Florida State Seminoles
College Football Progress Reports
By: Kenneth Harrison
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
We are only a few weeks into the college football season but we have learned about some of the prominent teams around the country.
It’s a little too early for report cards but we can make progress reports for some of the programs around the Southeast.
Georgia: The Dawgs are 3-0, which is good. They beat up on #14 Clemson 34-3 to start the season. The biggest take away from that game was the Tigers are not very good.
They followed that up by beating FCS Tennessee Tech 48-3. Last weekend they struggled at Kentucky and won 13-12. These are the same Wildcats that lost 31-6 to South Carolina the week before. I think UGA will be fine but the next test comes September 28 at Alabama.
Grade: A-
Alabama: Nick Saban is gone and Kalen DeBoer has stepped in. The Crimson Tide have beaten Western Kentucky, USF and Wisconsin. The South Florida game was close in the first half but they won 42-16.
These wins are not impressive but the schedule will get harder. We will learn a lot about this team when they play Georgia.
Grade: A
Tennessee: This has to be the most surprising team in my opinion. Redshirt freshman quarterback Nico Iamaleava stepped in as the starter and he looks like a Heisman candidate.
The Vols started the season with FCS Chattanooga and won 69-3. They played #23 NC State in Charlotte and won 51-10. Last weekend they demolished Kent State 71-0.
Grade: A+
Miami: Are the Hurricanes back? We seem to ask this question every few years. They opened the season at Florida and won 41-17. They followed that up with blow out victories against FCS Florida A&M and Ball State.
QB Cam Ward transferred in from Washington State and he’s playing great. Their next game is at USF. You can’t say I have something against the state of Florida with this grade.
Grade: A
Florida State: The wheels have completely fallen off in Tallahassee. They started last season 13-0 but have not recovered since losing the Orange Bowl.
The Seminoles came into the season ranked #10 and lost to Georgia Tech in Ireland. Then they dropped home games against Boston College and Memphis to fall to 0-3.
Mike Norvell’s seat is burning up right now.
Grade: F-
Florida: Speaking of hot seats, Billy Napier’s is in flames. Unlike Norvell, he has not had double-digit wins in Gainesville.
He actually has not had more than 6 wins in a season. We talked about the embarrassing loss to Miami earlier. They did beat FCS Samford for their lone win this season.
The Gators lost to Texas A&M at home 33-20 over the weekend. The score makes this game seem closer than it was. They travel to Mississippi State for their next game.
Grade: F
Georgia Tech: The Yellow Jackets are 3-1, which is better than most people expected them to start the season.
The wins are against FSU, Georgia State and VMI, an FCS team. The loss was at Syracuse, 31-28. I thought that was a game they were going to win. They play at #19 Louisville this week.
Revised Reality
By: Kenneth Harrison
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
A few weeks ago, I did a season preview for Georgia Tech. I said I expect them to lose the season opener against Florida State and struggle to win 6 games and become bowl eligible.
By now, you have to be aware of their upset win in Week 0, beating #10 FSU 24-21.
“It’s definitely a special moment, definitely want to enjoy this one tonight, but like the guys said, it means nothing if we can’t go out next week and handle business,” Tech running back Jamal Haynes said. “We gotta get back (Sunday) got to practice, clean up the details, clean up anything that we made mistakes on and get to work.”
Tech was more physical than the Seminoles. They had a physical run game, which accounted for 190 yards of the 336 yards of total offense. They scored on four of seven drives and were 5-of-9 passing on third downs.
They ranked 120th last season in total defense out of 130 FBS teams. They looked much better in that game and if they can sustain this, they can have a special season.
They have a new defensive coordinator this season, Tyler Santucci. He was the defensive coordinator and linebackers coach at Duke last season. Before that he was the co-DC and LB coach at Texas A&M.
“We talk about putting the extra emphasis on response, how to respond to adversity,” linebacker Kyle Efford said. “We knew after that first drive we had to respond. We can respond negatively or positively. We got on the sidelines and was talking about it, ‘Hey we gotta step up. It’s gonna be on us.’ It was really just that response.”
This win has led to a recruiting win. Two days after the game, four-star defensive lineman Christian Garrett committed to Georgia Tech. The 6’4, 280-pound senior at Prince Avenue Christian was previously committed to Georgia since June and then he backed off that pledge earlier this month.
He is a top 20 defensive lineman in the nation. Garrett had offers from programs like Tech, UGA, Clemson, Florida, Auburn, Miami, Ole Miss and Tennessee.
