Thank you Clay Walker.
If there is a way to borrow some of the “free shoes” Florida State players get when committing to Tallahassee, I would be more than happy to kick them while they are down.
There are teams you love to watch lose unless you are from that region...the New York Yankees, the New England Patriots, the Chicago Blackhawks, and there’s a handful in college sports. When Rick Pitino turned Kentucky into a “one-and-done” basketball program, fans enjoy “Big Blue” coming up short in the NCAA tournament every year.
Bobby Bowden took over as Florida State head coach in 1976, when the program was still in Division I-AA. After 34 season, Bowden “resigned” after the 2009 season, which saw the Seminoles finish the regular season with a 6-6 record. Florida State’s win in the 2010 Gator Bowl would be the 389th--and final--victory of the then-80-year-old future Hall of Famer's career. The issue was that Florida State played upwards of five academically ineligible players during the 2006 and 2007 seasons, and the NCAA ended up vacating 12 of those victories.
Bowden’s offensive coordinator Jimbo Fisher took over the reins starting with the 2010 season. The Seminoles won the 2013 BCS National Championship in the final minute over Auburn, while featuring a quarterback you may have heard of in Jameis Winston.
However, we cannot have a Florida State piece without talking several off-field scandals. Winston was cited twice that championship season for shoplifting; once for soda at a Burger King, and the more infamous second for crab legs from a Publix grocery store. There was also a sexual assault charge that mysteriously went away throughout the course of the season, but Winston had no trouble threatening to sue CNN over, and paid the woman (Erica Kinsman) $1 million to settle the civil suit.
Florida State opened this season ranked fifth in the Associated Press Top 25, garnering five first-place votes. The Noles jumped up to third after Oklahoma lost their opener to Houston, before jumping Clemson thanks to the Tigers lackluster performance against Troy.
Then Fisher’s squad proceeded to lose 63-20 on national TV at Louisville. This caused Florida State to tumble to #13. The loss was the largest in NCAA Division I history by a second-ranked school during the regular season. There was no way the Seminoles would lose to a North Carolina squad at home who came in at 4-1, whose most impressive win on their schedule (to date) was a last-second victory last week against Pitt...right?
To borrow the line from Kenny Mayne, “Games are not played on paper...they are played inside TV sets.”
The Tar Heels proceeded to upset the Seminoles 37-35 on a 54-yard field goal as time expired. The Seminoles went up 35-34 with :23 remaining in regulation on a 2-yard TD run by QB Deondre Francois. Then the Tar Heels went 38 yards in just three plays to set up an opportunity for kicker Nick Weiler to win it. Weiler’s missile could have connected from up to 70 yards, as accurate as it was.
The story is not a second consecutive loss in the ACC (which the Seminoles now sit dead-last in the Atlantic Division), or the ending of their 22-game winning streak at Doak Campbell Stadium.
No, the best part of the story is the victory lap Weiler took around the field with his teammates in tow....while doing the famed FSU “Tomahawk Chop,” the most ridiculous chant in all of sports. You would think after blowing a 28-14 lead going into the fourth quarter, and having his extra point blocked when the Tar Heels regained the lead at 34-28 with just over two minutes remaining, Weiler was going to add a little something extra to his redemption. Weiler told reporters he “blacked out” after the celebration, having never run that much in a game in his life. The senior also found time to taunt the Seminole fans with their own chop one more time, after being hoisted up by his teammates once they finally caught up to him.
Florida State was picked by most to once again get to the BCS Playoffs. With games still remaining against Miami, Clemson, and Florida, it’s looking more and more that the Seminoles are about to be chopped out of being away for the start of 2017, once their bowl game comes around.
At least there will be plenty of "clams" to go with their crab legs for dinner on New Year’s Day.
-JC24