It’s a top-five matchup Saturday night under the lights in Death Valley with the No.3 Clemson Tigers hosting the No.5 Florida State Seminoles. This is the first top-five matchup of the season, and the second time that College Game Day will visit Clemson’s campus in the first eight weeks.
- When:
Sat., Oct. 19th, 2013 @ 8:00pm ET
- Where:
Memorial Stadium, Clemson, SC
- Who’s Favored?
FSU by 3 ~ 40 o/u @ BetOnline
- More Info:
This is a game that many have had on the calendar since the Tigers defeated Georgia in Week 1 of the season. Since then, Clemson has only appeared to have gotten better behind the senior leadership of quarterback Tajh Boyd.
Florida State has found a leader of their own, but he just so happens to be a freshman. Quarterback Jameis Winston has taken the college football world by storm, as he has Florida State ranked No.5 in the country. Winston ranks high in all major categories of quarterback play, but his best assets might be the intangibles that he plays with on the football field. Things like poise, decision making, and scrambling ability all have led to big plays this year.
Both Winston and Boyd are considered top-five Heisman Trophy candidates at this point in the season, and you have to think that the winner of this one might just shoot right to the top with a good performance.
Florida State is actually favored by three points on the road in this one, so that demonstrates right there the respect that this team is getting.
With two high-powered offenses, this one could come down to the team to make the big play on defense. Whether it’s a turn over, a critical stop, or a score, a defensive play could be the thing that turns the game for one of the teams.
Winston will face his toughest environment yet, as the Clemson fans will not make it easy on the inexperienced freshman to operate. The best antidote for that though is scoring touchdowns, which he has plenty of experience in doing.