FSU and USF Since the First Meeting

Saturday’s late morning match-up against South Florida is seen as little more than a tune-up game for Florida State before it opens ACC play. The Seminoles will head into the contest ranked in the top 10 and open as a 4-touchdown favorite. The first contest between the teams in 2009 however, is one that fans of neither FSU nor USF will soon forget.

Led by a freshman quarterback from Tallahassee in B.J. Daniels, who was making his first career start, South Florida came into Doak Campbell Stadium on the final Saturday in September back in 2009, took a shutout into the final quarter and left with a 17-7 victory. The No. 18 Seminoles hurt themselves with busted coverages and untimely miscues in the defeat, but the Bulls being able to earn the victory wasn’t in reality all that shocking. It did however, serve as a low-point for a program that was once one of the five best in the country on a perennial basis.

During the final four years of the legend Bobby Bowden’s career, the Seminoles were arguably the third best team in the state, but not behind Florida and Miami — behind Florida and South Florida. While FSU finished 7-6 three times in that 4-year span from 2006-09, Florida won three BCS bowls and a pair of national championships and even USF made more noise nationally.

At a time where Florida State was just fighting to keep streaks of winning seasons alive, South Florida was collecting marquee victories over top-25 teams like West Virginia, Auburn and Kansas. In 2007, USF ascended to a No. 2 national ranking by mid-October. From 2006-09, the Seminoles never ranked higher than 15th past the month of September.

Much has changed since that late September contest in 2009. Florida State has won three consecutive ACC titles with a national championship sandwiched in between and is working on its fifth 10-win season in six years.

Meanwhile, USF has won just 10 total games since 2012 and none by more than a single score against an FBS opponent. South Florida is on its third head coach. After firing program patriarch Jim Leavitt for inappropriate action toward a player, the Bulls replaced his successor Skip Holtz with Willie Taggart, who managed to go just 6-18 in his first two seasons in Tampa. While the Seminoles have returned to national prominence, the Bulls have quickly become irrelevant in a conference that is no longer considered a major one.

The idea of South Florida beating the Seminoles now is a laughable one, but on September 26th, 2009, the only folks laughing were wearing green and gold — not garnet and gold. At the time, the 10-point Bulls’ victory looked to be a showdown between a team whose best football days were still ahead and one whose glory years were long gone. What a difference six years can make.