Joel Klatt evaluates Florida State’s chance to be a CFP contender

Florida State has gotten off to its best start in around a decade, defeating LSU and Clemson on its way to a 4-0 start and top-five ranking. The Seminoles have solidified their spot as a contender for the College Football Playoff.

But Joel Klatt said there should be some hesitation around the team at this point. Their struggles the past two weeks leave a lot to be desired.

While Klatt was still adamant that they can win a national title on a recent episode of The Joel Klatt Show, he also wanted to explain why he has some concerns.

“Florida State has earned being in this spot,” Klatt said. “However, I would just say this about Florida State: at this point, after September, being able to watch the games and evaluate the gams, they have what you could categorize as one of if not the most impressive resume in college football. But they’re a little bit more resume than substance, which is fine. They can continue to get better. And again, I’m going to continue to say this: I believe that Florida State is a legitimate national championship contender. While this feels like a slight, it’s not.”

The Seminoles opened their ACC schedule with two games on the road versus Boston College and Clemson. Both games came down to the wire with Florida State winning 31-29 over the Eagles and then needing overtime to defeat Clemson at home, 31-24.

But the Eagles did outgain the Seminoles by 107 yards on 17 more plays and Clemson gained 118 more yards than Florida State on 22 more plays.

“You have to evaluate with some level of realism the fact that Florida State was just outgained by Boston College by 100 yards and escaped with a win” Klatt said. “They were outgained by Clemson by 100 yards, escaped with a win. While their 4-0 and their resume looks really good, there are some caution lights. I talked about it on Monday, there is a check engine light on the dashboard right now with Florida State. We just have to see how this materializes. I love Keon Coleman. Jordan Travis has been playing really good football.

“But if you really look and watch the game and watch the coaches tape of that game against Clemson, what you’ll see and the way that it watches is that Florida State upset the Tigers. That the better team didn’t win. If you look at the way that they were outgained. If you look at the fact that they needed a defensive score. They needed Clemson to miss a kick late. We are very easily in a world where Florida State lost the last two weeks and they’re 2-2. But they’re not so you give them credit and you put them above the line because they’ve earned that.”

Florida State’s most difficult part of the schedule was the first month of the season. It played three Power Five teams on the road or at neutral sites — albeit, it did play LSU in Orlando.

But most of their conference games the rest of the way are at home, including matchups with undefeated Miami, Duke and Syracuse.

The road to the ACC Championship and College Football Playoff is laid out right in front of them. But Klatt says they need to continue to improve.

“They are a little bit more resume than they are substance at this point” Klatt said. “When I watched the game against Clemson, it’s not a favored team going in there and taking care of business on the road and getting a win. No, no, no. It is a team that upset a Clemson team at home because of the way the game played out. If you’re drawing up a blueprint of an upset, that’s what it would include. You’re probably gonna get outgained. You need a defensive score or a special team score. You need more turnovers and you probably need them to make a mistake in one of those specialty areas, which Clemson did.”