Will Clemson-FSU Happen? Don't Count on it
Clemson was just the beginning for Florida State.
Not only did the Seminoles refuse to play the No. 3 Tigers on Nov. 21 because of a Clemson player who traveled with the team to Tallahassee but was quarantined and sent home after he tested positive for COVID-19, now their season is essentially over.
FSU hasn't played since Nov. 14. This past Saturday, the Seminoles had just 44 players healthy enough to suit up against Virginia, so they halted that game Saturday morning, just like the previous week against Clemson.
A day later, Florida State announced it wouldn't travel to Duke this week for their scheduled regular-season finale and the game will not be made up. Duke will play Miami this Saturday instead.
It appears more and more that the Seminoles are done with football after eight games, meaning the Tigers will have to wait until next year to face the Seminoles. Here's the current scenario and why it looks impossible that these two ACC rivals will meet in 2020:
- Clemson, which plays at Virginia Tech at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, doesn't have a game scheduled for Dec. 12, but head coach Dabo Swinney refuses to make the trip back to Tallahassee unless the Seminoles fit the bill that cost Clemson $300,000 a week ago.
- The Seminoles have an open date Dec. 12, but they won't be playing Virginia, which has a re-scheduled game against Virginia Tech on that day.
- Those two likely won't be making their game up Dec. 19, the week of the ACC Championship, even though the league is open to allowing other games to take place. Virginia coach Bronco Mendenhall said Monday he, like Swinney, isn't returning to Tallahassee.
- Clemson, meanwhile, will be in the ACC title game against No. 2 Notre Dame in Charlotte that day if the Tigers take care of the Hokies.
- Unless the Seminoles can field enough scholarship players and offer to make trips to either Clemson or Charlottsville, those games are going to be wiped out and their season is complete.
At this point, that's probably for the best. Clemson, according to multiple sources, is still adamant it won't go back to FSU, and with the Seminoles' COVID-19 issues and contact tracing, why would anybody agree to give them a game, especially after what happened last week?
Essentially, the game doesn't really matter. Clemson is still in the ACC title game with a win Saturday even though it'll have a lower winning percentage than Miami because of the ACC's rule change to a head-to-head tiebreaker.
FSU doesn't need the game because they can't accomplish anything this season and would again be a five-touchdown underdog. It does them no good to play Clemson.
It also does little good for Clemson to try to schedule a different opponent like Duke did with Miami. Sure, the Tigers could make a trip up to Duke on Dec. 12 to play a struggling Blue Devil squad, but why? It wouldn't affect the standings, would still cost a lot of money, even without air travel, and cost Clemson an off week to get more time for Notre Dame preparation.
Saturday in Blacksburg should be the Tigers' final regular-season game, and unless the ACC steps in and makes drastic decisions, it will be. And that's fine for 2020.
The bad blood between Clemson and FSU, though, will continue into 2021.
