FSU Football: Neutral site series with LSU not ideal, but better than nothing

FSU football appears set to renew their series with one of the SEC’s Tigers, but it won’t be the home and home experience that some fans will have wanted.

For FSU football fans on Thursday, the news was all going so well – the Seminoles are on the practice field getting ready for the 2018 season and continuing to fall in love with the new direction and leadership that has come with head coach Willie Taggart and a virtually whole new staff on the sideline.

The news got even better as they day went on when it was announced that the Noles had reportedly agreed to a two game series against one of the bigger name teams in the SEC West in the coming seasons.

Okay, a little bit of the excitement was brought down when we found out it wouldn’t be a chance to beat up on Texas A&M and their new head coach – but it still was good news to see the report that FSU football was going to play two years straight against the LSU Tigers.

However, one look at the report from college football writer Brett McMurphy shows the only downfall of the whole potential agreement.

Oh – so we don’t get to play in Death Valley for the first time since the 1991 season and the Tigers don’t get a chance to travel to Tallahassee for what would be just the second time in what would by then be an 11 game series.

Now, listen for a second – I know the whole reason behind these type of games and that the fact is FSU football and LSU are both going to make an insane amount of money by opening the season in the Superdome and Camping World Stadium instead of on the respective campus.

That being said, this is the disturbing trend that college football has gone toward of being away from home and home series that used to define the sport. The Seminoles are continuing to be apart of that trend by trading away the tradition for a big paycheck.

Over the last 21 seasons, here are the true home and home series that FSU football has taken part in (not including annual ones with Florida and Miami when they weren’t in the ACC or one with Colorado in 2007 and 2008 where the Seminoles played their return game in Jacksonville).

• USC (1997 and 1998)
• Louisville (2000 and 2002)
• Notre Dame (2002 and 2003)
• Syracuse (2004 and 2005)
• BYU (2009 and 2010)
• USF (2009 and 2012, 2015 and 2016)
• Oklahoma (2010 and 2011)

While there were some great moments for FSU football playing some of the biggest names in the game, you’ll notice that just one of those has come in the last five seasons and that was against an in-state foe who was inferior at the time (sorry Bulls fans, you know it’s true).

No matter how much some of us may like it, the truth is that the days of FSU football or other big name programs playing home and home series on a consistent basis are becoming fewer and fewer. The one positive out of this agreement is that the teams will get a chance to play one game at least closer to their stadium instead of a single game in Texas or Las Vegas or Los Angeles.

Credit also must be given for FSU football playing their home game in the series in Orlando instead of Jacksonville. Doing so for the Ole Miss game in 2016 allowed plenty of Seminole fans from South Florida and the Tampa area to come out in droves for a much easier trip than what will take place next season when the Noles are the “home” team against Boise State.

Scheduling LSU, a team the Seminoles have a 7-2 advantage in the series against with four straight wins and seven in the last eight games, also will continue the Noles having an amazing schedule year in and year out – as FSU football will now play at least 10 teams from Power Five conferences or Notre Dame nine times out of an 11 year span from 2014 to 2024.