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The Florida State Seminoles have easily been the most disappointing team in the nation to open the 2024 college football season as they are just 1-4 overall and 1-3 in ACC play. After a dominant 2023 in which they finished the regular season undefeated and were snubbed from the College Football Playoff, there were plenty of high expectations entering this year.
The Seminoles were projected to be one of the biggest beneficiaries of the expanded College Football Playoff field as the format expanded from four to 12 teams. They entered the season ranked tenth in the preseason AP Poll, however, they were unranked by the first update after suffering back-to-back Week 0 and Week 1 losses to the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets and Boston College Eagles, respectively.
Florida State suffered a non-conference loss to the Memphis Tigers before picking up their first victory against the California Golden Bears in Week 5. They were unable to sustain that momentum as they suffered a blowout loss to the SMU Mustangs in their first road game of the season.
While this meeting was expected to have ACC Conference Championship and College Football Playoff implications, the Seminoles may not even reach the six-win threshold for bowl eligibility.
Here's a closer look at three reasons why, despite this, they could shock the world and upset the Clemson Tigers in Week 6.
3 reasons why Florida State Seminoles could beat Clemson in Week 6
#1. They could get a boost from having a new quarterback under center
Florida State will be without starting quarterback quarterback DJ Uiagalelei as he is sidelined with a broken finger. However, Brock Glenn has shown nothing so far to instill confidence that he is the program's future under center.
In six games played, two of which were starts, the four-star prospect in the 2023 recruiting class threw for 229 yards, no touchdowns and two interceptions while completing just 34.5% of his passes. Despite this, teams often come out fired up when there is a change under center.
#2. Home field advantage
The Florida State Seminoles' struggles have extended to their home field as they are just 1-2 at Doak Campbell Stadium this season. Despite this, it remains one of the toughest places to play and the crowd should be extra fired up with another big-time ACC program in town. That could make things difficult for the Clemson Tigers.
#3. Addition by subtraction
DJ Uiagalelei will be sidelined with a broken finger. It could be an addition-by-subtraction situation for the Seminoles as he has struggled to take care of the football this season. The five-star quarterback in the 2020 recruiting class has thrown for 1,065 yards, four touchdowns and six interceptions while completing just 53.8% of his passes.
Do you think the Florida State Seminoles could pull off a major upset and beat the Clemson Tigers on Saturday? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.
