FSU's Marvin Wilson looking forward to matchup against the Tigers in Death Valley

FSU quarterback James Blackman gets blasted by Tre Lamar.

by David Hood - Senior Writer - Sun Oct 06 08:01:03 GMT-04:00 2019

Florida State defensive tackle Marvin Wilson harbors no ill towards Clemson, and he doesn’t get mad when the national media says Clemson is the lone elite team in the ACC. He simply wants his Seminoles to get better and get back in the conversation.

Wilson is one of the top defensive players in the country, currently sitting third nationally with 20 quarterback pressures. Wilson and the Seminoles travel to Clemson this week to take on the No. 2 Tigers.

The Seminoles (3-2, 2-1 ACC) have bounced back from a tough start to the season and are over .500 for the season and in ACC play after back-to-back wins over Louisville and North Carolina State. Clemson (5-0 overall and 3-0 ACC) defeated North Carolina 21-20 two weeks ago.

The Tigers have opened as a 24.5 point favorite of Florida State, but Wilson told TigerNet back in July that he doesn’t mind Clemson being favored or dominating the conversation.

“Our mindset is that we have to get back in there and take it. We can't be mad about people giving Clemson favoritism,” Wilson said at the ACC Kickoff. “They just won the National Championship. You can't be mad and you can't be jealous. You have to look at the fine print. They went out and they won it last year, they won a championship, and of course, they will be favored coming in. As a player, as a man, you have to work your butt off to overthrow them. They deserve it and they worked their butt off and they earned that spot. So we have to work our butts off and earn that position back.”

Clemson traveled to Tallahassee last season and defeated the Seminoles 59-10. The final result matched the worst loss in program history for the Seminoles, sharing that "honor" with a 49-0 defeat to Florida in 1973. It also stands as the worst home loss in program history and marks the worst loss by Florida State in its series with the Tigers. The previous worst loss at home had been a 58-14 loss to Southern Miss in 1981 and before last year, the Seminoles had never lost by more than 21 points to Clemson in 31 meetings.

Wilson isn’t concerned about last season, however.

“There were a lot of low points last year, but that was last year,” he said. “We are not really dwelling on the past and last year. We are just working on getting better.”

Both teams had open dates last week and now Wilson is looking forward to taking on the Tigers, saying, “I have been circling that one since the schedule came out.”

Wilson was on the sidelines as a recruit when Clemson defeated Florida State 37-34 in Doak Campbell, and he wants that kind of atmosphere for all Clemson-FSU games.

“Watching Clemson versus Florida State has always been special. That is the game I watched when I came in on my first visit,” Wilson said. “Because of that game, I fell in love with that rivalry. That was the fall of 2016. I watched Deshaun Watson break it down in that game. Most of my class was at that game. We saw how the stadium was rocking and the Nole chant. That was one of the top five moments of my FSU career, and I wasn't even playing in that game.”