The Miami football team is scheduled to play at Florida State on November 13. Prior to playing the Hurricanes, Florida State hosts North Carolina, has a bye week before hosting UMass, plays at Clemson and has a visit from North Carolina State before Miami travels to the state capital. Miami has won the last four against Florida State.
The Hurricanes have dominated the series since ended a seven-game losing streak in 2017. Miami ended the losing streak with a thrilling 24-20 victory in 2017 and followed that up with a comeback from 27-7 down to win 28-27 in 2018. In the last two seasons, Miami has had 27-10 and 52-10 victories over the Seminoles.
Florida State is coming off three straight losing seasons for the first time since recently deceased Bobby Bowden led the Seminoles to a 5-6 record in his first year in 1976. That was the last of four straight losing seasons for Florida State. Florida State was 4-18 in the two seasons prior under Darrell Mudra.
Prior to Mudra, Florida State was 0-11 in 1973 in the final year under Larry Jones. Jones was 15-8 in his first two seasons. Bowden led Florida State to a 10-2 record in his second season that began 41 consecutive years with a winning record. The Seminoles have had three straight losing seasons under three different coaches.
Willie Taggart was 9-12 in less than two seasons before being fired after the Hurricanes victory in 2019. Defensive line coach Odell Haggins became the interim coach for the second time in three seasons and went 2-2 after leading the Seminoles to victories in the final two games in 2017. Mike Norvell was 3-6 last season.
The brutal 2021 midseason stretch for Florida State begins October 9 at North Carolina and culminates at home against Miami on November 13. The stretch is against number nine UNC, number two Clemson, number 35 North Carolina State and number 16 Miami according to the USA Today Coaches preseason poll.
It’s difficult to imagine another team nationally with a more difficult six-week stretch than Florida State has. The Seminoles do have a bye week and then UMass before the Tigers, Wolfpack and Miami football teams appear on the schedule in three consecutive weeks. Miami plays at UNC and NC State on October 16 and 23.
The Miami football team travels to Pittsburgh on October 30 and host Georgia Tech on November 6 before playing the Seminoles. The Yellow Jackets are rebuilding, so Miami should be ready to travel to Tallahassee. Miami cannot look past Georgia Tech, however. After the last two seasons, Miami should be confident versus FSU.
Taggart was clearly over his head at Florida State after a 6-6 record at Oregon prior to accepting the job in Tallahassee. Miami, Clemson, UNC and NC State should all be improved from 2020. The Tigers, Hurricanes, Wolfpack and Tar Heels combined to finish 34-13 in 2020. Norvell has a huge rebuilding job ahead of him.
Based on last season and playing Miami at the backend of an extremely challenging four games in six weeks, the Hurricanes should continue to roll the Seminoles and make it five straight wins in the series. The 52-10 win by Miami in 2020 were the most points scored in the history of the series by either team.