Gene Frenette: FSU progress under Norvell must include breakthrough win against Clemson
If Florida State’s taking-foot-off-the-gas showing in the second half last week at Boston College is to be viewed as an outlier, then the No. 4-ranked Seminoles better not lose Saturday’s matchup with Clemson for the eighth consecutive time.
All the momentum Mike Norvell’s program has generated in the past year would be significantly diminished if a more talented FSU fails to take down unranked Clemson.
The Tigers, who scored a measly seven points in losing the season opener at Duke, have rarely looked this vulnerable under Dabo Swinney. Their ACC dominance for most of the past decade appears in jeopardy, so the ‘Noles can’t waste this opportunity to finally dethrone the league king that has owned them since 2015.
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FSU returns much of the same offense that had 460 total yards (206 rushing) on Clemson during last year’s 34-28 loss in Tallahassee, but it also came up empty on six consecutive possessions to fall behind 34-14 at one point.
This is the biggest statement game in the career of FSU quarterback Jordan Travis. He returned to school, along with star pass-rusher Jared Verse and several other players, for the specific purpose of winning the ACC and getting into the College Football Playoff.
If FSU loses to Clemson again, any margin for error in pursuit of those goals evaporates. The Seminoles would have to win the rest of their games, including a possible rematch against Clemson in the ACC Championship, to stay in title contention.
Norvell’s rebuilding job at FSU took a first big step out of football darkness when it hung on to beat LSU on the road to open the 2022 season.
If the ‘Noles expect to get the program back to the ACC mountaintop, then it’s imperative to prove they can beat the other Tigers at the other Death Valley.
A Tuscaloosa tussle
You have to wonder if Nick Saban is seeing the beginning of the end of his Alabama dynasty. The Crimson Tide don’t seem to have an answer at quarterback, which was grossly evident in last week’s 17-3 struggle with South Florida.
This is not a misprint: Alabama quarterbacks Tyler Buchner and replacement Ty Simpson combined to complete only three passes of 10-plus yards. The Tide sealed the outcome in the final minute with a 12-play, 80-yard drive in which it ran the ball every play.
Saban is turning back to previous starter Jalen Milroe for Saturday’s home game against 16th-ranked Ole Miss. That matchup got some added spice when Rebels’ coach Lane Kiffin trolled the Taylor Swift song “Castles Crumbling” in a tweet, an obvious jab directed at Saban’s dynasty showing cracks.
Here’s the key Swift lyric from that song: “Once, I had an empire in a golden age, I was held up so high, I used to be great; They used to cheer when they saw my face. Now, I fear I have fallen from grace.”
No room for misinterpretation on that Kiffin social media post.
Cisco knew Parsons was special
Few people had as strong a feeling about the Dallas Cowboys’ Micah Parsons becoming a superstar than Jaguars safety Andre Cisco, who trained with the All-Pro pass-rusher for six months prior to the 2021 draft at a Proactive (At the Marke) rooftop gym near Los Angeles.
“We clicked from the very start because I had some friends at Penn State,” said Cisco, who attended Syracuse, about Parsons’ alma mater. “I was nursing a knee and he was the only other guy training there for me to hang out with, so we got close.”
Cisco, initially projected as a first-round pick before the knee injury dropped him to the third round, isn’t the least bit surprised about Parsons’ success, making All-Pro in his first two seasons. The No. 12 overall pick from the ‘21 draft has emerged as the best under-25 player in the NFL, accumulating 29.5 sacks in his first 35 games.
“It doesn’t even look right, he makes it look so easy,” said Cisco. “He’s a different breed.”
Doug Pederson trivia
Which NFL quarterback has the most wins against Jaguars head coach Doug Pederson? Hint: he has zero losses. Answer at the bottom.
Milestone for “Waino”
As his splendid MLB career winds down, it was fitting Glynn Academy (Ga.) graduate and St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Adam Wainwright got win No. 200 Monday night by having his best outing of the year.
The 42-year-old right-hander, who has struggled in his final season with a 7.40 ERA, threw four-hit, shutout ball in a 1-0 win over the likely NL Central champion Milwaukee Brewers.
