FSU Football: Is FSU really chasing Clemson?

FSU Football has won the ACC three out of the last four years. Yet, over the past week ESPN continues to say that FSU Football is chasing Clemson?

FSU Football failed to win the ACC championship for the first time in three years last season. The championship left Tallahassee and went to Death Valley for the first time since 2011.

ESPN has an entire series for each ACC team entitled “Chasing Clemson”.

How has the narrative changed so quickly? I know it’s a series of pieces, but Clemson finally wins the ACC championship and now it’s Florida State is “chasing” Clemson. Now, had Clemson just rattled off three consecutive ACC titles, then I would agree. However, that’s not the case and far from it.

ESPN’s David Hale does point out that FSU football has reloaded on defense while Clemson is rebuilding there:

"Fisher has recruited a ton of talent to Tallahassee, and even with the loss of Jalen Ramsey, the Seminoles return both experience and depth to a unit that performed exceedingly well in 2015 (the bowl game not withstanding). While Clemson is rebuilding its D virtually from the ground up, Florida State has the luxury of returning impact starters at every level, including perhaps the ACC’s next big star in safety Derwin James."

Also, that quarterback play will be of highest importance to FSU:

"It appeared to be transfer Everett Golson, but he struggled to open up the offense in the early going, and Fisher turned to Sean Maguire with mixed results. The fifth-year senior returns for 2016, but will the job remain his? Fisher has promising young quarterbacks Deondre Francois and Malik Henry waiting in the wings, but there are no guarantees that either will be ready to own the job from Day 1. In other words, Fisher has ample options, but no firm answer just yet at the game’s most important position."

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All of that is true, not to mention that Clemson’s defense was very good last year as well. Deshaun Watson is an amazing talent, and can certainly be a difference maker. FSU will definitely need to keep him in check this year to improve their chances of winning that game. However, it’s not like Clemson owned FSU last year. It was a tie game about mid-way through the fourth quarter.

The defense held Clemson to six yards per play on offense. The problem was that the offense couldn’t generate much, which helped Clemson run 85 plays on offense. In contrast, FSU ran 59 plays on offense, but FSU does run near as much up tempo as Clemson. In fact, FSU was one of the slowest tempo teams in the nation last year.

All of this was during a rebuilding year for FSU football!

Maybe I’m being too nitpicky, but if FSU wins the ACC this year will we see a “Chasing FSU” series next year from ESPN? We certainly didn’t see it when they rattled off three ACC titles in a row from 2012-2014.

FSU just finished with the best recruiting class in the ACC as well. If anything, it’s the ACC continues to chase FSU football.

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