9/8/2023 football Edit

ESPN's Kirk Herbstreit believes FSU is capable of winning a national title

Curt Weiler • TheOsceola

Senior Writer

ESPN college football broadcaster Kirk Herbstreit admits that he tries not to jump to conclusions after Week 1 results.

He says he's been burned in the past by putting too much stock into the result of a single game.

But on a conference call with media members Wednesday, Herbstreit couldn't help himself from jumping into the deep end when asked if this FSU team can win a national championship.

"Yeah, the Florida State answer would be 'Yes,' based on everybody that we watched. I try to really reserve judgment until we see these teams play for two or three weeks. I’ve learned the hard way going way back to when I first started, you see a team play once and you’re like, 'Oh my gosh, this is who they are.' And then three weeks later, they’re a completely different team. So trying to keep that in mind. There’s just enough to see from Florida State," Herbstreit said. "Again, a team that won 10 games last year, a team that I think even their own fan base was frustrated with where the program was over the last few years until last year. And this team played with a chip on their shoulder. I expect them to play like that. It’s going to be one of these teams that achieves a big win and it’s not enough. They’re on to the next game. I think there’s enough guys that have been in misery there that they’re not going to get caught up in the fanfare and some of the hoopla that’ll surround them. "

As the color commentator for the ABC broadcast, Herbstreit had an up-close view of the Seminoles' 45-24 season-opening win over No. 5 LSU in Orlando. He saw how many of the boxes that you often look for in a team that has legitimate national title aspirations that FSU checks and saw how the Seminoles throttled an LSU team that was tabbed by many as the SEC West favorite in the second half of the game.

When looking ahead to the College Football Playoff picture, it probably doesn't hurt Herbstreit's belief in FSU that Clemson suffered a staggering 28-7 loss at Duke on Monday night, dropping from ninth to 25th in the AP poll.

"Looking at Clemson, there’s a program that’s trying to figure things out. And of course they play them in a few weeks in Death Valley so that was the one question. If Clemson played great against Duke and they were humming, then you’d wonder about that game," Herbstreit said. "But just looking at those two teams, Florida State’s got to feel pretty good about themselves as they look right now in the ACC. So I’m excited to see what they can do the rest of the year."

The Seminoles host their 2023 home opener Saturday night at 8:30 p.m. (ACC Network) against Southern Miss.