To the glee of most college football fans around the country, Florida State’s 29-game winning streak came to a halt Thursday as Marcus Mariota and the Oregon Ducks handed the Seminoles their worst bowl loss ever, 59-20.
It was a frustrating day at the Rose Bowl for those wearing garnet and gold. Florida State didn’t give itself much of a chance at the victory with numerous missed opportunities in the red zone and five second turnovers which led to 34 Oregon points — the most points off turnovers in one half by any FBS team in eight seasons. For FSU, the streak ended Thursday at the place where the Seminoles hoisted the crystal trophy less than a year ago — Pasadena.
While Florida State couldn’t get out of its own way on Thursday, make no mistake about it: the better team won. The loss is certainly anything, but an ideal way for the winningest senior class in FSU history to go out, but what happened in Pasadena takes nothing away from what the Seminoles were able to do over the previous 29 games.
The streak began on the first day of December in Charlotte in 2012. It wasn’t pretty and few believed at the time that it would be the start of the longest winning streak in school history, but Florida State was able to nip Georgia Tech 21-15 for its first ACC title in seven years.
The Seminoles closed the season with their first major bowl victory in 13 years as Florida State pulled away from upstart Northern Illinois in the Orange Bowl, 31-10. Florida State tied a school-record for victories in a season, finishing 12-2, and ranked in the top 10 for the first time in nine years.
On Labor Day in 2013 with a redshirt freshman making his first career start at quarterback, Florida State pounded ACC newcomer Pittsburgh 41-13. That freshman quarterback named Jameis Winston went 25-for-27 passing in his debut for 356 yards and five total touchdowns. The future appeared bright for Florida State, but the notion that the Seminoles were back amongst the nation’s elite was hardly a forgone conclusion.
After a 63-0 win over a ranked Maryland team, scoring the most points ever by a visitor at Clemson in a 51-14 win over the third-ranked Tigers, beat-downs of rivals Miami and Florida, an emphatic 45-7 victory over Duke in the ACC Championship and a Heisman for Winston, it was clear the Seminoles belonged on the national radar.
Against Auburn in the final BCS National Championship, the Seminoles fell behind 21-3, but fought back to show they not only belonged with the likes of the SEC, but were better. Trailing 31-27, Florida State drove 80 yards as Winston found Kelvin Benjamin from two yards to give FSU a 34-31 victory and its first national championship in 14 years — all while snapping the SEC’s streak of seven straight BCS titles.
For 2014, Florida State not only wore a target on its chest as the nation’s top-ranked team in the preseason, but as defending national champions. The Seminoles took everyone’s best shot, becoming the first team ever to win seven games by six points or less.
Bad press and bad starts followed Florida State everywhere it went, but somehow, some way, the Seminoles managed to be victorious in each of their first 13 games. FSU overcame four deficits of at least nine points and five halftime deficits to go 13-0 and claim its third straight ACC title. Over the course of the 2014 season, Wake Forest was the lone opponent the Seminoles outscored in each half.
Week in and week out, Florida State managed to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat as fans from across the country anxiously awaited the moment the ‘Noles would finally go down. On one of college football’s more revered stages Thursday, it finally happened. The villain had been defeated.
Unlike so many games before this season, it became evident midway through the third quarter that Florida State would not be making a comeback. Though it comes with a collective exhale from the rest of the country, Florida State fans can cheerfully look back on what a special run this truly was.
From 1987-2000, the Seminoles finished ranked in the top 5 nationally every single season, winning two national championships during that stretch. The recent winning streak for Florida State broke the previous school record, which spanned 1999 and the early parts of the 2000 season, by 12 games.
While Florida State was enjoying its longest winning streak ever, its two biggest rivals, Florida and Miami, combined to lose 25 times. Florida State’s streak not only consisted of a three ACC titles, two major bowl victories and a national championship, but 10 wins over ranked opponents.
It’s hard to imagine that Florida State’s continued success from 1987-2000 will be paralleled any time soon, but the Seminoles headed into the bowl season undefeated just twice during that span. FSU has done that in each of the last two seasons.
So it goes, the Seminoles have been dethroned. In 10 days, a new champion will take their place. Whether Oregon quarterback Marcus Mariota joins Winston on the list of players to win a national championship and Heisman Trophy or whether Urban Meyer is able to win a national championship at a second school will be determined in Dallas, but the first College Football Playoff trophy won’t be coming to Tallahassee.
From comeback victories to negativity in the media to off-the-field controversies, Florida State’s 29-game winning streak won’t be looked back on with fondness for everybody. But for those who live in that “Tallahassee bubble”, the last two-plus years have been nothing short of special.
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