will give the Seminoles fits all day long. The ACC Atlantic could be decided in this one, especially if Florida State gets back to its winning ways.
Clemson will be one of the 2-3 favorites to make the playoff again in 2018, so the Seminoles face the tall task of dethroning the Tigers.
Even as a home game, this will be the premier matchup for the Seminoles.