FSU Football: How Raleigh became house of horrors for Seminoles

FSU football returns to the capital of North Carolina this weekend to face a N.C. State Wolfpack team who has been quite successful at home against them.

Here’s a quick quiz for all the FSU football fans out there reading our website: Over the last 20 and a half seasons of college football, the Seminoles have lost to Clemson more than any other team on the road with seven defeats over that span. Can you name the team that has defeated the Noles the second most amount of times when they host the garnet and gold.

If you said rivals Florida or Miami, you would be wrong as each has beaten the Seminoles four times over that span. The winner? The team FSU football will face this weekend when the Noles travel to Raleigh for a meeting with the North Carolina State Wolfpack, who have defeated the Seminoles five times inside Carter Finley Stadium since the 1998 season started.

Over the last 10 games played between the schools at the home of the Wolfpack, each team has come out on top five times – with two of the FSU football wins coming by seven points or less while NC State has three wins by four points or less over that same span.

Two losses stick out the most for those in garnet and gold: the 1998 defeat when the Seminoles were ranked No. 2 and lost to an ACC team on the road for the first time since joining the conference – and losing by one point in 2012 when FSU football came in ranked as the No. 3 team in the country.

So why have the Seminoles struggled in Raleigh? It isn’t as if the Wolfpack have had a better team as in four of the losses, N.C. State finished the season with a worst record than the Seminoles did on the season – including going 3-9 in 2006 but somehow coming out on top 24-20 against the Noles.

Some thought it was when the Wolfpack hired longtime FSU football assistant Chuck Amato as their head coach, but “The Chest” went just 2-2 in his home meetings against the Seminoles over his seven season tenure – while others think the Noles weren’t prepared for the Pack, but three of the losses came after the Seminoles had a bye week.

In reality, there is no real reason why Raleigh has been a place that makes the Seminoles cringe – but it has the chance to do that again this season as a loss to the Wolfpack will pretty much guarantee that the Seminoles will be watching bowl games instead of playing in one this season.

FSU football has won two straight in the series in Raleigh while the Wolfpack are on a two game losing streak after getting thumped by Clemson and Syracuse (happens to the best of teams) so who knows if this is the season where the horror of Raleigh doesn’t take place.