By Will Vandervort.

By Will Vandervort

CLEMSON — Florida State head coach Jimbo Fisher is banking that last year’s experience against then top-ranked Oklahoma will have his fourth-ranked Seminoles better prepared for this Saturday’s atmosphere at Doak Campbell Stadium as No. 10 Clemson comes to town.

Saturday’s 8 p.m. contest is slated as ABC’s/ESPN’s primetime matchup, which has been dubbed as the most important ACC tussle in quite some time. The winner of this game will more than likely be considered a national title contender; while the loser hopes a couple of slip ups from the frontrunner can give them another chance to play for an ACC Championship.

The stakes are so high in fact, ESPN’s College Gameday will be on hand hyping all the festivities in and around the Tallahassee, Fla., area.

“I’m very anxious to watch our guys and see how we respond to this as far as going through all the media and being able to eliminate the clutter of things and keep focused on the ballgame,” Fisher said, “Then, can they still be able to deal with the extracurricular things that are part of this?”

Last year, FSU (3-0, 1-0 ACC) did not handle all the attention too well when Gameday and company was on hand in Tallahassee to broadcast its Top 5 showdown with the Sooners. Oklahoma, with now Clemson defensive coordinator Brent Venables running the defense, shut down the Seminoles and physically man-handle them in a 23-13 victory.

Fisher is hoping things will be different this year.

“I like the attitude in which our kids are taking, the way we’re practicing and preparing,” he said. “We have a huge challenge in Clemson. Clemson is a great ball club.

“This is a very important game for us at Florida State. It’s a very important game for Clemson. It’s a very important game in general. But hopefully, here at our University, you’re going to play in a lot of important games and this is a part of you learning that process.

“Hopefully, we were able to gain some experience from last year’s situations and occurrences and we can still play well in this game and do the things that we need to do.”

ACC’s top passer. When everyone talks about the best quarterbacks in the ACC, people will mention Clemson’s Tajh Boyd, FSU’s E.J. Manuel, Virginia Tech’s Logan Thomas or NC State’s Mike Glennon.

The person no one says is Boston College’s Chase Rettig. But through three games this season, Rettig is actually the conference’s best passer. The junior, who has 21 career starts for the Eagles, has thrown for an ACC-high 951 yards, while completing 57 percent of his passes. He has thrown six touchdowns thus far with only one interception.

“I think Chase has played very well for us,” Boston College head coach Franks Spaziani said. “He’s fit into the system that we’ve put in place for him. He and Doug (Martin) get along very well. I think he’s playing very well.

“I mean, he’s a big-league quarterback we feel. He hasn’t done some of the elite things, but he’s close, and we need to help him. But if he keeps progressing like that, the future is really bright for him and us.”

Rettig also leads the ACC in total offense as he is averaging 311.7 yards per game.

Tough schedule. Has anyone in the ACC had a tougher start to the season than Georgia Tech? The Yellow Jackets will play their third ACC game of the season Saturday when they host Miami at 3 p.m. inside Bobby Dodd Stadium in Atlanta.

Georgia Tech (2-1, 1-1) has already played Coastal Division rivals Virginia Tech and Virginia to open the season, and now they must get ready to play their third divisional game already in this young season.

“We have another division game this week, and  I think it’s important,” Tech head coach Paul Johnson said. “Miami always has a group of great athletes, guys who are good players. Right now they’re 1-0 in the league. They have a road win.

“We’re looking up at them in the conference standings, so it’s a huge game for us. Miami has handled us fairly easily the last couple years. So we have to see if we can’t put our big-boy pants on and play a little better against them.”

Miami (2-1, 1-0) beat the Yellow Jackets 24-7 at Miami last October.

“Last year’s game, we played very poorly offensively,” Johnson said. “But in the second quarter, we put together a 90-yard drive to get the game to 14-7, then we let them return the kickoff, then score with a few seconds left to go up 21-7.

“Then in the third quarter we put together a long drive and lost it on downs. They went down, scored, and the game was over. We have to be in the game.

“I think last year in the game, first half, maybe both teams had the ball four times. When you get it, you have to do something with it. We have not been able to do that.”

They did it a lot in last week’s 56-20 victory over Virginia, and in a 59-3 victory over Presbyterian the week before that. The Yellow Jackets have scored 115 points in the last two games.