Remember when Florida State vs. Clemson was among the hottest rivalries in college football, with the winner of the regular-season game advancing to the ACC title game for most of the 2010s.
Saturday's matchup between the Seminoles (3-4) and Tigers (4-3) is one where two unranked schools have been relegated below ESPN or ESPN2 and to the ACC Network. Now the game will make more of a statement about the foundation established by FSU's Mike Norvell and Clemson's Dabo Swinney.
ACC Network analyst Eric Mac Lain, who played on the offensive line for Swinney from 2011-15, spoke to the Tallahassee Quarterback Club on Tuesday night. Mac Lain said he remains impartial as an analyst, but he's worn his frustration with this year's Clemson team on his sleeve.
"We have to get it back. We have to do our part. Y'all have to do your part," Mac Lain said. "That game has to matter. It has to be a nationally relevant thing. ... For the ACC, it matters. It is vital in this new world that our two programs get back to the top."
Maryland dismissed Mike Locksley, the first opening among Power 4 schools to kick-start the hiring cycle. NC State said goodbye to Dave Doeren after 14 seasons. Baylor let go Dave Aranda, who had a .500 record in his six-plus seasons.
FSU president Richard McCullough's statement on Tuesday afternoon was one where he shared in the fans' frustration, but it's clear he's trying to buy Norvell time to win games.
Norvell is 41-38 in the middle of his seventh season at FSU, which has included 19 straight wins from 2022-23 as well as just five Power 4 wins since the start of the 2024 season. In a year with little consistency across the sport, FSU has been wildly inconsistent but is coming off a bye week that followed a double-overtime loss at current No. 1 Miami.
The Seminoles have lost to three ranked teams — Miami, Alabama and SMU — while falling apart in the second quarter and suffering a lopsided loss to an inconsistent Louisville.
Swinney is 191-56 at Clemson, and he enjoyed a 12-year run of 10-win seasons from 2011-22 as well as a pair of national championships. His run at Clemson is close but well short of Bobby Bowden's 14-year run of top-4 finishes in the AP poll with FSU from 1987-2000.
But it illustrates how consistent Swinney and Clemson were for a long stretch, only to fall on hard times the last two years with a 7-6 mark in 2025 and a 4-3 record this fall (including lopsided defeats to ranked opponents LSU and Miami).
One coach, team and fan base will be thrilled by midnight on Saturday. The other coach, team and fan base will sink closer to the basement of the ACC, wondering when and how they can make the climb back up to relevancy in the league and in the national landscape.
What does FSU need to do?
We’ve joked about it, but FSU’s offense and Clemson’s defense would make a very good football team. That group would give Miami a run for its money (pun intended).
Conversely, Clemson’s offense and FSU’s defense would struggle against most Power 4 teams.
On paper, this feels like a low-scoring game of defined strength vs. defined strength as well as weakness vs. weakness. Our concern for FSU winning a shootout (ahem, Alabama and Miami) doesn’t seem to be the case on Saturday night.
First, FSU needs to play some of its best defense of the season against a Clemson pass offense that is a mess. Freshman Tait Reynolds has one touchdown and three interceptions, but no TD passes in his last four games. It feels like Trevor Lawrence would get four touchdowns a game, on average, in some of his best years at Clemson.
Reynolds has had a few interceptions, so an FSU takeaway would be welcomed. But consider that Clemson has scored 10, 28, 24, 13 and 16 points against Power 4 defenses, and it feels like the Seminoles don’t necessarily have an edge with their defense but least are facing a group that doesn’t have good cohesion on the offensive line and the quarterback is scrambling because of that.
FSU’s availability report lists cornerback Quindarrius Jones as out, KJ Kirkland as questionable and linebackers Chris Jones and Caleb LaVallee as probable. Not having Quindarrius is concerning, if Reynolds has time to throw.
On offense, we’ll of course be curious what the ground attack looks like without Ousmane Kromah. Samuel Singleton Jr. is still out indefinitely. How should the carries be allocated among Tre’ Wisner, Amari Thomas, Zay Parks and designed runs for Ashton Daniels? A big storyline.
Quarterback edge to … FSU?
Florida State has had experienced, transfer quarterbacks the last three seasons. DJ Uiagalelei was injured and didn’t face Clemson in 2024, and Tommy Castellanos had a fumble and struggled at Clemson in 2025.
But the Seminoles haven't had the most productive quarterback in rivalry matchups — until now (on paper). Daniels is only completing 58.6 percent of his passes with 12 touchdowns and eight interceptions, but he is an elusive runner with an ACC-best 12 rushing touchdowns. Add in Daniels' 15.2-yard per completion average, which also leads the ACC, and the numbers indicate he's improving despite the team's struggles.
“I love Ashton,” Mac Lain said. “I don't know how everybody feels about him. I think he's a spectacular player.”
Clemson's Tait Reynolds is completing 66.7 percent of his passes but with just one touchdown and three interceptions. Reynolds doesn't have a touchdown in four straight games.
The Tigers have leaned heavily on transfers at all positions, including quarterback. Reynolds could be a good quarterback eventually, but he’s been put in a tough spot as a freshman. Swinney also indicated Christopher Vizzina, who started the opener, is back at practice.
Who knows? Swinney backed Reynolds this week, but could we see Vizzina, too?
Mac Lain also echoed the point FSU media and fans have been stating the last few years, that there’s been no continuity at quarterback the last few years. FSU had it with Jordan Travis, but then it fell apart with Tate Rodemaker, Brock Glenn and Luke Kromenhoek all arriving and transferring. Norvell went to DJU and Castellanos.
“The two before were relative misses, and that's hard, right?” Mac Lain said. “It's hard to build and sustain. It's also hard to just have one guy, one guy, one guy for a year. And so I think those are some pretty big issues.”
As we’ve often lamented, FSU needs to commit to the development of a homegrown quarterback for the long term. That could be Malachi Marshall or Kevin Sperry, but it feels like FSU would be back in the transfer portal in January for a quarterback, too.
If it comes down to a kick
FSU is around a 5-point favorite vs. Clemson. But if the game comes down to a kick, FSU and Clemson have kickers that are close to automatic.
Clemson's Nolan Hauser has made 18 of 19 field-goal attempts. He's tied for the most made field-goal attempts in the FBS. FSU's Gabe Panikowski is 6 for 6 this season and also made 15 of 15 attempts in 2024 at Idaho State.
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