The Daily Nole

The Daily Nole Poll: FSU Fans Expect a Top 25 Finish in Year 1 for Taggart

Clint Eiland/The Daily Nole

While most Florida State fans have spent the last few days basking in the glory of the school’s first softball national championship, the football season is now less than three months away.

With the start of the 2018 season comes the start of the Willie Taggart era. We asked our Twitter followers what reasonable expectations would be for his first season.

The consensus is that fans would be happy with a winning season and top-25 finish. The Seminoles have had a winning season in each of the last 41 years, but finished outside the polls last season for the first time since 2009.

While 66 percent or nearly two-thirds of those who opined said they would be happy with a ranked finish, 20 percent or one in five are expecting a New Year’s Six bowl appearance. The Seminoles had appeared in five straight major bowls prior to last season.

7 percent of those who voted expect an ACC championship and another 7 percent expect a national championship. The Seminoles haven’t won the ACC since 2014 when they completed a conference 3-peat. FSU’s last national championship came a year earlier in 2013.

No first-year head coach has won a national championship since Miami’s Larry Coker in 2001. It should be noted that Auburn’s Gus Malzahn, who lost to FSU in 2013, reached the title game in his first season.

One person replied that he expected a 7-5 finish and no national ranking for the Seminoles in 2018. We’ll have another poll next week.

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

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