Time for Clemson football to talk about Florida State after final tune-up win over FAU

CLEMSON – Rejoice!

The moratorium on discussing Clemson’s upcoming game against Florida State is over.

Oh sure, the topic has been fair game among fans for weeks or months now, but Clemson’s players and coach Dabo Swinney have been tight-lipped about Saturday’s high noon date with the third-ranked Seminoles.

They have spent the first few weeks of this season not talking about Florida State, lest they incur the wrath of “one game at a time” mantra, but rest assured they’ve been thinking about it.

To a man.

Now they can make it official.

Talking season, Part Deux, is upon us.

Despite Saturday night’s 48-14 victory against Florida Atlantic, at times the Tigers weren’t nearly as dominant as the final score indicated.

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Particularly troubling was the performance of Clemson’s offensive line, which was unable to carve sufficient holes in the Owl’s defensive front even when the yardage required was minimal.

Late in the first half it took the Tigers three plays to score after earning a first-and-goal at the 2-yard line. In the third quarter, Clemson’s run game was stuffed on three consecutive plays after setting itself up with a second-and-one at the Florida Atlantic 4-yard line.

Clemson wound up netting just 19 yards on nine rushing attempts in the quarter and finished with 161 rushing yards against an Owls team that a week earlier was gashed for 151 yards rushing in a home loss to Ohio University.

Florida State’s defensive front surrendered 152 yards Saturday in a 31-29 victory at Boston College, so perhaps the Tigers’ offensive front may be able to glean inspiration from that, but this much is certain – if Clemson doesn’t block better in close-quarter situations than it did against Florida Atlantic, trouble could be brewing.

Clemson's 7-game win streak vs. Florida State at stake

I’m going to go out on a limb here and contend that Florida State’s defensive front is a bit more imposing than that of Florida Atlantic, so it’s imperative that the Tigers muster their best blocking effort of the season if they hope to emerge victorious.

Clemson’s defense, which intercepted three passes, including a 46-yard pick-six by Nate Wiggins to jump-start the Tigers’ scoring, was the strong suit once again, which enabled the ultimate outcome of the game to never really be in question.

Florida State’s offense certainly wasn’t as dominant against Boston College as it had been in its first two games, so perhaps the Eagles’ defensive effort may supply Clemson with at least some semblance of a blueprint for slowing Seminoles quarterback Jordan Travis and Co.

Bottom line: It will require a season-best effort by both the offense and defense if the Tigers hope to extend their seven-game victory streak against Florida State.

Scott Keepfer covers Clemson athletics for The Greenville News and the USA TODAY Network. Email him at skeepfer@gannett.com and follow him on Twitter @ScottKeepfer

This article originally appeared on Greenville News: Time for Clemson to talk about Florida State after tune-up win over FAU