Not a bad day for FSU at Music City Bowl, all things considered

With the expectations that I had for FSU in the Music City Bowl, it was as good as a win for me. I know winning is the most important thing, but for me, there are several other factors that can mean a lot. We had the weight of the world on us. A third of the team was still in Tallahassee, the referees made some horrible calls, 90 percent of the fans were Kentucky fans, and we still managed to make it an interesting game.

FSU showed some of the best character of any team I have ever witnessed. We easily could have made every excuse not to play and just go through the motions. However, we choose to make it interesting. I truly believe that how you win or lose is as important as the final score.

I give a lot of credit to Kentucky. They managed to win but we forced them to do everything they could to do it. One might wonder about the "ifs." Would having those players made a 7-point difference or would it have hurt us? Are those the players we do not need? By that, I mean some of their attitudes could be the virus that is dragging the team down. Sometimes you have to tear something down to rebuild it stronger.

As for the "what ifs," there pretty much is no reason to wonder because we will never know. Beside the players and their parents, no one will remember 10 years from now who played and won the 2007 Music City Bowl. Not to disrespect the bowl, but when you walk into the Moore Athletic Center I do not think that is the first trophy you would notice. FSU's loss was sad, but I personally could not have been more proud to be a Seminole as I was Monday night. It is 10 times better to be a huge underdog and almost win, then to be the heavily favored team that loses.

Congratulations to Kentucky, although going to the no huddle to exploit our lack of depth was a little cheap.

Coach Bowden showed what makes him so strong. "Weak people do not have problems," he said before the game. That is similar to one of my favorite quotes of all time, "Tough times do not last, tough men do." Coach on, and keep letting those refs know what irritates you.

As for the other bowls this season, we had them all; the upsets, the blowouts, the "should have won but did not," the "why where they even playing." I was sure we would be an upset like the Illinois game, but after the way we played, I feel that FSU was the best game of any game this season; maybe I am just biased.

Congratulations Trey, UGA should have been playing for it all. Hawaii owes Georgia fans a refund. It would have been much more interesting to have a USC/UGA game and let Cinderella play Illinois, which is another team that was lucky to be in a BCS. I felt it was almost a double insult to slam UGA out of the championship and then give them a team that is looking for a historic win. As for the national champion, I will say LSU will be who I would bet on. However, this is college football, so who knows?