This is a bit different from when Paul Johnson was the head coach. The players he recruited would have offers from teams like Austin Peay and Gardner-Webb.
I have reexamined their schedule and I think they can get off to a fast start. The next game is home against Georgia State. That should be a blowout win.
The next five games are at Syracuse, VMI, at Louisville, Duke and at North Carolina. The Yellow Jackets should be favored in all of those games. I believe they have a real shot to start the season 7-0. The schedule will get drastically tougher after that.
They will face off against #7 Notre Dame October 19 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Initially, I did not think Tech had a chance in this game but I think they have a chance to win.
Establishing the run game and playing physical gives them a puncher’s chance in every game.
The final games are at Virginia Tech, #19 Miami, #22 NC State and at #1 UGA. My new assessment of GT is they can win nine games as a best-case scenario. Realistically, I think they go 8-4 and that is a very good season.
It’s All About The Money
By: Robert Craft
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
I believe the official date for Clemson and FSU to inform the ACC of their intended departures for the 2025 season would be Aug. 15.
So, that would mean we would either have some form of resolution in court by then, which is not likely considering how it affects conferences across college football. The only other option, which is more likely, would be to settle out of court.
If it’s the latter, and FSU and Clemson part ways, ESPN will smartly decide in February not to pick up its ACC TV package through 2036.
That would send the ACC into Pac-12 territory, forcing it to sign a cheaper TV deal beyond 2027 (without its two megastars) or a straight-up league breakup in which some could end up fleeing to the Big 12 or even forming a new league.
My guess is there will be a group of ACC schools not getting into the SEC, Big Ten, or Big 12. The remaining teams will want to stick together in some form and take a cheaper TV deal to remain “mid-majors.”
We can sit here and debate which schools those are, or you can simply look at TV ratings and TV markets for the past few years and put two and two together.
Either way, not everyone is getting an invite to the Big 2 or a Super League. If FSU or Clemson has to spend a few years in purgatory (the Big 12) to get to the SEC or Big Ten, they’ll do it to get out of having to stick around in the ACC through 2036.
I just don’t think we’re going to see a 24-team Big Ten or a 24-team SEC down the road. Remember, the SEC’s TV deal runs with ESPN through 2033-34 and the Big Ten’s deal runs with CBS, NBC and Fox through 2029-30.
There’s no incentive for the schools in those leagues to add any more schools when they’ve got such a huge financial advantage in college football, unless they’re competing to sign top “free agent” schools such as FSU and Clemson or another school they value like North Carolina.
That essentially leaves the other ACC programs behind to come up with a solution to remain relevant and fund their athletic programs. The ACC will not completely fold.
Wait, I love this idea. I don’t know how likely it is, but I’m not sure anything in college football could surprise me anymore. Oregon State and Washington State need somewhere to land anyway, and if Clemson and Florida State bounce, the ACC should just lean into being totally unhinged. Give me Pac-12 after-dark vibes, every hour of every day.
Portal Power
By: Kenneth Harrison
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
The transfer portal has changed college football drastically.
Players seem to hop from school to school now without much thought. Any team that wants to be a contender has to get talent from the transfer portal.
The 30-day winter transfer period ended January 2, 2024. Let’s take a look at the schools with the best transfer portal classes.
Ole Miss has the top ranked transfer portal class for 2024. The Rebels have 17 commits. The five-star player is defensive lineman Walter Nolen (Texas A&M). He was the #1 football recruit in the class of 2022 as a senior in high school. He played for the Aggies for two seasons, totaling 11 tackles for loss and 5 sacks.
The rest of the class consists of seven four-stars and nine three-star players.
Some of the top players are defensive end/edge Princely Umanmielen (Florida), wide receiver Antwane Wells (South Carolina), linebacker Chris Paul Jr. (Arkansas), corner back Trey Amos (Alabama), safety Yam Banks (South Alabama), running back Logan Diggs (LSU) and tight end Daequan Wright (Virginia Tech).
Texas A&M has the #2 class. The Aggies have 23 commits and 8 of them are four-star players. That’s great, considering they lost two five-stars in the transfer portal.
We already discussed Walter Nolen leaving for Ole Miss but they also lost wide receiver Evan Stewart to Oregon. Four-star defensive lineman LT Overton transferred to Alabama, tight end Jake Johnson transferred to UNC and wide receiver Raymond Cottrell transferred to Kentucky.
