Florida State Seminoles 2016 Football Schedule and Analysis

Playing in the Citrus Bowl means that there will be plenty of garnet and gold in the stands. Ole Miss loses a lot off its Sugar Bowl championship team, including tackle Laremy Tunsil, wide receiver Laquon Treadwell, and defensive lineman Robert Nkemdiche. But quarterback Chad Kelly returns to run head coach Hugh Freeze’s spread offense.

The Bucs made the 2015 FCS quarterfinals before bowing out to Jacksonville State. While CSU had a very successful season, it was not ready for big boy football, losing 56-6 to Alabama in its one game against an FBS opponent. Charleston Southern came to Doak Campbell Stadium in 2011 and was pounded 62-10.

The first true road game of the year is one against a team that believes that it can challenge FSU and Clemson in the ACC Atlantic Division. The Cardinals should field a strong defense and head coach Bobby Petrino will build his offense around dynamic sophomore quarterback Lamar Jackson.

Willie Taggart’s 6-18 start at South Florida was nothing to get excited about and the 1-3 opening to the 2015 season did not help matters either. But the Bulls won seven of their last eight regular season games and played in the Miami Bowl. They also hung with the Noles deep into their game last September before falling 34-14.

The Heels come into this season with high expectations after their appearance in the ACC Championship Game last fall. Quarterback Marquise Williams is gone, but Mitch Trubisky is poised to lead what should be a very explosive North Carolina offense. 

Though it’s his first season as Miami’s head coach, Mark Richt played for the Hurricanes and is well versed in this storied rivalry. This game also features a matchup of two 1,000-yard rushers that were high school teammates – Miami’s Joseph Yearby and Florida State star Dalvin Cook.

The Deacs were just 3-9 last season, but made life difficult for Florida State during a 24-16 loss in Winston-Salem. Wake Forest relied heavily on underclassmen in 2015, though the loss of star linebacker Brandon Chubb will be hard to overcome.

Both teams will be resting the week before in preparation for what should again be the game of the year in the ACC. This time the contest will be in Tallahassee where the Seminoles have won 11 of their last 12 meetings with the Tigers. Clemson feels that it turned a corner after last season’s national championship game appearance while FSU wants to climb back to what it believes is its rightful place atop the ACC.

Beware of the letdown. After battling Clemson, the Seminoles must go to Carter-Finley Stadium, a place that has been a house of horrors at times for Florida State. Since 1998, Florida State is just 4-5 on the road against the Wolfpack.

In 2015, Florida State went to Boston College on a Friday night and this year the Eagles come to the Sunshine State for a Friday night clash. Boston College’s defense was among the best in the nation last fall and though there may be a bit of a drop off, that side of the ball still should be formidable this coming autumn. The Eagles’ offense, on the other hand, should still be pretty ugly.

This Syracuse team will look a lot different than the Orange teams of recent years. Former Bowling Green head coach Dino Babers will install his up-tempo offense that will look to maximize the talents of rising sophomore quarterback Eric Dungey.

Jim McElwain did a great job squeezing 10 wins out of a Florida team that was limited offensively. Once again, the Gators must find a competent quarterback from the list of Luke Del Rio, Purdue transfer Austin Appleby, and two freshmen, Feleipe Franks and Kyle Trask. And while the defense should again be strong, holes are left by lineman Jonathan Bullard and cornerback Vernon Hargreaves.