FSU Football: Could Tough Schedule Keep Noles Out of CFB Playoff?

FSU football will again face a difficult schedule this season – but could the 2017 slate be so tough that it knocks the Seminoles out of the CFB playoff?

For most of the last four decades, FSU football has adopted the approach of playing anyone at anytime at any place. It’s a theory that goes back to the days of Bobby Bowden being head coach and has continued since Jimbo Fisher took over before the 2010 season. The Seminoles, under Fisher, has played teams like Oklahoma, Ole Miss, Oklahoma State, Notre Dame and BYU in addition to ACC games against teams like Miami and Clemson and the yearly battle with Florida.

In 2016, 11 of Florida State’s 13 opponents either went to a bowl game or the FCS playoffs – showing what the Seminoles had to get through just to get to their sixth double digit win campaign under Fisher. The 2017 season won’t be a cakewalk, either – with games against Alabama and Miami in the first three weeks and battles with Clemson and Florida in the final three.

It’s a schedule that could keep FSU football from being where most see them this season – making the college football playoff. FOXSports.com recently said Florida State is one of the nine teams who could see their playoff hopes harmed by their schedule this season:

"Although the Seminoles’ roster boasts top-five talent, facing Alabama when Nick Saban has more than one week to prepare is a virtual death sentence. Or at the very least, the fastest way to an 0-1 start. The Noles face upstart Miami just two weeks after Alabama, and then play NC State…The back half of the schedule isn’t much easier, with Louisville…and trips to Clemson and Florida in the final month of the season.Florida State has the talent to win it all. But the Seminoles could play themselves out of the playoff picture at several different points of the season."

Florida State Seminoles Football

The same article list to of the opponents FSU football will face this season – Clemson and Florida – in the same group, while a separate one says that three of Florida State’s opponents this regular season (Miami, Louisville and Alabama) could play themselves into a favorable CFB Playoff spot thanks to an easier schedule – with the hardest game for each being their showdown with the Seminoles.

The truth is that, yes, Florida State has the talent to go 12-0 in the regular season. At the same time, there is no question that they will be challenge at various points during the season and could easily drop a game or two. The same thing happened last year, as the ‘Noles should have won their games against UNC and Clemson.

That’s the thing about college football – they play the games on the field for a reason. On any given Saturday, you never know what will take place.