Who: No. 16 Florida State Seminoles (7-1, 5-1 ACC) at No. 1 Clemson Tigers (8-0, 5-0 ACC)
When: Saturday, November 7th at 3:30 P.M. eastern time
Where: Memorial Stadium in Clemson, South Carolina
Florida State will look to knock off the nation’s No. 1 team for the first time since defeating Florida in the 1996 regular season finale on Saturday as the Seminoles travel to take on Clemson. Despite not being ranked higher than third in the human polls, the Tigers occupied the top spot in the first College Football Playoff rankings, released Tuesday night.
Led by quarterback Deshaun Watson, Clemson is averaging more than 40 points-per-game on the season. Watson is completing 70 percent of his passes and has accounted for 24 total touchdowns. He’s done it after losing last season’s leading receiver Mike Williams to a neck injury in the season-opener against Wofford.
Sophomore wide receiver Artavis Scott has picked up the slack with over 500 yards receiving and four touchdown catches while running back Wayne Gallman has powered a much-improved rushing attack. Gallman’s 874 yards on the ground ranks second in the ACC behind only FSU’s Dalvin Cook.
The Seminoles will be hoping Cook can be ready to go on Saturday. After becoming the first Florida State rusher to go over 1,000 yards in consecutive seasons since Warrick Dunn against Georgia Tech, Cook missed last week’s victory over Syracuse with an ankle injury. Cook has 1,037 yards on the ground for the year and leads the Seminoles with 12 total touchdowns.
While FSU will be preparing to stop Deshaun Watson, the Tigers aren’t yet sure which Florida State quarterback they’ll see on Saturday. Everett Golson started the first seven games of the season for the Seminoles, but missed Saturday’s contest against Syracuse with concussion symptoms. In his place, Sean Maguire passed for 348 yards and three scores in just his second career start.
Maguire’s first start came against Clemson last season in place of a suspended Jameis Winston. Maguire passed for over 300 yards and rallied FSU to a 23-17 overtime victory. If given the start Saturday, Maguire will aim to become the first FSU starting quarterback to beat Clemson in consecutive years since Chris Rix in 2001 and 2002. Sophomore Travis Rudolph is Florida State’s leading receiver with 501 yards and six touchdown grabs on the season.
Defensively, Clemson ranks second in the ACC in total defense behind only Boston College. The defensive end duo of Shaq Lawson and Kevin Dodd have combined for 12 sacks this season and will look to get to the FSU quarterback early and often. Junior linebacker Ben Boulware is the top tackler for the Tigers while Mackensie Alexander leads a talented secondary. Fellow cornerback Cornea Tankersley leads the team with three interceptions.
The Florida State secondary led by junior Jalen Ramsey is also a talented one. Marquez White has been solid on the other side of the field and with injuries to safeties Tyler Hunter and Trey Marshall, freshman Derwin James has come on of late. James had 12 tackles including two for loss and a forced fumble in Saturday’s win over Syracuse.
Junior DeMarcus Walker leads a deep defensive front for FSU. Walker leads the Seminoles with 6 sacks and nine tackles for loss this season while linebackers Ro’Derrick Hoskins and Reggie Northrup are the top two tacklers for Florida State. The Seminoles hope to add depth to that position as senior Terrance Smith is expected to return after missing more than a month with an ankle injury.
Florida State will also look to shore up its special teams play on Saturday after giving up special teams touchdowns in each of the last two weeks, including a blocked field goal that was returned for the game-winning touchdown as time expired at Georgia Tech. Prior to that play, the Seminoles hadn’t allowed a non-offensive touchdown since the 2011 Champs Sports Bowl against Notre Dame.
Since 2009, the winner of the contest between Florida State and Clemson has gone on to win the ACC’s Atlantic division every year and this one looks to be no different. FSU has won the last three meetings en route to winning the ACC in each of the last three years, but Clemson could clinch the Atlantic with a win on Saturday.
In its last trip to Death Valley in 2013, Florida State put up more points than any other visitor ever in a 51-14 victory which snapped a 4-game road losing streak to the Tigers. The Seminoles would go on to win a national championship that year. The last Clemson win in the series came in 2011 at Memorial Stadium by a 35-30 margin as the Tigers would go on to win the ACC.
The Seminoles are 20-8 all-time against Clemson and 4-1 under head coach Jimbo Fisher. Clemson is 2-5 against Florida State under head coach Dabo Swinney.
