FSU Football: Is 2018 Clemson game most important in ACC again?

FSU football and the Clemson Tigers have been the gold standard in the ACC for nearly a decade – will that continue this coming season?

When the record books are written about the greatest era of football in the ACC, the last nine seasons are going to be one of the first chapters – complete with plenty of coverage of FSU football and their growing rivalry with the only team that has been able to hang with (and sometimes, dethrone the Seminoles) over that span.

The Noles and the Clemson Tigers have been the two teams that have basically run the conference over that span. The winner of the game has gone on to not just win the Atlantic Division each of those nine seasons, but has won the conference each of the last seven to go along with making the College Football Playoff each of the four seasons it has been in existence.

That, of course goes along with winning two of the last five national titles and the men in orange playing for another. Needless to say, the game of the year in in the conference has involved FSU football and a team in orange not named the Miami Hurricanes.

While Clemson won a third straight ACC title and went back to the final four last season, the Seminoles didn’t hold up their end of the deal and finished 7-6 on the year – with their final loss being against a Tigers team when they trailed by just three points with six minutes to go last November.

With the Noles in a so called “rebuilding year” under new head coach Willie Taggart, is this game still the top one in the conference? Well, according to ESPN, the answer is yes – as the Worldwide Leader ranked it one of the 12 games that could define the 2018 season, coming in at No. 3.

"Clemson also has a tough nonconference game against Texas A&M and former FSU coach Jimbo Fisher, but the path to the ACC title runs through Tallahassee…Clemson can lose to the Aggies and still win the ACC, making it extremely difficult for the committee to leave out a one-loss ACC champ that should have one of the best defenses in the country."

Considering no other ACC game made the list (and just one other game featuring an ACC team, Miami vs. LSU, was even on it), we will stick with the idea that the Seminoles and the Tigers on October 27th is where it is at.

In reality, both teams can afford one slip up and still make it to the ACC championship game – with the Tigers’ toughest conference game being N.C. State the week before while FSU football must face Virginia Tech in the opener plus Louisville and Miami on the road before they host Clemson inside Doak Campbell Stadium.

Next: Willie Taggart taking page from Clemson’s recruiting strategy?

Until another team from the Atlantic Division can overthrow either team – or one from the Coastal Division can beat them in Charlotte – this annual battle is what keeps the ACC in the conversation as one of the top conferences in college football.