Four-star right tackle Chase Bisontis started all 12 regular season games for the Aggies last season. He entered his name in the portal but withdrew it and decided to return to College Station.
The top incoming players are edge rusher Nic Scourton (Purdue), corner Dezz Ricks (Alabama), wide receiver Cyrus Allen (Louisiana Tech), defensive end Cashius Howell (Bowling Green), corner Will Lee III (Kansas State), safety Marcus Ratcliffe (San Diego State), corner Donovan Saunders (Cal Poly) and linebacker Scooby Williams (Florida).
Florida State has the #4 transfer portal class.
The last time we saw the Seminoles was in the Orange Bowl where Georgia demolished them, 63-3. That did not stop them from getting 15 new transfer players and ten of them are four-stars.
Something that is very interesting is the amount of players coming in from Alabama.
The five incoming Crimson Tide players are linebacker Shawn Murphy, running back Roydell Williams, corner Earl Little II, offensive lineman Terrence Ferguson and receiver Malik Benson.
They also have two Oregon State players; defensive lineman Sione Lolohea and quarterback DJ Uiagalelei. Uiagalelei started his career at Clemson so he is at his third school.
They are also receiving edge rusher Marvin Jones Jr. (Georgia), wide receiver Jalen Brown (LSU) and defensive lineman Tomiwa Durojaiye (West Virginia).
South Carolina has the #9 class. The Gamecocks class only has four four-star players.
The top player is running back Raheim Sanders (Arkansas). Sanders had a breakout year in 2022 as a sophomore, rushing for 1,443 yards, 10 touchdowns and he averaged 6.5 yards per carry. Unfortunately, in 2023 he tore his labrum in November. He also suffered a knee injury in Week 1.
South Carolina is also receiving linebacker Grayson Howard (Florida), linebacker Demetrius Knight (Charlotte) and edge rusher Kyle Kennard (Georgia Tech).
Jason Bishop Show w Kipp Branch January 4 2024
Jason Bishop Show w Kipp Branch
Something Smells Fishy
By: Kipp Branch
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
“If somebody in that committee room doesn’t think Georgia’s one of the four best teams in the country, I don’t know if they’re in the right profession,” UGA head coach Kirby Smart after the team’s SEC championship game loss.
Forget about who got in and just look objectively at Georgia’s resume heading last Saturday’s game
– Won last 2 national championships.
– Won an SEC record 29 straight games, three straight 12-0 regular seasons.
– No. 1 in the country 24 straight weeks heading into Saturday in AP and Coaches poll.
– Hadn’t lost a game in 727 days.
– Has dominated college football and the SEC, the toughest conference in CFB, for two years.
– Lost first game Saturday in more than 2 years by just 3 points and its two best offensive players were playing injured.
If you look objectively at the facts, there is no way UGA is not one of the top 4 teams in the country.
I don’t care who you cheer for, there is no way a team that has basically dominated college football for the last two years can lose one game by 3 points and drop out of the playoffs.
How do you go from being the overwhelming No. 1 team in the country for the previous 24 weeks and lose a championship game by just three points – with two of your best offensive players injured – and completely fall out of the playoff picture. There is no doubt Georgia is easily one of the best four teams in the country and should have been included in the playoff.
Now on to Florida State. Florida State should bolt from the ACC now after the 13-0 ACC champion got left out of the playoffs.
The precedent has been set now and it’s clear they should bolt to a more respected conference like the SEC or even the Big 10.
The committee had FSU in the playoffs after Ohio State lost to Michigan only to drop them out a week later after they won the ACC.
If Georgia would have beat Alabama, the committee was still going to put Texas in over FSU. FSU winning without their top 2 QB’s stirred up the controversy but the plan was already in motion.
FSU was one of the best teams in the country prior to the Jordan Travis injury. The Philadelphia Eagles won the Super Bowl a few years ago with a back-up quarterback and beat Tom Brady and the Patriots in that game. Brady is the recognized GOAT at the QB position.
The ACC let you down FSU. You would have never been left out if you were in the SEC. It’s time to get your lawyers working to find a way to exit the ACC.
The problem with this playoff committee is the messaging they use, and then have the ESPN talking heads spin it to drive viewership.
Greg McElroy had the nerve to say that “no team could ever overcome sub-par QB play and win a National Championship”. Well Greg Alabama did it in 2009 with McElroy at QB. He passed for 58 yards in the title game win against Texas.
As of today, the best four teams are: Alabama, Georgia, Florida State, and Texas. Cheaters like Michigan did not deserve to go at all.
