Florida State football: No rebuild needed under Taggart
Schedule and Prediction
| Week | DATE | Opponent |
| 1 | Monday, Sept. 3 | vs. Virginia Tech |
| 2 | Saturday, Sept. 8 | vs. Samford |
| 3 | Saturday, Sept. 15 | at Syracuse |
| 4 | Saturday, Sept. 22 | vs. NIU |
| 5 | Saturday, Sept. 29 | at Louisville |
| 6 | Saturday, Oct. 6 | at Miami |
| 7 | Saturday, Oct. 13 | BYE |
| 8 | Saturday, Oct. 20 | vs. Wake Forest |
| 9 | Saturday, Oct. 27 | vs. Clemson |
| 10 | Saturday, Nov. 3 | at NC State |
| 11 | Saturday, Nov. 10 | at Notre Dame |
| 12 | Saturday, Nov. 17 | vs. Boston College |
| 13 | Saturday, Nov. 24 | vs. Florida |
Looking for an easy start to the Willie Taggart era, with a slower start for the young players to get acclimated? Well, you’re not getting it. This is one of the toughest schedules in the country, and as soon as the ACC portion of it hits in full (October), every week will be a fight. The non-conference isn’t awful, but Notre Dame and Florida should both be tough.
Prediction: 8-4
I think this season gets off on the right foot for Florida State, as they start hot, with four straight wins. They slow down quickly, losing to Louisville and Miami, but get back on track with a win off the bye week. Clemson feels like a loss, but I think they can grab wins over NC State, Boston College and Florida, with just one more loss to Notre Dame to finish the year 8-4.
Next. Florida State Football: Top 15 players in program history. dark
Realistically, they probably lose to either Virginia Tech or NC State, and finish 7-5. From a ceiling perspective, with this talent, I could see them beating every team on this schedule that isn’t Clemson or Miami. I’m not ready to call for that, however, so we’ll go with a happy medium, and a pretty encouraging start under Taggart.