Booger McFarland claims Florida State 'can beat anybody in the ACC'

There may not have been a bigger surprise in all of college football’s opening weekend than Florida State‘s 31-17 drumming of then No. 8-ranked Alabama in Tallahassee. It rocked the sport.

The Crimson Tide jumped out to a 7-0 lead, but Mike Norvell‘s team responded in a major way. The Seminoles scored 24 unanswered points to take a 24-7 lead with 9:45 remaining in the third quarter and never looked back. Thanks to its big-time win, Florida State has jumped back into the top-15 of the AP Poll Rankings at No. 14.

No. 14 Florida State is one of four ACC teams present in this week’s AP Poll, joined by No. 5 Miami, No. 8 Clemson and No. 17 SMU. Georgia Tech (67), Louisville (59), Duke (4), Pittsburgh (2) and Virginia (2) also received votes.

ESPN‘s Booger McFarland revealed on the Sept. 2 edition of ‘Pardon My Take‘ that he believes Florida State can beat anybody in the ACC this year following its dominant win over the Crimson Tide. This comes one season removed from FSU going 1-7 against ACC teams and two seasons removed from FSU going 8-0 against ACC teams.

“So now you’ve got an offensive coordinator (Gus Malzahn) who talks s**t, you’ve got a quarterback (Thomas Castellanos) that talks stuff and you’ve got a coach (Mike Norvell) that has a little bit of swag to him,” McFarland said. “Florida State may not win a National Championship, but they’ve got an attitude that’s different. When you get 85 guys, however many guys on scholarship, with the right attitude showing up to work, you can accomplish things.

“There’s no doubt in my mind that Alabama is more talented than Florida State, but Florida State showed up with the right attitude and effort. They opened a newly renovated stadium and played that way. Can they beat Clemson? They can beat anybody in the ACC. Wouldn’t it be something that two years after they didn’t get into the Playoff at 13-0 and get into the Playoff this season? That would just be like the right thing for the football Gods to do.”

The Castellanos/Malzahn pairing opened with strong showing

Boston College transfer quarterback Thomas Castellanos had a huge game for Florida State in his program debut. He completed 9-of-14 passes for 152 yards in the air, but made his mark on the ground with 16 carries for 78 yards and a touchdown as part of a high-powered Seminoles rushing attack under new coordinator Gus Malzahn.

Asked about Castellanos’ performance, Mike Norvell said it was emblematic of the way the whole team played. Florida State got it done in all three phases, which shows the payoff of the work the program put in over the offseason.

“It was a complete team victory, and that’s what I love,” Norvell said postgame. “Offense, defense, they showed up big. … That’s what this game is all about. That’s how we train, that’s how we work. They were there for each other and just did a great job together.”

Alabama looked to impose its will on offense with the ground game, but the Florida State defense held strong. The Crimson Tide totaled just 87 rushing yards while Ty Simpson completed 23-of-43 passes for 254 yards and two touchdowns in the air. FSU, meanwhile, totaled 230 rushing yards on the ground – led by the 78 from Castellanos and 56 yards on three carries from Micahi Danzy.

The Seminoles opened the season strong and will look to parlay that performance into another dominant win over East Texas A&M on Saturday. Kick-off is scheduled for 12:00 PM on ACC Network.