Over 67 years of football action, the Florida State Seminoles have come to be known as a national power. The Seminoles have won three national championships, 27 bowls games while producing numerous consensus All-Americans. While FSU is back on top of the college football world, that was not always the case. Here’s a look back at the Seminoles’ early football days back in the 1940’s and their top victories by season from 1947 through 1949:
1947
N/A
Unfortunately for Florida State, its first football season did not produce a victory. In the only year under head coach Ed Williamson, FSU finished 0-5. The Seminoles were shut out twice over those first five games and did not score greater than six points in any contest. The closest that Florida State came to collecting a win in 1947 was a 7-0 loss to Jacksonville State on October 25th.
1948
Cumberland 0, Florida State 30
October 2nd, 1948
Under first year coach Don Yeller, the first victory for Florida State was a season-opening shutout over Cumberland College. Cumberland of course was victim to one of the more famous shutouts in college football history by losing to Georgia Tech, 222-0 in 1916. The Seminoles would follow up their first ever win with a loss at Erskine the following week, but would win their final six games to finish 7-1 in 1948.
1949
Florida State 19, Wofford 6 (Cigar Bowl)
January 2nd, 1950
After an 8-1 finish to the regular season, Florida State earned its first ever bowl victory in Tampa with a 19-6 win over Wofford in the Cigar Bowl. The Terriers drew first blood on a blocked punt that was recovered in the end zone, but Florida State would dominate the remainder of the contest. The Seminoles rushed for 287 yards while holding Wofford to just 139 total yards. Buddy Strauss paced FSU with 132 yards and a touchdown on the ground while Red Parrish added a pair of scores in the victory. Florida State’s first bowl victory was certainly something to be celebrated as the Seminoles would not win another bowl game until 1964.
