The following article is part of a collaboration between The Tiger and FSU’s student newspaper, FSView & Florida Flambeau, to bring you preview content ahead of the FSU-Clemson matchup. Here’s a link to FSView & Florida Flambeau’s website.
This Saturday, Clemson is set to host Florida State in its first night game at home against the Seminoles since 2013. However, this year’s matchup carries a different weight than the Clemson-Florida State matchups of years past.
A game once pivotal in determining the ACC champion, this year’s matchup is nothing more than a mediocre contest between mid-tier ACC squads. With Clemson at 3-5 and Florida State at 4-4, respectively, this game no longer has ACC Championship implications, but rather, boasts bowl eligibility determinants.
Since joining the ACC in 1992, Florida State has historically been a dominant program within the conference. From 1992 to 2005, Florida State won the ACC 12 times under legendary head coach Bobby Bowden.
More recently, Florida State won three straight ACC titles from 2012 to 2014 under Jimbo Fisher, with its most recent championship in 2023 under current head coach Mike Norvell. Although relatively new in respect to other founding members of the conference, Florida State has managed to win 16 ACC Championships in just 33 years in the league.
With this being said, the Seminole program of today is but a shadow compared to its glory days of dominating the ACC. After finishing with an abysmal 2-10 record in 2024, expectations were low heading into 2025 for the Seminoles. Despite this, Florida State opened 2025 with one of its biggest wins under Norvell in a 31-17 upset of No. 8 Alabama in Week 1.
What seemed to be a program-ending season in 2024 was all but forgotten after the Seminoles upset the Tide earlier this season. However, reality soon set in for Florida State as it dropped four games in a row after a 3-0 start.
After a dominant win against Wake Forest last Saturday, the Seminoles now sit at 4-4 headed into Week 11 against Clemson.
Unlike Florida State, Clemson was a founding member of the ACC. The Tigers have been playing in the conference since 1953, so their sample size is substantially larger than that of the Seminoles.
Clemson currently boasts the most ACC Championships with 22, six ahead of the second-place Seminoles. Before Florida State joined the ACC, Clemson had won 13 ACC Championships from 1953 to 1991, the most of any team during that period.
After Florida State joined the ACC, however, Clemson went 20 years before eventually winning another ACC championship in 2011, its first under head coach Dabo Swinney. Since then, Clemson has won nine of the last 14.
Similar to Florida State, the Clemson of today is different from the Clemson of the past 15 years. At 3-5 and currently in its worst start under Swinney, the Tigers have a legitimate chance to miss a bowl game for the first time in over 20 years.
Historically, there has been a good chance that the winner of Clemson and Florida State would go on to win the ACC. Clemson and Florida State have played every year, excluding 2020 due to COVID-19 cancellations, since the Seminoles joined the ACC over 30 years ago. With the two schools boasting 25 of the last 33 ACC championships combined, the matchups between these two programs have often carried heavy weight.
Now in 2025, this game is of little national relevance, as both teams are fighting for bowl eligibility. A game that once determined the ACC champion, and often the ACC’s representative in the College Football Playoff, is now a fight for a spot in bowl games like the Duke’s Mayo Bowl.
As mentioned previously, this will be the first time that Clemson hosts Florida State at night since 2013. A game that then featured two top-five teams in a race to the National Championship is now but a shell of its former self.
Nonetheless, anytime the Spear and Paw line up against one another, it is must-see television. This down year for both respective programs will continue to add to the deep lore of this storied rivalry.
