Florida State may have pitched its first road shutout in 12 years on Friday night, but the 14-0 victory over Boston College doesn’t seem to have many pundits impressed or FSU fans satisfied.
The fact that the Seminoles were making a long trip on a short week to face a school that had given FSU its toughest regular season game in each of Florida State’s last two perfect regular seasons seems to be overlooked by the fact that FSU managed only one offensive touchdown and 215 total yards.
It’s been the case in each of the Seminoles’ last two wins and ugly games will probably continue to be a trend throughout the 2015 season. Running back Dalvin Cook is quickly establishing himself as a superstar and many feel that wide receivers Travis Rudolph, Ermon Lane and George Campbell have the ability to do likewise, but that won’t mask the fact that FSU is breaking in four new starters along the offensive line and playing with a quarterback getting broken into a new offense.
What’s encouraging is the defense is playing with a hunger that was questioned and in many cases, non-existent, a season ago and the offense for FSU has yet to turn the ball over. The Seminoles are headed into an open date, which will give them plenty of time to fix what went wrong and build on what went right.
The 14-0 final on Friday over a team that had not previously played a FBS school gives little indication of how FSU will finish in 2015. During Florida State’s glory years, the Seminoles had no problem winning low-scoring contests.
In 1996, FSU defeated North Carolina 13-0 while accounting for only 213 yards of offense. The Seminoles averaged nearly 37 points-per-game that season and played for a national championship.
Florida State opened the following year by defeating USC 14-7. FSU went on to average 39 points-per-game and finish ranked third in the country behind co-national champions, Michigan and Nebraska.
Conversely, some felt FSU had issues on the other side of the ball in each of its last two national championship years. The Seminoles had to hold off Georgia Tech 41-35 in Week 2 of the 1999 season en route to becoming the first team to go wire-to-wire as No. 1.
In FSU’s last trip to Boston College, Florida State was forced to overcome an early 17-3 deficit on its way to a 48-34 victory. The 34 points was the most the Eagles had scored against a FBS opponent in nearly four years and led many to question whether Jeremy Pruitt was the right fit for FSU at defensive coordinator. FSU would go on to complete perhaps its most dominant overall campaign ever while yielding the fewest points-per-game in the country.
Ironically, the margin of victory for the Seminoles over the Eagles on Friday was identical to their last trip to Chestnut Hill and in that case, alarmists also questioned FSU’s potency. That’s not to say this season will have any other parallels to 2013, but winning is what constitutes being a champion and there’s been plenty of champions who knew how to win ugly — just as FSU did in its ACC opener.
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