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By Danny Aller, The Sports Xchange TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- Without being baited into any type of trash talk, Clemson defensive end Shaq Lawson volunteered during Monday's media availability that, come Saturday, "We're going to show Dalvin Cook why he should've come" to Death Valley instead of Tallahassee.
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Yup ... it's officially Florida State-Clemson week.
The hate is real in this one, folks, and the tension in the rivalry -- at least in recent years -- is beginning to boil over.
"What else you want? You know what I mean?," Florida State head coach Jimbo Fisher said Monday of the matchup, which has become the marquee game in the ACC every year recently. "The environment, hostility ... They cause chaos."
Each of the last five seasons, the winner of Florida State-Clemson has decided the ACC Atlantic Division champion, and the overall conference champ has been one of these two programs in each of the last four.
In 2013, then-No. 5 (and unbeaten) Florida State had to get through a mammoth test in Death Valley against the then-No. 4 ranked Tigers, who were also undefeated coming in. The Seminoles dominated from start to finish, running away with a 51-14 victory en route to the final BCS National Championship before college football switched to a playoff system in 2014.
Then last year, with the Seminoles defending their title and seeking to reach the first-ever College Football Playoff, it was the Tigers who nearly played spoiler in Tallahassee before then No. 1 Florida State escaped with a 23-17 overtime win against one-loss Clemson, which was ranked 22nd at the time. The Seminoles, of course, stayed unbeaten all year and eventually played in the CFP semifinals, where they lost to Oregon.
Now in 2015, the tables have totally turned.
This time around, it's Florida State (7-1 overall, 5-1 in the ACC) that enters with a blemish on its record and badly in need of a signature win to bolster its resume to get back in the playoff picture. But for the third-ranked Tigers (8-0, 5-0), they're now in the Seminoles' one-time pressure-filled hot seat where the scenario is simple: Win late in the season to stay in the playoff picture -- or likely see those hopes dashed with a loss.
The Tigers, whose offense has put up a combined 114 points the last two weeks against Miami and N.C. State, also enter the game Saturday as 12-point favorites -- and that's the first time in the Fisher era (2010-2015) the Seminoles have been a double-digit underdog at any opponent.
But unlike Lawson, Fisher didn't engage in any banter about Clemson or its players during his Monday media availability. Instead, he had nothing but praise for the team he's about to face.
"I know this, they're an extremely talented football team that plays well and has played very well for a long time," said Fisher, who is 4-1 against the Tigers as a head coach at Florida State. "Playing an outstanding football team. Good in all three phases right now. Playing probably as well as anybody in the country. They got great skill guys, big guys on defense, secondary, linebackers, got guys everywhere. Coached very well. Good special teams. Be a tremendous challenge going up there to play them.
"We play them every year. Seems like it's always a critical game in the year. We got to prepare well, get ready to play well, and hopefully we will."
The Seminoles are coming off a relatively easy 45-21 win this past weekend against Syracuse, which couldn't stop Florida State even with its backup quarterback, junior Sean Maguire, at the helm as he filled in for starter Everett Golson (concussion).
And there-in lies one of the bigger questions this week as Florida State prepares for Clemson: Does Fisher go with Maguire, who beat Clemson last year and threw for 348 yards, three TDs and no picks last Saturday ... or Golson, who's 6-1 as a starter and was ranked second in the ACC in passing before missing last week?
Fisher was non-committal on a starter Monday, saying he'd like to answer the question truthfully if he could -- but right now, he just doesn't know.
"I can't judge that till I see the health of Everett. I hate to say that, decline the question. I don't have enough information. Is he healthy enough to play? Is he playing well during practice? Has he responded well?" said Fisher, who pointed out it would almost be the norm should the Seminoles start a backup QB against the Tigers, who have faced three Florida State backup QBs in the teams' last five meetings (EJ Manuel - 2010; Clint Trickett - '11; Maguire - '14). "We'll have to wait. We feel very confident. We have two guys, we know now they can come in and play very well. Both have had outstanding games throughout this season. Everett has had a 370-yard game. Sean has had a 350-yard game. As I said before, we feel very comfortable with the two quarterbacks in our system."
