FSU Football: Key takeaways from first AP Top 25 of 2018 season

FSU football finds themselves starting in the same spot of the AP poll that came out Monday as they are in the first coaches poll that came out weeks ago.

Earlier this month, the FSU football team found out the first official ranking they would have for the 2018 season when the USA Today Coaches Poll put the Seminoles at No. 19 to start things off – the first time the Noles have been ranked outside the top 10 to start the season since the 2013 campaign…and we all remember how that one turned out.

Monday, the Associated Press released their first poll of the upcoming season and the writers decided to…agree with the coaches and place the Seminoles at the No. 19 spot, their lowest spot to open a season since 2010.

What transpired with FSU football is not the only storyline that fans of the Seminoles and college football are paying attention to as the season starts in just days with the first full schedule of games just under two weeks from now.

Here’s a look at the top three takeaways from the inaugural poll from college football writers to start the 2018 season.

No. 1 – It can not be argued that FSU football has the toughest schedule of any FBS team this coming season

While some have thrown out the idea of Michigan, UCLA and even other ACC programs as having the toughest, the Seminoles have to run a gauntlet that gets started in just a few days with a Virginia Tech team ranked in the top 20 of both polls (17 in coaches, 20 in AP).

There is a conceivable chance that if both Miami and Notre Dame don’t fall over their own feet before playing the Seminoles, Florida State could play three top 10 teams within a five game stretch from October 6th to November 10th – I think I speak for everyone in garnet and gold when I say yikes.

No. 2 – Both the coaches and writers love them some Big Ten and Pac 12 entering this season

When the college football playoff took place for their fourth edition after the 2017 regular season, both of those conferences watched without having one of their team in the system – the first time for the Big Ten and the second time for the Pac 12.

Entering the 2018 season, the two Power Five conferences make up over half of the 15 teams ranked at the top of the polls with the Big Ten having five teams and the Pac 12 having three. At the same time, the SEC has three while the ACC has two and the Big 12 just one team.

No. 3 – The writers are willing to take a few more risks than the coaches

Fans of FSU football might have thought that the Seminoles would get some more love and might be renamed a few spots higher, but the Noles stayed the same and are starting the year inside the top 20.

At the same time, the Wisconsin Badgers went from seventh to fourth compared to the coaches poll while West Virginia went from 20th to 17th and even the fake champs from UCF went from 23rd to 21st. Translation to fans: anything is possible this season.