FSU Football: 2025 Game-By-Game Schedule Predictions

After being snubbed for the 2023 College Football Playoffs, the Florida State Seminoles had a disastrous season in 2024. After a close loss to Georgia Tech in Ireland, everything unraveled. Many unknowns are going into this year, as Mike Norvell has shaken up the coaching staff and brought in numerous transfer players. The FSU Seminoles’ football schedule is manageable with only four teams in the preseason top-25 poll, but can they rebound to challenge for the ACC?

FSU Football: 2025 Game-By-Game Schedule Predictions

August 30: vs Alabama Crimson Tide

The time to take on Alabama is usually the first week, as they are trying to come together as a team. That was taken away by new quarterback Tommy Castellanos, giving the Crimson Tide bulletin board material about them not being as scary without Nick Saban.

Alabama is starting a new quarterback, Ty Simpson, but has plenty of weapons. Being in Tallahassee will help keep it close early, but Alabama has too much talent and will move on with a comfortable win.

Prediction: Loss (0-1)

September 6: vs East Texas A&M Lions

This is a must-win game against a team from the Southland Conference in the FCS. The Lions lost their first five games last year and only won three games for the whole season. This will be a get-right game going into their bye. If this is not a blowout then the wheels might come off early on the season.

The Seminoles will outmatch the Lions with their talent and can hopefully get the team to gel after a tough loss against the Crimson Tide.

Prediction: Win (1-1)

September 20: vs Kent State Golden Flashes

After their bye, the Seminoles get another easy matchup with the Golden Flashes, who lost all of their games from last season. They were last in points per game in the FBS, only scoring a little over 13 points per game. Just like against the Lions, this is another confidence-building game before the Seminoles start their ACC schedule.

Prediction: Win (2-1)

September 26: at Virginia Cavaliers

Virginia had a rough season in Tony Elliot’s first year as head coach. They finished 5-7 and finished 107th in FBS in points per game. They brought in transfer quarterback Chandler Morris, who played at North Texas last season. This is an upgrade for the Cavaliers as Morris had over 3700 yards and 31 touchdowns last year.

Playing on the road is never easy, but the Seminoles have the talent advantage and should be able to run the ball with Castellanos and the duo of Gavin Sawchuk and Ousman Kromah.

Prediction: Win (3-1)

October 4: vs Miami Hurricanes

The Seminoles come back home for the big rivalry game against the Hurricanes. Last year, Florida State lost in this matchup 36-14 and the Hurricanes look to have more talent and the better quarterback.

Castellanos only has played the Hurricanes once in 2023 but that was a big loss where he threw two interceptions. Weird things can happen in rivalry games but even at home the Seminoles take the loss here.

Prediction: Loss (3-2)

October 11: vs Pittsburgh Panthers

The Seminoles did not play the Panthers in 2024 but won against them in 2023 by the score 24-7. Pittsburgh started off 2024 strong with seven straight wins but then would lose the rest of their games including a bowl loss to Toledo. Pittsburgh was top-32 in points scored per game but struggled defensively.

This season, they return quarterback Eli Holstein who in his first year of starting showed some nice things completing 62-percent of his passes and throwing 17 touchdowns. Even though Pittsburgh gave up a lot of points they were top-20 in rush defense. Castellanos and Gus Malzahn’s offenses have struggled throwing the ball in the past, so Pittsburgh will do enough to get a win on the road here.

Prediction: Loss (3-3)

October 18: at Stanford Cardinals

After losing two straight games at home the Seminoles have to go on the road to play the Stanford Cardinals. This should help them right the ship as the Cardinals struggled in the ACC finishing 3-9 in 2024.

The Cardinals offense and defense was equally bad finishing outside the top 100 in both categories. The offense loses their biggest playmaker in Elic Ayomanor who now plays for the Titans. Ayomanor had 1800 yards and 12 touchdowns in the last two years for the Cardinals. This is a game for the offense and defense to get back on track heading into the bye.

Prediction: Win (4-3)

November 1: vs Wake Forest Demon Deacons

With the final stretch of the season, this is an important home game for the Seminoles to win. Wake Forest is in the second year under Dave Clawson and still trying to improve the roster. They will be starting a new quarterback and the options are not great with transfer Robbie Ashford as the leader.

The big thing for the Seminoles defense will be defending the run. Ashford is mobile and Demond Claiborne ran for over 1000 yards last year. Florida State will need to improve of a horrible rush defense that allowed 196 yards per game on the ground last season. Castellanos is better than whatever quarterback the Demon Deacons will be starting so the Seminoles come out with a win at Homecoming.

Prediction: Win (5-3)

November 8: at Clemson Tigers

This could be the toughest game on the schedule going on the road to face the favorite to win the ACC. Last year, the Tigers won easily against the Seminoles 29-13.

Clemson returns a lot of talent on both sides of the ball including Cade Klubnik who started to put it all together last season. They have a stable of wide receivers and running backs that will test the Seminole defense. Clemson was mediocre last year defending the run, so the Malzahn offense will need to get ahead of the sticks and try to win the time of possession battle. Being on the road and the ability of Klubnik is just too much for the Seminoles to overcome.

Prediction: Loss (5-4)

November 15: vs Virginia Tech Hokies

The Virginia Tech Hokies had a disappointing year in 2024. Quarterback Kyron Drones was a sleeper to many to have a big season and the Hokies were a Darkhorse to compete for the ACC championship. The record does not tell the whole story, though, as they lost five games by seven points or less. Drones will look to rebound and transfer running back Terrion Stewart will look to replace Bhayshul Tuten.

This game is the matchup of two similar quarterbacks that have been inconsistent but can have huge games. The homefield advantage helps the Seminoles pull this one out as I trust Castellanos more to not turn the ball over.

Prediction: Win (6-4)

November 21: at NC State Wolfpack

Expectations were high last year for the Wolfpack with quarterback Grayson McCall. However, an injury ended his season after just four games. The team’s WR1, Kevin Concepcion, decided to transfer to Texas A&M. However, they do return their other top three receivers from a year ago.

The Wolfpack’s offense was middle of the road last year while there defense ranked 103rd out of 134 teams in points per game. NC State allowed over 160 yards on the ground a year ago so the Seminoles should be able to have a balanced attack. The Wolfpack offense doesn’t scare you and the Seminoles offense should be able to come away with a win on the road.

Prediction: Win (7-4)

November 29: at Florida Gators

The Seminoles end the season with another rivalry game against the Gators.

In 2024, Florida broke the two-game losing streak against the Seminoles with a 31-11 victory. The Gators started the season shaky last year but ended strong with four straight wins including an upset victories over Ole Miss and LSU. They also struggled at times in passing the ball last year ranking 91st in passing yards per game. However, the Gators hope to see improvement from DJ Lagway in his second year, but the Seminoles defense needs to make them one dimensional by limiting the run game. The Gators will be battle tested by this point and think they will just be too much for the Seminoles to overcome on the road.

Prediction: Loss (7-5)

FSU Football: Final Thoughts on the Schedule

There are a lot of unknowns for the Seminoles this year, including how the relationship with Gus Malzahn and Mike Norvell will work. The FSU football team should be better this year, and have a favorable schedule to be able to get back to a bowl game. Will a winning season be enough to keep Coach Norvell off the hotseat? Only time will tell.