Give @MattZemek a twitter follow and check out his musings on college football at https://www.patreon.com/Zemek.
ACC QUESTION of the WEEK : Which ACC team is better on an all-time scale — 2013 Florida State or 2018 Clemson?
Both teams were awesomely talented. Both teams had gifted quarterbacks. Both teams were led by formidable head coaches who started their tenures in shaky ways but grew into their positions and gained command of their surroundings. (The obvious difference: Dabo Swinney has maintained mastery at Clemson, whereas Jimbo Fisher lost his fastball at Florida State.)
If you were to compare the 2013 and 2018 regular seasons, Florida State was better. The Seminoles never had a close shave akin to Clemson’s escape against Syracuse in 2018, or a tense contest similar to Clemson’s two-point win at Texas A&M (interestingly enough, against Fisher at his new school). Within an examination of the 2013 ACC season, however, the comparison becomes a little more complicated.
On one hand, the 2013 ACC was not much better than the 2018 ACC, if at all. Only one team other than Florida State — 11-2 Clemson — lost fewer than four games in 2013, much as in 2018, only one team other than Clemson — 10-3 Syracuse — lost fewer than four games in 2018. As in 2018 with Clemson burying an overmatched Coastal champion, Pittsburgh, in the ACC Championship Game, so it also was five years earlier, with FSU crushing Coastal champion Duke in the ACC title tilt. FSU dominated the 2013 ACC more than Clemson dominated the 2018 ACC, but both leagues were weak.
The point in favor of 2013 FSU, however: 2013 Clemson was a far better No. 2 team in the ACC than 2018 Syracuse was this past season. That 2013 Clemson team beat an Urban Meyer-coached Ohio State side in the Orange Bowl. Florida State pounded 2013 Clemson, 51-14, in Death Valley. 2018 Clemson survived 2018 Syracuse at home.
Over the course of the 2013 and 2018 regular seasons, Florida State was the greater juggernaut… but that profoundly and dramatically changed in the postseason.
Florida State maintained its claim to greatness by beating Auburn for the 2013 BCS championship, the last championship of the BCS era. Had the Seminoles lost that game, they wouldn’t have been able to maintain a legitimate place in this conversation — but they prevailed, and so as uncertain as that performance was, the full body of work from that 2013 season still gives FSU a convincing argument to make.
Nevertheless: Whereas FSU had to scramble back from a 21-3 deficit to nip Auburn at the wire — an Auburn team, it should be noted, which needed two preposterously lucky plays against Georgia and Alabama to get to the national title game — Clemson curb-stomped unbeaten Notre Dame and 14-0 Alabama by a combined score of 74-19. It did so without Dexter Lawrence, one of the Tigers’ three or four best players.
That is a mic-drop accomplishment.
Yes, FSU fans can say that over a full season from Game 1-14, it did more in 2013 than Clemson did five years later. Yet, the destruction Clemson visited upon two teams with 26-0 (combined) records makes it hard to give Florida State the ultimate edge in this comparison.
It is not an easy call, but Clemson has the better final argument.
Make sure you follow the All Sports Discussion Twitter account at @AllSportsDACC and please like our Facebook Page
Leave a Reply