Brian Burns and Josh Sweat had 16.5 sacks between them last year, and both are very athletic on the end. Tackle Derrick Nnadi is also valuable and had six sacks last season. At cornerback, the Seminoles should be able to get some disruption from All-American Tarvarus McFadden. He came up with eight interceptions last year, and the Seminoles will play five DBs in their base formation. Levonta Taylor and Kyle Meyers are both good defensive playmakers and could potentially start this season at corner and nickel, respectively.

Ricky Aguayo is an accurate field goal kicker, but he lacks distance having hit just 7 of 14 from beyond 40-yards last year. Logan Tyler averaged only 40.3 yards per punt last year, but coaches are saying his hang time helps make up for that low figure, and they also expect it to improve if only incrementally. The special teams will be good, but not great. The fact both punter and kicker bring experience as returning starters is probably the best thing FSU has going for it in those departments. 

The Seminoles should be able to cruise to an ACC title, and certainly college football oddsmakers project such with the favorable conference title odds. FSU does have a particularly tough schedule in drawing Alabama as its opener (in Atlanta), then hosting Louisville and Miami. The only caveat is that the Seminoles do have some down weeks between the elite matchups. 

The Clemson Tigers secured a National title in 2016, but the program finds itself with a tough task in repeating given that it lost star quarterback Deshaun Watson and three other key stars. Deciding who will fill Watson’s shoes at quarterback is priority 1-A for the Tigers, and if they decide to go with junior Kelly Bryant, it can be expected Clemson becomes much more reliant on the run. Bryant threw 18 interceptions already despite not having been starter, but he makes up for it somewhat in being a ground threat in his own right. It may be that Clemson becomes predictable on offense this year, and even with some decent receiving options, there are abundant questions as to whether Bryant can make the most of them at any rate.

Other options exist at QB, though. Clemson could turn to either Hunter Johnson (a true freshman) or redshirt freshman Zerrick Cooper. Sophomore Tucker Israel will be in the picture, too. Regardless of what Swinney decides to do, there is no replacing Watson, who is expected to have a great NFL career after having led Clemson to glory a year ago. The loss of TE Jordan Leggett is huge as well, and the team will also miss RB Wayne Gallman. 

The backfield will instead be made up of the trio of CJ Fuller, Tavien Feaster and Adam Choice. The OL also only returns one starter, which is probably the least of Clemson’s issues, but still a pressing one nevertheless. All of these question marks obscure the talent Clemson as at the WR positions. Despite losing Mike Williams, Clemson returns Deon Cain (14 TDs the last two seasons) and Ray-Ray McCloud. Freshman Tee Higgins is also very promising. Former walk-on Hunter Renfrow should also factor in, and many will remember he caught the title-winning pass against Alabama in the BCS playoffs last year. 