Whoever Florida State, which has won four of the last five meetings in this rivalry series, puts under center Saturday will be hoping that one other crucial piece of the offense joins him: Heisman candidate and star running back Dalvin Cook.
Cook was held out of last week's game against Syracuse -- not because of his lingering hamstring issues that forced him to miss the final three quarters against Wake Forest and has kept him out of regular practice often -- but because of ankle injury Fisher says he suffered some time during the loss to Georgia Tech on Oct. 24.
Again, Fisher didn't offer much information Monday that shed light on Cook's status against Clemson -- although, it should be noted that Cook and Golson were both listed as projected starters on the Seminoles' "tentative depth chart" released to the media early Monday.
Maguire, however, was the QB taking first-team snaps in practice Monday afternoon.
"Have to wait and see how his injury goes. He is healing up. Dalvin is a miraculous guy (at healing), but we'll have to wait and see," said Fisher, who would certainly like to have Cook's 1,037 yards rushing and 12 total TDs to go along with an average of 8.17 yards per carry and 148.1 yards per game -- good for second in the nation. "The hamstring is actually good. He had no problem with it in the game with Georgia Tech. It was just the ankle. Now he's got to get the ankle healed up."
Prior to the 2013 blowout win, Florida State had lost five in a row in Death Valley, which is widely considered one of the toughest places to play in all of college football.
Fisher began wrapping up his press conference Monday with his thoughts on that.
"The toughest place to play is the ones that have real good players," he said with a smile.
NOTES, QUOTES
PLAYERS TO WATCH:
--RB Jacques Patrick -- Making his first career start against Syracuse on Saturday for the injured Dalvin Cook, Patrick -- a true freshman -- made the most of it with 162 yards rushing on 24 carries, plus six catches for 62 yards, and he scored three TDs -- all career-highs. As a result, he was named the ACC's Rookie of the Week on Monday and will most likely be the primary backup behind the ailing Cook, who the Seminoles are taking a wait-and-see approach for the game against Clemson. Patrick was one of the Seminoles' heralded five-star recruits who Florida State fans have been drooling over since he arrived on campus. And he exceeded expectations and then some in his first career start.
--WR Travis Rudolph -- The former five-star recruit has been open all year it seems -- and finally Saturday, Sean Maguire found him ... again ... and again ... and again. Rudolph finished with a career-high 191 yards receiving and three touchdowns on just five catches, and one of them resulted in a highlight that'll be shown in Florida State hype videos for years to come. After Syracuse took a 7-0 lead in the first quarter, Maguire hit Rudolph for a 75-yard bomb on the first play of the ensuing drive. Rudolph caught the ball between two Syracuse defenders, juked another one and was a few yards from the end zone when he laid the stiff-arm-heard-round-the-country on Orange DB Corey Winfield, slinging Winfield to the ground. Rudolph then broke one final tackle and dove into the end zone. Rudolph also overtook Kermit Whitfield for the FSU team receiving lead with the big performance and now has 35 catches for 501 yards and six touchdowns.
DB Derwin James -- The freshman had a breakout game with a team-high 12 tackles, including two for loss, and a forced fumble. Fisher said it's been awhile since he can remember a freshman having that many tackles in a game and that James has earned his spot as this week's tentative starter at strong safety over Nate Andrews. "I think the more he gets out there, the more comfortable he gets playing," Fisher said. "It's more natural. He feeds off that. He's a competitor. He's a guy that loves ball in every shape and form, loves to compete. He's playing so much, his confidence just keeps growing in what he's doing. He's got a chance to be a really, really good player."
SERIES HISTORY: Florida State leads Clemson 20-8, including winning five of the last seven meetings.
QUOTE TO NOTE: "I told the media earlier in the week that the leaders did a good job of having everybody keep their head up and moving on. (The last-second loss to Georgia Tech) didn't sit well, but we have a new week and a chance to bounce back. I told everybody, we've got to win big and we've got to win out. I was so proud of them. I was very proud of them." -- Florida State defensive lineman Demarcus Walker on the message he and fellow leaders delivered to their teammates on the importance of bouncing back following a heart-breaking loss to Georgia Tech on Oct. 24.
