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Florida State isn't playing up the underdog card against Clemson

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- No sport manufactures motivation quite like college football. Seemingly each week, leaking out of locker rooms are cries of ceaseless disrespect fueling seasons. A win was ostensibly unattainable until the team rallied around the dubious premise that nobody believed they could win.

“If that’s what makes [players] go, then great,” Florida State coach Jimbo Fisher said. “But if that’s what motivates you …”

The seventh-year Seminoles coach trailed off because he isn’t buying the concept a team prepares or plays any harder because it feels like an underdog. So as one this week, a position the Seminoles have rarely been in the past four seasons, Fisher is saying publicly that it’s not something No.