His 200 victories makes him only the third pitcher in Cardinals’ history to reach that milestone, joining Hall of Famers Bob Gibson (251, 1959-75) and knuckleballer Jesse Haines (210, 1920-37).
Wainwright is one of only five active pitchers, led by Houston Astros ace Justin Verlander with 255 wins, to hit the 200 mark and he may be the last to do it for quite some time.
The pitcher known as “Waino” has earned a reputation as one of the classiest and most respected players in MLB. You could tell from the reception he received Monday that fans in baseball-mad St. Louis relished seeing him reach that achievement during one of the worst years in history for the last-place Cardinals.
Wainwright has won his last two starts after dropping 10 consecutive decisions. When asked about finally hitting 200 in an on-field interview, he said: “It took me a while to get there, but it made me savor it even more.”
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Gruesome injury for Chubb
While ESPN thankfully didn’t show the season-ending knee injury sustained by Cleveland Browns running back Nick Chubb on Monday Night Football, seeing it on video illustrated why it was best to not put that picture on national television.
From a tough-to-watch standpoint, Chubb’s catastrophe was reminiscent of the broken leg suffered by former Washington Commanders quarterback Joe Theismann — after absorbing a hit by New York Giants star Lawrence Taylor — on MNF back in 1985 for its level of gruesomeness.
Chubb’s injury feels like a season-changer for the Browns, who play host to the Jaguars on Dec. 11. Not many NFL non-quarterbacks are as impactful to their team’s success as Chubb.
Quick-hitting nuggets
A tip of the hat to first-year Miami Marlins manager Skip Schumaker for keeping his team in the thick of a jumbled NL wild-card race deep into September. During the previous seven-year regime with manager Don Mattingly, the Marlins rarely even threatened to be a .500 team — they were 31-29 during the COVID-19 season — and always seemed to fade badly in the homestretch. The Marlins, with 17 players who were members of the Triple-A Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp, went through a rough August, going 10-17, but have rebounded with a 12-7 mark in September to put themselves on the playoff doorstep. Schumaker deserves strong NL Manager of the Year consideration. …
At the risk of being a candidate for Freezing Cold Takes, it seems a virtual impossibility for Aaron Rodgers to return to football in four months if the New York Jets make the playoffs. Honestly, I doubt the Jets’ chances of reaching the postseason with Zach Wilson as their quarterback a lot more than Rodgers defying conventional wisdom by making it back from a torn Achilles sooner than any athlete in history. …
Brothers Charlie and Jon Heck, who played offensive line at The Bolles School and North Carolina, are now collecting paychecks from the Houston Texans. Charlie, who played only one season at Bolles, is recovering from an injury and was placed on the Texans’ PUP list, eligible to return in Week 5. Jon left the UNC strength and conditioning staff this year to be an assistant in the same department for the Texans. Their father, Andy Heck, has been the offensive line coach for the Kansas City Chiefs for the past decade after spending nine seasons with the Jaguars.
Pigskin forecast
Jaguars over Houston Texans by 17 (play-calling doubters); Tennessee Titans over Cleveland Browns by 3 (dog-bone tosses); Baltimore Ravens over Indianapolis Colts by 7 (moving vans); Florida over Charlotte by 25 (“Rocky Stop” karaoke renditions); Florida State over Clemson by 3 (exorcisms); Ole Miss over Alabama by 3 (QB conundrums); Notre Dame over Ohio State by 1 (Sam Hartman flick of wrist). Last week: 3 right, 4 Deshaun Watson referee shoves.
Trivia answer
Russell Wilson has a perfect 6-0 record against Pederson, winning five times when he quarterbacked the Seattle Seahawks against the Philadelphia Eagles from 2016-20, including a 17-9 victory during the NFC wild-card round in 2019. With the Denver Broncos, Wilson also beat Pederson’s Jaguars 21-17 last year in London. Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes is 4-0 against Pederson.
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Statement Game -- FSU football reaching its goals starts by dethroning Clemson
