Is the latest Florida State football hype misguided?

In 2022, Florida State football did what many had given up on waiting for them to do: they returned to their winning ways.

FSU saw many sights this season that it hadn’t seen in quite some time. To list just a few examples, this season was its first with a winning record since 2017, its first with a bowl win since 2017, and its first with 10 wins since 2016.

So basically, the Seminoles appear to be back in business at both the ACC and national levels. With that, of course, comes a ton of hype for their next run — but is playing into said hype such a good idea?

Don’t get me wrong, I completely understand why Florida State is getting the love that it’s getting. Many college football fans (myself included) feel that the game is better when the Seminoles are strong, so people hoping that they can revive some intensity on the Atlantic Coast makes sense. However, we have seen this kind of hopefulness before, all for it to come crashing down in disappointing fashion. We saw it happen just this season, actually.

In the time that Clemson has dominated the ACC, a handful of teams have come and gone that were supposed to help boost the conference’s overall respectability. But, entering the 2022-23 stretch, there was one team that stood with the goal of completely taking the league by storm: the NC State Wolfpack.

NC State is one of multiple teams in the Atlantic division that has seen a fair amount of success in the past several years, but its 2021 squad was a bit different — not only was it strong, but it had the proven ability to take on Clemson.

The 2021 Wolfpack finished with a record of 9-3 (played only 12 games due to its bowl being canceled), giving the program its third nine-win season since 2016. That alone was impressive, but what headlined the run was the double-overtime win over the Tigers.

The two best things that an ACC school can do to win over the masses is showcase consistent formidability and take down Clemson. With the 2021 Wolfpack having done both, winning at least a divisional title felt like a very real possibility for 2022. That failed to even come close to happening, though.

In 2022, NC State entered the postseason with a solid 8-4 record, but the circumstances surrounding it were inexcusable. All four of the Wolfpack’s losses were not only against ACC competition, but also against divisional competition. And yes, one of them was to the Tigers.

To make matters even worse, all but one of the losses were decided by double digits. The odd one out was the loss to Boston College — a team that finished its year with the conference’s worst overall record (3-9).

In other words, NC State entered this season driven to cement itself as a top-tier power in the Atlantic Coast, and while it somewhat did so, it is still far from ready to fight for the conference crown.

Especially when having already been fooled into thinking that a few good Wolfpack runs would pave the way to a new ACC, it would be nonsensical to commit to Florida State after just one. The Seminoles are good, but they should be seen as nothing more until further notice.