Where: Doak Campbell Stadium, Tallahassee

When: Saturday, 7 p.m.

TV: CW Network

Weather: 76 degrees, 25% rain chance

Favorite: Florida State by 30.5 points.

Coaches: Mike Norvell, seventh season at FSU, 38-34 (76-49 overall); Tony Sanchez, third season at New Mexico State, 7-17 (27-57 overall).

Quick slant: FSU is opening up its 80th season of football against New Mexico State, which will earn $1.4 million to play the guarantee game at FSU. The teams have played just once, with FSU taking a 36-0 victory in 1964. FSU has played Week 0 games in 2022 (defeating Duquesne) and 2024 (losing to Georgia Tech at Dublin).

About FSU: The Seminoles have won three of their past four season openers, including a 31-17 victory over Alabama on Aug. 30, 2025. Twins Mandrell and Darryll Desir are among FSU’s eight defensive linemen with FBS experience. That’s not counting the nation’s No. 1 junior college defensive end, Jalen Anderson. Former Seminoles K Sebastian Janikowski, a two-time Lou Groza Award winner, will have his jersey retired during Saturday’s game.

About New Mexico State: The Aggies have 215 combined FBS starts, second in Conference USA to only Liberty (279). QB Trey Hedden is a Tampa native who impressed in two seasons at Furman. The 6-foot-3, 225-pound Hedden threw for a program-record 2,967 yards, completing 68.3% of his passes with 17 TDs as a sophomore in 2025. NM State is 0-10 in its history vs. current ACC schools, including an 0-3 mark against SMU.

THREE THINGS TO WATCH 
All of FSU’s “new” must mesh: The Seminoles have 62 newcomers on a 109-man roster, with the majority of the 23 transfers expected to be in the two-deep depth chart. Add in a few freshmen who should contribute and six new assistant coaches, and it’s fair to expect some speed bumps (communication issues, pre-snap penalties and missed tackles) in FSU’s first game.

Show off a dominant run game: FSU returns Ousmane Kromah and Samuel Singleton Jr. and brings in transfer Tre’ Wisner, who ran for 1,000 yards at Texas in 2024. It doesn’t matter who starts but what will be fun to watch is the rotation and how often FSU uses a two-back set and if each back gets 10 or so carries. This is a game where the Seminoles should run 40-50 times and show off the run game.

Don’t take the helmet lightly: FSU is a heavy favorite and has a considerable talent advantage over New Mexico State, which went 4-8 and finished ninth in Conference USA last year. The Seminoles no doubt have spent camp focusing on fundamentals and SMU, which is coming up on Labor Day, but there shouldn’t be a mindset of overlooking New Mexico State.