The gutless NCAA gave them a slap on the wrist. Ohio State lost to Michigan, and FSU has a championship defense. The Chicago Bears won a Super Bowl with a Championship defense and average QB.
The four most deserving teams are: Alabama, Florida State, Texas, and Washington.
Too much subjectivity in the only major sport in the entire country that does not have a true playoff system.
Also, ESPN is ruining college football. Guess who has the SEC TV rights starting in 2024? That’s right ESPN. The same ESPN that revealed the rankings live last week with the same talking heads that said FSU did not deserve a spot. Coincidence?
You better believe they strong armed this committee into Alabama. Go back prior to the reveal and look how Herbstreit had his helmets aligned in the background.
Enough is enough.
College Football Super Bowl On The Way?
By: Kipp Branch
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
Could Clemson be moving to the SEC soon?
Rumors are swirling again regarding expansion. The SEC currently sits at 16 teams with Oklahoma and Texas joining in 2024. Think of Big 10/SEC as the NFC/AFC.
We’re quickly headed for an NFL-like model for college football because the powers that be desperately want media deals like the NFL has.
The short term will be chaotic, but it’ll eventually settle into a pro formatted league with regional divisions that prints money like the US Government.
But everything between now and then will be uncomfortable for the avid college football fan. It’s regionalized divisions within a national league. It’s how every professional sports organization is laid out.
Eventually you will see a new alignment that is consisted of the Big 10 and the SEC. You could see 24 teams in each conference breaking away from the NCAA governing body which has become useless by the way.
You could call it something like the National College Football League. You could appoint a league commissioner just like the NFL and negotiate major TV deals for each the league. All teams that are not members of the NCFL could stay as members of the toothless NCAA and still compete at football.
If Clemson bolts to the SEC, what is to stop Florida State, Miami, and North Carolina from following? You keep hearing things from people like what about Georgia Tech, Virginia, and Virginia Tech? Do you want the Big 10 to come down and gain a footprint in the South?
The answer is who cares. In the NFL you have the AFC South and the NFC South. You the AFC North and The NFC North. You see it really doesn’t matter if you land in one of the two major conferences.
What about recruiting? The top-rated recruits will go to a league that has the best TV contract, which will end up fueling NIL money into the pockets of those highly rated prospects.
This will create parity like we see in the NFL. In the NFL anyone can get beat on any given Sunday. An NFL type model in college will create anyone can get beat on any given Saturday.
What if the SEC expanded by four more teams in 2025 with Clemson, FSU, North Carolina, and Miami to put the number at 20?
The SEC could create four divisions with five teams. If a new body was formed with the Big Ten, then there would be no more cupcakes as you would only play teams from each conference.
Twelve game schedules, then two rounds of playoffs in each conference. You then have a championship Saturday with two huge conference championship games then a huge National Championship game on Saturday before the Super Bowl.
A 20-team breakout in a newly expanded SEC could look like this:
SEC Atlantic: Clemson, FSU, UNC, Miami, South Carolina
SEC East: Auburn, Georgia, Florida, Kentucky, Vanderbilt
SEC Central: Alabama, Ole Miss, LSU, Mississippi State, Tennessee
SEC West: Arkansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas, Texas A&M
You would have 9 conference games annually. Each team would play everyone in their division annually. You would have one permanent opponent from the rest of conference and rotate the rest so you can play home and home with the entire conference in a 4–5-year window.
You would play 3 rotating Big 10 opponents based on a computer model that matches teams with similar records from the previous season. No more cupcakes.
The team with best overall record wins their division and makes the SEC playoffs. If there is a two-way tie in division then head-to-head tiebreaker is in effect. Further tiebreaker scenarios would be determined by league.
This model would require Notre Dame to join the Big Ten.
Put on your seat beat folks this is where college football is heading. If not two conferences, then four with similar type formats.
Rest in Peace NCAA. Can you envision a college football draft down the road with a draft order for the top high school football prospects with slotted NIL money for each pick? You talk about parity folks.
Kick It Off
By: Kenneth Harrison
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
Week 1 of the college football season kicks off this week.
Let’s take a look at some of the teams from the South.
Florida at 14 Utah: This was a very close game last year that Florida won at home, 29-26. Now the Gators travel to Salt Lake City to face the Utes on Thursday.
Quarterback Anthony Richardson left for the NFL draft and was picked fourth overall. Fifth-year redshirt junior and Wisconsin transfer Graham Mertz has been named the starter.
