Florida State's Amazing Rise Since 2013 'Showdown' vs. Clemson

Florida State's upcoming game Saturday against Clemson holds a special significance as it relates to the resurgence of the Seminoles program. 

For one, it is the ACC's most nationally relevant rivalry, as Dan Wolken of USA Today Sports writes: 

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It might be bad timing for Swinney, who is 1-3 against Florida State's Jimbo Fisher, but their parallel trajectories have undoubtedly helped energize and legitimize a lagging ACC, giving the league a marquee rivalry at a time when traditionally strong programs like Miami, Virginia Tech and Georgia Tech have dipped.

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But as it pertains exclusively to Florida State, the Clemson game offers some historical markers. 

Eleven months ago to the date, Florida State traveled to Clemson as a five-point favorite, according to Odds Shark. That's the slimmest margin the Seminoles have been favored by in a regular-season game since being a touchdown favorite in a 2012 loss to Florida. 

Of course, we all know what happened between the Seminoles and the Tigers. Florida State jumped out to a 27-7 halftime lead and put things away for good shortly thereafter in a 51-14 rout. Quarterback Jameis Winston launched into stardom (and a bona fide Twitter trash talker) and the "Florida State is back" wagon finally got rolling without catching on fire, as it might otherwise in The Oregon Trail.

That leads to another point: Florida State hasn't been an underdog heading into a game since facing the Tigers in Death Valley in September 2011, a 35-30 loss. And even then, the Noles were a 2.5-point 'dog. Play that game in Tallahassee and the line undoubtedly shifts. 

Yes, Florida State has been a perennial favorite for what almost amounts to three full years. It can be easy to forget, then, that there was a time not so long ago when the results didn't always match the expectations. The Noles weren't always the dominant program steamrolling teams—and all their hopes and dreams along the way—on a weekly basis. 

The inexplicable losses come to mind. There's the 17-16 head-scratcher at North Carolina State in 2012, for which Florida State was a 17-point favorite. There's the 35-30 loss to Wake Forest and the 14-13 defeat to Virginia in 2011. Again, Florida State was a double-digit favorite in both losses. 

But since the Clemson game a season ago, Florida State has done everything expected of them. That's no easy feat given the unpredictable nature of college football, a game played with 18-22-year-olds. 

Not only did Florida State enter the rest of its regular-season games as major favorites—the "smallest" spread was 21 points against Miami—it covered in all but one of them (North Carolina State). 

It's easy to see why. 

The 2013 Seminoles scored the most points by an NCAA team in a single season—723—a record previously held by the 2008 Oklahoma Sooners. The Noles also had the No. 1 scoring defense in the country, according to cfbstats.com, a Heisman-winning quarterback and three consensus All-Americans (Winston, defensive back Lamarcus Joyner and center Bryan Stork). 

Seven players from the '13 Florida State team were drafted into the NFL last spring, one year after 11 players were drafted. The fruits of Fisher's recruiting labor—he's landed a top-10 recruiting class in each year as a head coach, according to the 247Sports.com composite rankings—have been evident. 

The Seminoles have always been talented; it was a matter of everything coming together. 

Not to mention there was significant turnover in the coaching staff heading into the 2013 season. According to Coley Harvey of the Orlando Sentinel, Fisher had six new assistants join the staff following the 2012 season. 

Listing off the accolades gives a new appreciation for the kind of run Florida State is on—and could be on for a while—regardless of what happens against Clemson. 

There is a question mark for that game. Winston has been suspended for the first half following vulgar remarks he made in public this past week. Sophomore Sean Maguire will start in Winston's place. Still, the Seminoles are still a 14.5-point favorite, according to OddsShark.com. 

"He [Fisher] told me to be ready and said the game plan is not changing, this team is not changing, we're going to go out in the first half and do everything we usually would," Maguire said, via Jared Shanker of ESPN.com. "He had all the confidence in the world in me. He expects nothing to change just as so do I. It's a cliché answer but it's true: Nothing really has changed this week."

Including, Florida State hopes, winning big. 

One year ago, that line might have been much, much smaller. Two years ago, there would have been questions about whether Florida State would pull off the win at all without its star player (even if only for a half). Not now. 

Perhaps this says just as much about Clemson as it does Florida State, but Winston's suspension isn't widely viewed, at least in Vegas, as a game changer. 

If Florida State wins comfortably Saturday, it'll come full circle from the Clemson game a season ago—the last time there was even a doubt about the Seminoles' chances. To go a full year as such large favorites, and to live up to those lofty expectations, shows just how far this program has come. 

Ben Kercheval is a lead writer for college football.