College GameDay Panel Discusses If Florida State Can Knock Off Clemson In 2023
With the college football season officially kicking off this weekend, College Gameday made its 2023 debut in Charlotte. Naturally, the four hosts - Rece Davis, Kirk Herbstreit, Desmond Howard, and Pat McAfee - dove into some of the top storylines around the country ahead of the beginning of Week Zero.
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There are a lot of eyes on the ACC this year with No. 8 Florida State looking to knock off No. 9 Clemson for the first time since 2014. The Tigers have won seven of the last eight conference championships, including a victory against North Carolina last year that earned them an Orange Bowl berth.
Will the Seminoles finally unseat Clemson after two agonizing defeats in 2021 and 2022 that were essentially decided by a single score? Howard is going with Florida State, in large part due to the difference in experience between redshirt senior quarterback Jordan Travis and sophomore quarterback Cade Klubnik.
"I think that Clemson's gonna have a really good year. They have a lot of talent, I mean you're talking about a high-quality team but so much is riding on the quarterback position," Desmond Howard said. "Cade Klubnik, is he going to be able to rise to the occasion? I think that they're going to have a fantastic season but I'm rolling with the Seminoles, man. Jordan Travis, man, that kid. I saw people talking about his practice the other day, Fowler was up there and he was like, 'this guy is at another level. He's accurate, he's a leader' so I'm going with the Seminoles."
Clemson will be breaking in a new offensive coordinator this season after hiring Garrett Riley away from TCU. After leading an explosive offense with the Horned Frogs, there is some optimism about what he could build Klubnik and the Tigers into.
McAfee thinks that head coach Mike Norvell has Florida State moving in the right direction. At the same time, he doesn't see Clemson just falling off from the top of college football.
"The Seminoles have 17 returning starters, okay? This is what Norvell was hoping for whenever he took that job at Florida State. If you think, not too long ago, that stadium was actually on fire and their fans were revolting, all hell was breaking loose," McAfee said. "What Norvell has put into place is the same thing he did at Memphis. Great teams, the offense is doing well, the defense is coming together. Last year was really a showcase of what they could become."
"With that being said, seven of the last eight ACC titles come from the Clemson Tigers. There's a reason you're at the top of the mountain, you don't just fall there," McAfee continued. "I think Cade Klubnik was put in some very terrible situations last year - backed up, third quarter, fourth quarter, in relief of DJ Uiagalelei who is now at Oregon State. But I think Cade Klubnik with Garrett Riley is going to be a match made in heaven because if you watch Kade play there's some flashes of some real greatness and I think Garrett will be able to do that and the rest of the Clemson team, whose five-stars everywhere, should be able to do that."
The Tigers are going to be relying on Klubnik to take a significant step in his development after only starting in one game last year. He completed 61/100 passes for 697 yards with two touchdowns to three interceptions while rushing for two more scores during his debut season.
"I think Clemson will feed off of this energy around, like is it over, is the reign over, is Dabo's best behind him? You know he's like, 'thank you, thank you, keep saying it,'" Herbstreit said. "Here's the reality, this Clemson team has had Tajh Boyd, Deshaun Watson, Trevor Lawrence...the last two years, is it just the offense, is it fair to put it on DJ Uiagalelei and the lack of execution? They still have a great defense, they still have a great athletes."
"We're looking at Kade Klubnik, we're looking at Garrett Riley, ok this offense is going to get back to being dynamic," Herbstreit continued. "There were moments in that bowl game against Tennessee when you saw it and I think that the future of what we'll see this year but with a new coordinator, I'm just excited to see, I think they're going to play with a chip on their shoulder, they hear the negativity. We'll just see if they're better on offense, that's going to be the big question."
Howard actually ended up predicting Florida State to win the ACC and make the College Football Playoff. Rece Davis has the Seminoles in his final four as well while Herbstreit and McAfee both see Clemson continuing to run the conference.
The Seminoles and Tigers will face off in a highly-anticipated matchup early in the season. Florida State will travel to Clemson for a Week Four matchup on September 23, 2023.
READ MORE: Florida State Beginning To Shift Focus to Season-Opener Against LSU
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