Kalen DeLoach says Florida State not shying away from national championship talk

Florida State is a trendy pick to break into the College Football Playoff field in 2023, along with competing for an ACC title. And though they don’t want to get ahead of themselves, linebacker Kalen DeLoach said at ACC Kickoff that they aren’t ignoring the possibilities, either.

The focus is on the game in front of the Seminoles, DeLoach said. But they’re keenly aware that if they keep that focus and handle their business, they’ll be in a position to play for an even bigger prize.

“We say national championship, playoff, yessir. I feel like that’s — we know what we’re capable of. But we want to focus on more things, more so every day. We want to focus on every game, each week, week-by-week. We never look ahead, although there is a lot of people talking about it,” DeLoach said.

And Florida State can’t really afford to look too far ahead on the calendar. With September matchups against LSU — the season opener — and Clemson, the Seminoles will be running an early gauntlet.

With a pair of wins against the respective Tigers, Florida State could vault into national title contention before the calendar flips to October.

“But we just focus on what we need to do. And we know what we need to do every day and that if we do it every day, we’re going to be where we need to be,” DeLoach said.

DeLoach dished on the early test versus LSU for Florida State

One of the games that really launched the season for the Seminoles a year ago was a neutral-site game against LSU.

They’ll play that same matchup again this year, with both teams entertaining College Football Playoff dreams and capable of pulling such an appearance off with the right bounces this fall. But Florida State players aren’t particularly worried about LSU.

“Just focus on us. Focus on what we have at task,” linebacker Kalen DeLoach said at the ACC Football Kickoff. “Focus on who we are. We want to go out there and trust in the work, trust in what we do. Coach put us in a position to be our best, so I feel like just go out there and be dominant.”

LSU in Week 1 will be a pivotal game, to say the least.

While the loser certainly won’t be eliminated from College Football Playoff contention, a loss would make it a steep climb back up. Meanwhile, the winner will enjoy all the perks of what should be a marquee non-conference win.