Florida coach Billy Napier is entering his second season but he’s already on the hot seat. Utah is the better team and I expect them to beat the Gators by double digits.
Virginia vs 12 Tennessee: This game is in Nashville at Nissan Stadium, the home of the Tennessee Titans. It’s considered a neutral site game but the Vols will have most of the crowd cheering for them.
QB Hendon Hooker played great last season before suffering a season ending injury. He’s now in the NFL and his former backup, Joe Milton is the starter.
Milton is 6’5, 236 pounds with a very strong arm. He was named the MVP of the 2022 Orange Bowl against Clemson.
The Cavaliers were 3-7 in 2022, which was head coach Tony Elliott’s first season. Tennessee should easily win this game.
Georgia Tech vs Louisville: This is the Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Friday night. Both teams have new head coaches this season. Jeff Brohm was hired to coach the Cardinals in December. He was previously the head coach at Purdue and his record is 36-34.
Brent Key was the interim coach for the Yellow Jackets last season and went 4-4 to become the head coach. I think this will be a close game but I give the edge to Louisville.
21 North Carolina vs South Carolina: The battle of the Carolinas is a neutral site game at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte.
The Gamecocks have Spencer Rattler in his second season as the QB there. Coming out of high school he was the MVP of the Elite 11.
He was also featured on the show QB1: Beyond the Lights. His career initially looked promising at Oklahoma before things fell apart. Let’s see if he can finally put everything together this season and be an elite quarterback.
Drake Maye is the signal caller for the Tar Heels and he’s projected to be the second quarterback picked in the 2024 draft. Last season he passed for 4,321 yards, 38 touchdowns and 7 interceptions.
I think this game will be decided in the trenches so I give South Carolina the advantage.
5 LSU vs 8 Florida State: This game is at Camping World Stadium in Orlando. The Seminoles won this game last season 24-23.
The defense is led by defensive end Jared Verse. He transferred from FCS Albany and in his first season at FSU he had 17 tackles for loss and 9 sacks.
Redshirt senior QB Jordan Travis had a good 2022 season and he’s expected to take the next step this season.
LSU quarterback Jayden Daniels transferred in from Arizona State last season. He was pretty good and led the Tigers to an upset win over Alabama.
I think this will be a close game but I’m picking FSU.
ACC All Gone?
By: Robert Craft
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
The SEC and Big Ten (right now) don’t want to expand and steal someone from the ACC or Pac-12, both commissioners Greg Sankey and Tony Petitti have stated that publicly.
The potential implosion of the ACC or Pac-12 might change that. If the Pac-12 collapses or big names like North Carolina, Florida State, Clemson and the like find a way out of the ACC Grant of Rights, the Big Ten and SEC would be concerned about the other scooping up another big market name, and that changes the dynamic.
Sankey has maintained that the SEC only added Texas/Oklahoma because the schools approached the conference and SEC would have been foolish to pass. (And yes, Notre Dame is the only obvious TV additive right now if you’re the SEC or Big Ten, sorry).
If I’m the ACC, increasing my value is top priority, therefore I wouldn’t fall far behind the Big Ten and the SEC, and keep it that way until at least the end of the decade. Smart conferences will already find new revenue streams in a new and ever-evolving market.
Would a smart conference stay in contact with the Pac-12? Would some sort of scheduling alliance or partnership be available? An eye on the Pac-12; if anyone follows Colorado out the door, it could lead to total collapse.
Already, Florida State, Clemson and others have made it clear that they believe they deserve more (money). Do they see themselves splitting the pie by another four slices? Is it evenly shared? Probably not. Could you do a tiered revenue split and add a western wing? I know things are never as simple as they sound on paper, but I’d explore any option to preserve the brightest future for the program.
Of course, there is always the possibility that someone challenges the ACC’s grant of rights and tries to exit the league. Florida State has a virtual board of trustees meeting soon.
The Seminoles would have to give notice of their withdrawal from the ACC by Aug. 15 in order to compete in a new league by fall 2024 (where would they go? How much is the exit fee?).
If the ACC breaks open, we’ll have a different conversation. The ACC could keep its current membership and become an aggressor in the media profit landscape if 1) they want a fight; and 2) they don’t open up an escape for FSU or Clemson or anyone to get out of the grant of rights.
The ACC corner of realignment is the most intriguing off-field action. The more I watch, the more questions surface. The result of this conflict will set the tone and trajectory for the future of a historically competitive conference.
