Win/Loss Projections for Clemson, Florida State

CBS Sports’ recently projected win totals for every team in the ACC, picking the Tigers to knock off FSU in the regular season with the two teams having a rematch in Charlotte.

Here is what they had to say about each team.

Clemson 

Over/under 10.0 wins 

• Wins: at Duke, Charleston Southern, FAU, Florida State, at Syracuse, Wake Forest, at Miami, at NC State, Georgia Tech, North Carolina, at South Carolina 
• Losses: Notre Dame 

To pull back the curtain a little bit, placing Notre Dame as a loss is my acknowledgement that predicting any team to 12-0 is a fool’s errand. In other words, I do not see a clear-cut loss on a schedule that is extremely favorable in terms of the home-road draw. Death Valley is one of the best home-field advantages in college football and the Tigers get their three toughest opponents (Florida State, Notre Dame, North Carolina) at home. I think the Fighting Irish are a comparable team to Clemson so we’ve slid that marker over to the loss column, but this is still an easy over play for me. Pick: Over 10 (+105)

Florida State 

Over/under 9.5 wins 

• Wins: Southern Miss, at Boston College, Virginia Tech, Syracuse, Duke, at Wake Forest, at Pitt, Miami, North Alabama, at Florida 
• Losses: LSU, at Clemson

It’s been a half-decade or so since we’ve seen Florida State enter the season with expectations of competing for an ACC title and nearly a full decade since the Seminoles’ last conference crown. But the post-division setup allows Florida State room to drop a regular-season game to Clemson and remain in the conference title hunt, which is exactly what I’m expecting with a projected 7-1 ACC record. The Seminoles will be favored by at least a touchdown in every other conference game, and with the depth that Mike Norvell has built I think this team is prepared to seriously contend for a conference title. Pick: Over 9.5 (-145)