The Daily Nole

Bowl Projections: FSU Trending Toward Miami

Colin Abbey/FSU athletics

Florida State wrapped up the regular season with a 31-13 win over rival Florida to improve to 9-3 on Saturday and keep hopes alive for a 10-win season. To get to 10 wins, the Seminoles would need to win a bowl game and the majority of prognosticators now believe that could be a New Year’s Six bowl.

At the unveiling of the College Football Playoff rankings on Tuesday night, the Seminoles were the highest ranked ACC team outside of the top 4. FSU currently sits at No. 12 — one spot in front of Louisville.

The Seminoles lost to the Cardinals 63-20 to open ACC play, but both teams finished with 9-3 records. FSU concluded the season strong with four straight victories and three straight blowout wins while Louisville suffered embarrassing losses at Houston and to Kentucky at home.

There is a chance that the College Football Playoff Selection Committee could revisit that before unveiling its final rankings on Sunday. For either the Seminoles or Cardinals to have a chance, third-ranked Clemson would need to top Virginia Tech in the ACC Championship on Saturday night. For the time being, the majority of prognosticators anticipate that FSU will get the nod.

ESPN’s Mark Schlabach, CBS Sports’ Jerry Palm, Steven Lassan of Athlon Sports, USA Today’s Erick Smith, Stewart Mandel of FOX Sports and the Sporting News’ Bill Bender all have the Seminoles headed to the Capital One Orange Bowl on Dec. 30 to take on Michigan. It would be FSU’s fifth straight major bowl appearance going back to the BCS era and the first meeting against Michigan since the Seminoles won in Ann Arbor in 1991, 51-31.

ESPN’s Brett McMurphy, Colin Becht of Sports Illustrated and Jason Kirk of SB Nation have FSU headed south, but not quite as far. All three project the Seminoles to be destined for Orlando.

McMurphy and Becht each have Florida State facing LSU in the Buffalo Wild Wings Citrus Bowl on Dec. 31 at Camping World Stadium. It would be the first meeting between the schools since a 27-16 FSU victory in Baton Rouge in 1991. The only previous bowl meeting between FSU and LSU came in the Peach Bowl following the 1968 season with the Tigers winning, 31-27.

Adding to the intrigue of this match-up would be the fact that Florida State head coach Jimbo Fisher recently turned down the Tigers to stay in Tallahassee. Fisher was LSU’s offensive coordinator from 2000-06.

Kirk has the Seminoles destined for the Russell Athletic Bowl on Dec. 28 against West Virginia. FSU defeated the Mountaineers in the Gator Bowl at the end of both the 2004 and 2009 seasons. The latter was the final game in the legendary career of FSU head coach Bobby Bowden.

With conference championships taking place this weekend, it won’t be long before Florida State can stop listening to speculation and focus on its destination. Bowl match-ups will be finalized on Sunday.

Mike Ferguson is the editor of The Daily Nole. Follow Mike on Twitter @MikeWFerguson

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