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Will the winner of the Virginia Tech-Florida State game become a dark horse playoff candidate?
Virginia Tech’s ACC schedule is favorable, except for this game, the one particularly difficult game the Hokies won’t play at home this season. They get Miami at home. They get Georgia Tech at home. If they can knock off Florida State, they will have a much better chance of winning the ACC Coastal Division.
Florida State enters a season of uncertainty under first-year head coach Willie Taggart. The Seminoles don’t lack talent, but they might lack cohesion and a sense of what they are — and what they can become. If they can survive this first test, they might become emboldened and liberated as the 2018 season continues. To be sure, this is a very important season opener for both teams, with considerable upside belonging to the winner. “Potential,” one of the most important words in college sports, magnifies the meaning of the moment for the Hokies and Seminoles.
This could very easily lead a person to think that the winner of this Labor Day showdown could sneak into the playoff picture. That is a fair argument to make. I would not huff and puff and dismiss such a claim…
… but I also can’t agree with it.
The road from Labor Day to early December and the ACC Championship Game is long and arduous. Virginia Tech — due to a lack of depth and experience on defense — and Florida State, with its new coaching situation and unresolved quarterback derby, both face tons of questions this season. Even under the best of circumstances, it is hard to imagine either team doing better than 10-2 through 12 games. There are too many landmines. The ACC is too deep and balanced. Winning the Coastal should be Virginia Tech’s main goal this year (though not an expectation), and winning 10 games would be a great goal for Florida State to achieve. Anything more would be gravy.
Get back to me at the end of October about the playoff chase. Let’s see the winner of VT-FSU put together two solid months of performance before the “P-word” gets used in public company.
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