Clemson Football: Remember when FSU game was nationally relevant?
The Clemson football team will host the Florida State Seminoles this Saturday, but the ACC matchup just isn’t the same as it used to be.
The Clemson football team will host the Florida State Seminoles Saturday afternoon in an important ACC matchup.
The Tigers come into the game undefeated with a perfect 5-0 record. Florida State, on the other hand, comes in at 3-2 overall, but the Seminoles have a 2-1 record in the ACC.
That means the winner of this game will control their own destiny in winning the ACC Atlantic.
With that being said, it’s clear this game has lost some of the shine it used to have just a few years ago. Do you remember when Clemson vs. FSU was must-watch television? If you were a Clemson football fan, there was no way you were going to miss the Tigers take on the Seminoles. It was one of the single-biggest games of the season.
Just as recently as 2016, the two teams were battling each other in a matchup that had national prominence. Clemson, ranked No. 3 at the time, traveled down to Tallahassee to take on the Seminoles, who were ranked No. 12. The Tigers came away with a thrilling 37-34 victory. The win allowed Clemson to win the ACC Atlantic for a second-straight year and earn a CFB Playoff berth.
From 2011 to 2016, the winner of the Clemson-FSU rivalry went on to not only win the ACC Atlantic Division, but the conference.
During that time, the Tigers earned two CFB Playoff bids (2015 and 2016) and a National Championship while Florida State won a National Championship (2013) and advanced to the CFB Playoff in 2014 the following season.
The two programs have a rich history and that rivalry game both fanbases something to look forward to every year. That’s all in the past now, though.
The Clemson football program has held its end of the bargain up. The Tigers have ascended to the top of the CFB world, winning two National Championships in the past three years and earning four-straight CFB Playoff berths.
Florida State, on the other hand, has fallen off the cliff and isn’t currently even ranked. The Seminoles struggled to make a bowl game last season and they’re still seemingly in “no man’s land” when it comes to the state of their program.
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Oh, how things have changed.
Even so, it’s fun to look back at the rivalry and think about the excitement that surrounded this game just a few years ago.