Whether its the national sports media, local radio hosts or its rabid fan base, people are looking at Florida State a lot differently after its 37-31 win over Oklahoma State than it did last week. As is the case with most teams this time of year, the Seminoles have holes and points of uncertainty.
Looking back on the first week of the college football season, a number of teams in the top 25 and particularly the top 10, struggled to beat some seemingly over-matched opponents. In the grand scheme of things, Florida State may actually have a lot less to worry about than a number of other perceived national championship contenders.
While top-ranked Florida State was holding off the Cowboys in Week 1, Alabama led by just a touchdown in the fourth quarter against a West Virginia team that finished with a record last season that FSU fans love to quote — 4-8. Nick Saban’s vaunted defense allowed 365 yards through the air to a former Florida State quarterback that may have been third on last season’s depth chart had he stayed in Tallahassee.
The conference behind only the SEC in the minds of most is the PAC-12. On Saturday, one of the favorites in that conference and a popular pick to reach the 4-team playoff, UCLA, got all it wanted from a Virginia team that lost its final nine games last season, went 2-10 overall and was winless in ACC play.
With a Heisman hopeful quarterback in Brett Hundley, the #7 Bruins managed a grand total of one offensive touchdown in a 28-20 victory.
Entering the 2014 season, fifth-ranked Ohio State had not lost a regular season game since 2011. Against the Naval Academy in Week 1, the Buckeyes trailed until the 4:10 mark in the third quarter and led by just three with under nine minutes to play in the game.
While Alabama, UCLA and Ohio State all survived in Week 1, the first FBS game of the 2014 season saw a top 10 team go down and the nation’s longest home winning streak end.
Against a Texas A&M team that came in ranked 21st, #9 South Carolina was throttled at home by a 52-28 score. Texas A&M put up 52 points and 680 yards despite losing a Heisman Trophy winning quarterback and two other offensive starters to the first round of the 2014 NFL Draft.
While Alabama and UCLA struggled with teams that combined to go just 6-18 last season, Florida State was holding off what is at worst a perennial top 25 program in Oklahoma State. Granted, the Cowboys are losing a lot from a season ago, but Mike Gundy’s team entered the year having put together three 10-win seasons in four years.
Had it not been for a Thursday night overtime loss to Iowa State in 2011 one day after a plane crash that killed two women’s basketball coaches and rocked the university, it may have been the Cowboys in 2011 and not the Seminoles in 2013 that halted the SEC’s stranglehold on the BCS. Oklahoma State finished 12-1 and ranked second in the country that season.
Though Florida State came away from its Week 1 win with a lot to fix, the simple fact of the matter is that this would have been viewed as an enormous victory had Florida State defeated Oklahoma State in the same fashion on a neutral field early last season or at all during 2012.
Perhaps one of the bigger reasons for the early pessimism surrounding the Seminoles is the way in which they dominated the regular season slate last year en route to a BCS title. FSU defeated each of its first 13 opponents by at least 14 points last season, but Florida State didn’t actually hit its stride until a 63-0 win over a ranked Maryland team in early October.
Though Florida State wound up putting together one of the more dominant seasons in the history of college football, the ‘Noles were largely a work in progress last September. After a 41-13 win over Pittsburgh in the season-opener, Florida State found itself behind to Nevada with under four minutes to go in the first half of its home opener.
Over the next two games, the Seminoles gave up an average of 191 yards rushing to a FCS school in Bethune-Cookman and a Boston College team that won just two games the previous season. Against BC in Chestnut Hill, Florida State was forced to rally from a 17-3 deficit before collecting a 48-34 victory.
The 34 points allowed was the most for Boston College against a FBS school since October of 2009 and it came against a team that would go on to yield the fewest points-per-game in the nation. FSU coaches and players often pointed to that game as a turning point and there is no reason that the season-opener this year can’t have a similar effect.
Florida State’s 37-31 victory over Oklahoma State on Saturday may not have been the most impressive, but it came against a quality program while other perceived championship contenders struggled with lesser opponents. The Seminoles may have some areas of concern, but until a run of three dominant wins over ranked teams in a four-game stretch midway through last season, Florida State also had aspects to shore up.
Although it’s obvious that Florida State isn’t yet in championship form, it has the coaching and talent to get to that point along with something that so few schools have — championship experience.
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