Heather Dinich: Florida State under pressure to finish undefeated to make College Football Playoff

Florida State came in as the No. 4 team in the initial College Football Playoff rankings, rounding out the field if the season were to end today. With plenty of football left to be played, however, ESPN analyst Heather Dinich has concerns over whether the Seminoles can stay there.

Speaking on the rankings reveal show Tuesday evening, Dinich pointed to the fact that Louisville is the only other team from the ACC that cracked the CFP rankings. Florida State won’t play the Cardinals unless it is in the ACC title game, and she believes the only way to assure a Playoff bid is to finish undefeated.

“Florida State might be under some pressure to finish as an undefeated ACC champion,” Dinich explained. “If you look down the rest of the top 25, Louisville is the only other ACC team ranked. They don’t play each other during the rest of the season and they’ve got one ranked win against LSU, which faces Alabama this weekend.

“So when you look at the rest of Florida State’s schedule: Pitt, Miami, North Alabama and Florida. Opponents that are unranked and combined for 17-15. Obviously, FSU and Louisville might play each other in the ACC Championship Game. But just looking at the weakness of the ACC in this top 25, I think the pressure’s on.”

Florida State’s best win comes against LSU, which entered the initial rankings at No. 14. Other than that, however, the Seminoles don’t have any wins against ranked opponents. Theoretically, it should win all of its remaining contests to reach the ACC title game. If it doesn’t, though, it would take a massive hit to its resume.

Florida State struggled in its first two games of the season to narrowly escape Boston College before defeating Clemson in overtime. Since then, it has kicked things up a notch to win its past four games by an average margin of 25.8 points. That provides belief that it can take care of business in its final four games of the year before finishing out as ACC champions to make the Playoff.

Led by quarterback Jordan Travis, the Seminoles have been one of the top offenses in the country to rank fifth in the country with 41.5 points per game. Not only that, but the defense ranks 20th with just 18.3 points allowed.

Travis has been incredibly efficient to complete 64.8% of his passes for 2,109 yards and 18 touchdowns to only two interceptions. He’s clearly been one of the better players in the country this season, and Florida State will aim to continue to lean on him in its quest to make the Playoff for the first time since 2014.

The Seminoles next have a matchup against Pittsburgh on the road at 3:30 p.m. ET on Saturday.