FSU Seminoles

I feel lucky because FSU has had two weeks to work on Western Carolina. Surely, there is plenty of stuff to report about this match up. I guess this was one last going-away present from Athletic Director Dave Hart.
I am not really sure why we took an opening-week bye, but I bet it was some of the same smart thinking that keeps scheduling us in Thursday night games. We have not had much luck with those games. If we can survive the Michigan curse, we should be alright.

Luckily, we are no where near a fifth-place ranking and the only thing WC has in common with Appalachian State is they are both from the Carolinas. Then it is on to Chattanooga, who has obviously made someone very mad. They should be pretty tenderized by No. 4 Oklahoma (their first week opponent) by the time they get to FSU.

Back for some more, it’s the start of a new season.

So is FSU back on track in the ACC? Do we have the talent to make a national championship run? Are our off-the-field troubles behind us? What will it take to get them to leave Coach Bowden alone? What else is left for me to say if we have another up-and-down season? Is this season going to be as wacky as last season with the curse of being No. 2 and all the crazy teams moving to the front? These are the questions I have been trying to answer since the end of last season.

After spending most of the summer fishing, the date to the beginning of Smackdown has been looming over my head like Tropical Storm Fay. Make no mistake, I enjoy these articles and the jabs it stirs up, but having as much passion as I do, laughing has been getting more and more difficult. One thing I have changed is the focus of my articles. This season I will only look at the ’Noles.

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.

As most everyone knows, we are headed to the Music City Bowl in Nashville, Tenn. This is kind of weird for me, because Nashville is one of the two cities I've always wanted to visit - Las Vegas is the other one - so this really is a double treat.

I know it is not a premier bowl, but at least it's in a different place and relatively close. The rough plans for now are to catch the game and then spend a few days enjoying Nashville New Year's parties.

Florida State's plans had better be more businesslike. The Kentucky Wildcats have had possibly their best season in school history, not to mention they are in the SEC, which is arguably the best conference in the nation. Throw in the fact that they also upset Louisiana State - the team that probably will win the National Championship - and you begin to see my concern.

Has anyone ever watched a boxing match where one of the guys is just getting abused? Punch after punch to the head and body and the guy just stands in there and takes it. That would probably best describe the way I feel writing these articles. I bounce around trying to make jabs, but for three years it has been pretty brutal. I do not know if it is because I am so darn stubborn or just stupid.

However, we were beat by a hack. We had no offense, no defense, and no real answer to Florida. Who really cares in a year when Kansas and Missouri are two of the top teams at the end of the season?

If this is not an emotional roller coaster, I do not know what is.

I may have been partly responsible for the Seminoles losing on Saturday. That morning, I actually started to believe and played “What if?” What if the Seminoles beat BC and VT, could they possibly make it to the ACC conference title game? There was an unbelievably slim chance provided there were a few upsets.

All of that was for nothing after the 'Noles took the lead in the second half, then proceeded to fall apart. And by fall apart I mean it looked like the Miami game this year times 10. The irony was that one of the upsets we needed to happen actually did. BC was beaten by Maryland who just happens to be the 'Noles next opponent.

FSU’s ways to salvage a season:

1. Upset a national championship contender. 2. Destroy the Heisman front-runner. 3. Dominate UF!

Two of the three accomplished.

This is where college football gets to be a real pain because of its unpredictability. FSU beats the No. 2 team in the nation and now faces another tough task against Virginia Tech. So we beat BC, and they beat VT, so theoretically, we should not have a problem, right? It should only be that easy.

VT beat BC for 57 minutes until some last-minute heroics by Matt Ryan. VT, in my mind, is a better team than BC. Blacksburg is probably a little tougher than Boston when it comes to places to play. The tangibles were enough last week. This week, unfortunately, the only tangibles are the history and record against VT.
Beating BC the way that we did is almost bittersweet. How can we play so well in sporadic spurts like that? I never thought we were a solid Top 10 team, but how in the world can we play to that caliber one week and then have a week like we did against Wake and Miami? Why, why, why?

To be honest, I was very concerned about the Duke game, and it was not even basketball season. Duke is starting to act like the Vandy of the ACC, and I am not quite sure who we are acting like. I was just hoping we would not be their breakthrough game. Nothing great, nothing exciting, just a simple victory over a team we used to beat by 50. Nothing really to say; besides, I want to save room for some more important matters.

Now down to the extreme business. We could actually go 4-1 these last few games. It will not be easy but it is attainable. The ACC championship is not much of a reality but 8-4 or even better 9-3 is good with all that has gone on this year, right, Eric?

If anyone has Jeff Bowden’s new phone number, I need it.

This game was served up to Miami better than a steak at Ruth’s Chris. It really feels like a bad episode of Punk’d. I actually started chanting, “Overrated,” but I do not think anyone realized I was talking about Jimbo Fisher and not just a drunken lunatic who did not know that the teams playing were unranked. No, I am not turning on him yet, but so far he has not been the miracle we were hoping for.

So what now? What can FSU possibly salvage from this? All we can hope for now is to pitch a few upsets.
Luckily with all of the Top 10 upsets, we have been able to slide off into the shadows without a lot of attention. Surely I am not the only one wondering what is going on with college football. If the push for a playoff system is not felt after this year, then it probably never will.

Could we break the Thursday night jinx? In my previous article, I left out the fact that Thursday night games and the Seminoles have not exactly gotten along as of late. Add the fact that we were on the road and playing with a little bit of a cool snap, and I was a little surprised we even got off the plane.

The first quarter went about as average as you can get for the Seminoles. The good thing is that we did not look as confused as the officiating crew. The second quarter definitely improved for the ’Noles (usually they do not get going until the second half). So surely the second half would be ours. Making a prediction last week was about as stupid as the person who keeps letting FSU play on Thursday nights.