In one of the more dramatic finishes of the BCS era, Kelvin Benjamin’s 2-yard touchdown grab against Auburn gave Florida State its first national championship in 14 years. After what some consider a lost decade, Florida State’s rise back to the top of college football was a long, arduous journey. The Seminoles endured three six-loss seasons, an academic cheating scandal and the forcing out of a legend that built the program.
In what will be a 10-part series, we take a look back on events that led to Florida State’s resurgence back to the top of the college football world. After finishing in the top 5 every year from 1987 until 2000, the Seminoles went 13 years without winning a major bowl game. The countdown’s order is mostly chronological rather than in terms of importance. The second half of the countdown begins with an event that was a long time coming for Florida State fans — the Seminoles’ victory over Florida on Senior Day in 2010.
From 2004-09, Florida had defeated Florida State each year. Of the six occasions, the Seminoles managed to stay within 27 points of their in-state rivals just twice.
Florida was coming off of one of the proudest eras in the program’s history. In the previous four seasons, Florida had won a pair of national championships, two SEC crowns and three BCS bowls. The 2010 season however, was not living up to the prior years’ lofty standards.
While there was never an official “state champion” in Florida, dominating the state usually led to bigger things for that school. Miami was Florida’s top team from the mid 1980’s to the early part of the 90’s as well as the early part of the millennium. Over that span, Miami won five national championships. Florida and Florida State duked it out all throughout the 1990’s as FSU claimed two national championships and Florida, one. The Gators would add two more national championships in 2006 and 2008.
Little was on the line from a national standpoint as the teams met at Doak Campbell Stadium in 2010. Florida arrived with a record of 7-4 while Florida State was 8-3. Although the 2010 contest would have no barring on any championship race, reigning supreme in the state of Florida had always previously led to bigger championships.
Florida State head coach Jimbo Fisher was looking to get off to a good start in his first match-up against rival Florida while Florida’s Urban Meyer looked to stay perfect against the Seminoles.
On paper, Florida State appeared to be the better team. The Seminoles drew first blood with a field goal from Dustin Hopkins, but as Florida had done so often in its recent history against FSU, it jumped on Florida State early.
After a big kickoff return, Florida marched 32 yards in five plays for a touchdown. John Brantley’s 20-yard touchdown pass to Robert Clark gave the Gators a 7-3 lead. The opening drive touchdown made Seminole fans unsure that this was finally the year, but the Florida State defense would stiffen and the Gators would never score again.
The Seminoles trailed 7-3 after a quarter, but Florida State used the second period to claim control of the contest and the state. After a Chris Rainey fumble inside his own 20 gave Florida State the ball back, it took FSU just two plays to take the lead for good.
Fullback Lonnie Pryor’s 9-yard touchdown run gave the Seminoles a 10-7 lead. A failed fake punt on Florida’s next possession gave Florida State excellent field position again and before long, the rout was on.
On the first play of Florida State’s ensuing possession, quarterback Christian Ponder found Rodney Smith for a 39-yard touchdown. Ponder would later lead a 12-play, 73-yard drive that resulted in a 15-yard scoring strike to Taiwan Easterling.
Mike Harris’ interception of Brantley in the red zone put an exclamation point on a stellar first half as Florida State took a 24-7 lead into the locker room. After the FSU defense forced a 3-and-out to start the second half, Ponder’s third touchdown pass of the day — 29-yard pass to Willie Haulstead — put the nail in Florida’s proverbial coffin as the Seminoles pulled off a convincing 31-7 victory.
Florida State fell to Virginia Tech in the ACC Championship the following week, but topped South Carolina in the Chick-fil-A Bowl to finish with 10 wins for the first time since 2003.
Meyer would resign as head coach of the University of Florida following the 2010 season and former Fisher colleague Will Muschamp would soon take over.
In Muschamp’s first match-up against the Seminoles, FSU would best Florida 21-7 in Gainesville. Once again, the 2011 contest meant little from a national standpoint, but in 2012, Florida State claimed its first ACC championship in seven years and first BCS bowl victory in 13.
The 2013 season would be a magical one for Florida State as the Seminoles went unblemished by finishing 14-0 and winning the school’s third national championship. The regular season finale resulted in a 37-7 win over Florida in Gainesville — FSU’s largest margin of victory ever at the Swamp. While Florida State had come full circle in 2013, Florida had its worst season in more than three decades, finishing just 4-8.
Though Florida State’s 31-7 win over Florida in 2010 did not have the national acclaim as so many contests between the schools in the past, it did serve as a turning point for both programs. As had always been the case, being state champions in Florida would lead to bigger championships.
After not winning the ACC since 2005, the Seminoles have now claimed back-to-back conference titles. The 2013 season concluded with Florida State’s third national championship and first in 14 years. Under Fisher, the Seminoles are 3-1 against Florida and 4-0 against their second most heated rival, Miami. If Florida State can manage to stay atop the state, odds are that it’ll remain near the top of the country.
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