While several teams around the country are still competing for the right to either win their conference or represent their side of the conference in a title game, Florida State is already admiring its hardware.
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Following last week’s win against Wake Forest, the Seminoles were awarded the ACC Atlantic Division trophy. With one game remaining in the ACC schedule – this week’s contest against Syracuse – the Seminoles have a two-game lead on nearest competitor Clemson, which also only has one more ACC game remaining.
While receiving the ACC Atlantic Division is certainly exciting – this assures the team’s fourth trip to the ACC title game (2005, 2010, 2012) – the moment was lost on a couple players.
“I didn’t even know we sealed that today,” senior linebacker Christian Jones said. “We just saw the trophy in the locker room. We were like, ‘Oh OK, this is nice.’ We’re happy about it. We’re excited to get back up there to Charlotte.”
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Florida State fans can only hope that getting the trophy before completing the ACC schedule and with three total games remaining in the regular season won’t be a distraction for their national championship-bound team.
“There was a little excitement in the locker room,” sophomore defensive end Mario Edwards Jr. said. “But our goals are much higher than that. We’re excited to win that. But our goals are already set for something bigger than that this year.”
But let’s be honest, with games against Syracuse (5-4), Idaho (1-9) and a beaten up Florida team (4-5) there’s little chance the Seminoles will slip up even if they don’t play their best.
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Graham Watson is the editor of Dr. Saturday on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email her at dr.saturday@ymail.com or follow her on Twitter!Follow @YahooDrSaturday