Florida State vs. Clemson point spread: Picking Seminoles vs. Tigers

No. 4 Florida State has an opportunity to rightfully dethrone Clemson at home and strip the Tigers of their title of king of the ACC on Saturday afternoon.

Kicking off the Noon slate, most are expecting the Seminoles to cover the 2.5-point spread they’ve been tagged with by Vegas, and Barstool Sports’ Kayce Smith joined On3‘s Andy Staples to discuss her picks and predictions for Florida State vs. Clemson.

Staples isn’t swaying too hard one side or another, as he’s convinced that he hasn’t seen the “real version” out of either of these teams yet this season, but Smith is sticking to her preseason picks for this one.

“Florida State, I had them winning the ACC during the preseason and I’m really high on Jordan Travis,” Smith told Staples. “Clemson surprised me losing in Week 1 to Duke. It was a standalone game, you go out and lost by 21 points — everyone is going be talking about it. The Dabo Dynasty, being in the playoff — is it completely dead? What’s going on?

“I’m scared to see what Clemson is able to do after sitting at home and for two weeks are in the background quietly kicking the hell out of these teams. I think they won by a combined 80 points”

Staples was quick to point out that the Tigers were in fact losing to Charleston Southern in the second quarter during that stretch — but Smith’s point remains. Clemson outscored Charleston Southern and FAU by a combined 114 points to 31.

Those performances don’t mean much on the outlook of the season, but it should have provided two weeks worth of opportunities for Clemson to get back on their feet in preparation for the most important game of their season. This certainly seems to play a role in Smith not being able to let go of Swinney’s history of success in Death Valley.

“It’s still Dabo, right? I understand he’s behind in the transfer portal, I understand that he needs to adapt to this new landscape of college football — but he still knows how to win national titles,” Smith said. “With that being said, I really like Florida State … I think that they win outright but Clemson is a scary storyline if you’re a Florida State fan because it still is Clemson.”

Whether the Tigers pull off the upset at home, or Florida State heads back to Tallahassee as the ACC’s top dog remains to be seem — but both Staples and Smith are picking the Seminoles outright at home. Kickoff is set for Noon ET live on ABC.