How Florida State has lived up to lofty preseason expectations so far

Clemson has long dominated the ACC, but there appears to be a new sheriff in town this season in the form of Florida State. The Seminoles sent a clear message to the rest of the conference on Saturday by handing the Tigers a 31-24 loss to put themselves in the driver’s seat of the ACC title race.

Despite playing through a shoulder and wrist injury, quarterback Jordan Travis delivered an impressive performance as he threw for 289 yards and a pair of touchdowns, both to Keon Coleman. The victory marked FSU’s first against Clemson since 2014, the only season in which it has made the College Football Playoff.

On3‘s JD PicKell joined Andy Staples on his Sunday podcast to recap that win and just how big it is for the Seminoles program.

“This was the game, if you’re Florida State, that you’ve had circled since last season,” he said. “Because they beat LSU last year. …If you want to snatch the crown, you want to be the king of the conference, you gotta beat the king. So for them to do it in the spot they did, noon kick, on the road, crazy atmosphere, they don’t run the football well. The response mechanism of this team I was really impressed with.”

If you believed preseason predictions, this is exactly how things should have gone for Florida State. Coming off of their first 10-win season since 2016, the Seminoles were predicted by many pundits to be a contender for the ACC title and a CFP appearance.

Still, we’ve seen many teams fail to live up to those kind of expectations. That was a concern for PicKell entering the season and so far FSU has answered the call. Not only did it notch the big win against Clemson, but it also opened the season with a 45-24 statement win against LSU.

Even more impressive, the Seminoles have managed to successfully integrate transfers such as Coleman and Jaheim Bell with the returning production without it affecting team chemistry.

“That was something I was concerned about with them all offseason long,” PicKell continued. “You finished the season strong. You got a lot of guys coming back — No. 1 in returning production. But how do you handle being talked about all offseason long like a College Football Playoff contender when, quite frankly, you weren’t last year?

“Then you beat LSU and the hype grows. So for them to kind of keep their eye on the ball and play the way they did and Jordan Travis to have the performance he did where he’s clearly banged up and still he’s throwing his body around trying to get first downs for his football team, I think the culture at Florida State is extremely, extremely sound. It doesn’t seem to be impacted by the transfer portal.”

Staples agreed, pointing out how the Seminoles have continued to improve each season under Mike Norvell. Now they’re the No. 8 scoring offense in the country with a plethora of weapons at their disposal whether it be Travis and the receivers or Trey Benson on the ground.

It’s still early and tough games against Duke and Miami loom later in the season. But the Seminoles have managed to pass their first two tests and, to this point, are right up there with the best teams in the entire country.

“What is culture if not your chemistry?” Staples said. “Can your team play well together? Can they all get along? Do they make each other better? I think the answer to that’s pretty clear with Florida State. We’ve seen them get better and better as the years have gone on.

“What’s interesting with them is, yes they are adding lots of pieces out of the portal, but it doesn’t seem to take away from the whole. It doesn’t seme to keep them from playing well or looking like they’ve played together for a while.”