Clemson will travel to Tallahassee on Oct. 5 for a game against Florida State that could be critical in deciding who will make the ACC Championship Game next season.

Adding even more spice to that key showdown between conference rivals, of course, is the fact DJ Uiagalelei will be playing against his former team.

The ex-Clemson quarterback, who transferred to Florida State for the 2024 season after spending one year at Oregon State in 2023, will have plenty of experience with his new team by the time FSU plays Clemson next fall. But it will certainly be interesting when Uiagalelei and the Seminoles square off against the Tigers at Doak Campbell Stadium.

“Oh yeah, it’ll be an interesting rematch, and I’m sure for DJ, there’ll be some nerves,” ACC Network analyst and former FSU quarterback EJ Manuel said during the ACC Huddle: 2024 Football Schedule Release show.

ACCN analyst Mark Richt added that “it’s going to be just wild to watch, and it’s going to be fun” when Uiagalelei faces off against Clemson after playing for the Tigers from 2020-22.

“I was sitting here going, ‘That is going to be wild.’ It’s going to be almost surreal to see him in that uniform playing against Clemson,” said Richt, the former Miami and Georgia head coach. “Because he had so many wonderful memories at Clemson and so many trying times at Clemson, so a lot of emotion. His life and his family’s life has been at Clemson, now he’s playing that team.

“And you can’t help but, as a teammate, say, ‘I want to help my teammate win this game, I know this means a lot.’ A lot of times you’ll have a coach with his hundredth win on the line, and you want to go just a little bit harder for that coach. But they’re going to want to go hard for this quarterback, DJU.”

Manuel believes the FSU faithful will be fully behind Uiagalelei, as well.

“Not just the team — the fan base is going to go off for him, too, because old team, it’s at Florida State, it’s in Tallahassee, so you’re going to have 86,000 people that are rooting for you to go out there and beat your old team,” Manuel said. “So, I think that sets up well for DJ.”

Manuel was asked whether Uiagalelei should shake hands and interact with Clemson players and coaches prior to the game.

“Yeah, I think you do it before, say what’s up, don’t make it awkward, see you at the end of the game and see where we’re at,” Manuel said. “That’s what I would do.”

Richt, though, would take a different approach if he were Uiagalelei going into the game.

“I’d probably wait till after the game before I’d exchange any pleasantries… As a player, I think you can stay locked in and wait till afterwards,” Richt said.

A former five-star prospect from California, Uiagalelei thrived in a couple of spot starts for Clemson as a true freshman in 2020, but unfortunately, things didn’t quite pan out for him with the Tigers over the next two seasons. He struggled in his first full season as the starting quarterback in 2021 before having an up-and-down 2022 campaign that saw him ultimately lose the starting job to Cade Klubnik in the ACC Championship Game before transferring to Oregon State.

Overall, Uiagalelei went 22-6 as the starter for the Tigers. In 36 career games across his three seasons at Clemson, he completed 59.8 percent of his passes for 5,681 yards and 36 touchdowns with 17 interceptions, to go with 913 rushing yards and 15 rushing touchdowns.

For Oregon State this past season, Uiagalelei completed 57.1 percent of his passes for 2,638 yards and 21 touchdowns with seven interceptions. The 6-foot-4, 252-pounder also had 219 rushing yards and six more scores on the ground.