Great loss for FSU

Tough loss for #5 Florida State tonight at home. Not the end of their season by a long shot. It's early, they hung tough with the best team in the country and they still have a tough ACC row to hoe, with Clemson and Miami in the next few weeks. Of course, the annual rivalry with Florida awaits at the end of the season, so there is plenty of time for redemption.

I expect the Noles to drop a few spots in the polls, but to remain in the Top 10. With some quality wins the next few weeks and the inevitable losses by other top teams, FSU will regain footing in the polls and end with a chance to play in a BCS Bowl.

It was a game of tough bounces and tougher bruises. On the latter, there was a scary moment in the first half where a Florida State receiver got sandwiched at the goal line (reminiscent of Anquan Boldin in the NFL) and laid there motionless for several minutes. That scary moment was followed by a shoulder bruise to starting quarterback EJ Manuel. He would leave the game early in the second half.

In came Chris Trickett, the future of our program. Here's what the ACC Blog on ESPN had to say about Trickett:

Unsung hero of the game: Clint Trickett: Florida State's backup quarterback hadn't thrown a pass in a collegiate game until this season, and against the No. 1 team in the nation, he put his team in position to win. Heading into this game, Trickett had a career stat line that included 7 of 8 passes for 176 yards and three touchdowns. Against Oklahoma, he led the Noles on two scoring drives, one a field goal and another an impressive touchdown pass. He was poised and the offense didn't miss a beat without Manuel. On third-and-28 with just under 10 minutes remaining in the game, Trickett threw a 56-yard touchdown pass to Rashad Greene to tie the game at 13. The Seminoles had struggled all night to generate some offense, and the rookie quarterback came up with the biggest offensive play of the game.

Couldn't have said it better myself.

I was proud of my team tonight. They fought hard for three-and-a-half quarters. The defense at Florida State is FOR REAL! EJ & Trickett could become a two-headed monster as a quarterback tandem. FSU's receivers are for real, too! Count on some high scoring games in the near future with that offensive firepower. I was also proud of the Doak Campbell crowd. Saturday Night Fever returned to Tallahassee tonight. It was loud and raucous! Just wish I'd been there.

Has the Jimbo Fisher era begun at Florida State? I think so, but only time will tell the tale.

I think this Seminole team is the real deal. They deserve a Top 10 ranking. Hell, I think they are the second best team, top-to-bottom, in the entire country. Still holding my head high after a 10-point defeat to Oklahoma. Hope Mark Stoops is, too. Big brother only bested him by two plays tonight.

Countdown to FSU-OU has begun!

Countdown to the big game has begun. We'll begin seeing ESPN GameDay reports from Tallahassee as early as this afternoon. Already, SportsCenter has talked to legendary coach Bobby Bowden to have him weigh in on the contest against #1 Oklahoma this weekend. Bobby says, "Playin' in Tallahassee ain't all that easy!" Let's hope it's NOT easy for the OU Sooners.

I've seen one Facebook friend calling for everyone to wear garnet to the game in Doak Campbell on Saturday. Though I live more than 400 miles away, I can already feel the collective pulse of Tallahassee quicken to the beat of the warchant. Saturday Night Fever returns to Doak in just over 56 hours!

Thankfully, a national audience will be treated to this spectacle of college football by ABC Sports. That means the Seminole Nation, from New York to Hawaii will be able to watch FSU restake its claim among the nation's elite college football programs.

Even the Associated Press is getting swept up in Seminole mania this week. See the recap of FSU's glory years in this piece published by News of the World.

I know my butt will be planted on the couch in front of the flatscreen for all of the pregame through the postgame coverage! I will have a cold beverage in hand and a bowl full of hot wings! I am ready for this game to kick-off already, dadgummit! LET'S GO SEMINOLES!!!

Leading up to the big game: a look back

The Bowden Dynasty at FSU was built on games like this. Historically prominent programs, usually ranked in the Top 10, would face an inferior Florida State team and learn a valuable lesson. Bobby Bowden-led teams don't go down without a fight. Oklahoma learned that lesson in 1976.

While FSU lost the game 24-9 (Tomahawk Nation recaps the scoring on their blog), they fought valiantly with inferior talent in Norman that day. It was a game Bill McGrotha, famed Tallahassee sports writer, thinks the Noles could have won.

"A game in which Florida State seemed to have no chance was one it might have won," wrote McGrotha in his book Seminoles! The First Forty Years.

What's the significance, you ask?

Well, it was Bobby's first year as head coach of the Seminoles. Hopes did not run very high in Tallahassee that year. In fact, the football program was on the brink of extinction after a four-season record of 4-29. That didn't scare Bowden.

He took a young, 0-2 team into Norman and nearly came out with a victory. Some consider this the start of the Bowden Era at Florida State. Will this weekend be the start of the Jimbo Fisher era? It very well could be.

Oklahoma is only a three-point favorite right now and they'll be facing one of the best FSU defenses in a long time. Saturday nights in Doak can be quite exhilirating for fans, yet daunting for opponents. It will be loud and raucous. You may not hear a break in the Warchant all night.

According to ESPN Columnist Mark Schlabach, tickets are already demanding upwards of $1,000 and, as of Monday, hotels are sold out for 60 miles around Tallahassee. To show just how long its been since Tallahassee has played host to this big of a game, it is College Gameday's first trip back in nine years!

So to say that I'm excited is a BIG understatement! I mean here it is Tuesday and I'm already gearing up for the matchup of Top 5 powerhouses. This weekend we get a glimpse into what made FSU football so great in the first place. The foundation of the Bowden Era was laid upon bedrock games like this one. The stones which pay homage to this lie across the parking lot from Doak in the famed "Sod Cemetery." Let's hope we see the dawn of a new era for Seminole Nation!

Forget the Colts, let's talk college ball

With the Indianapolis Colts' season in shambles from the get-go, I see no real reason to rehash the opening week debacle at the hands of the Houston Texans. Suffice to say, the Colts made the Texans look like a SuperBowl-caliber team. They are not.

So let's talk college football, shall we?

Thanks for your permission.

While not Florida State football, Mark Richt is a former offensive coordinator under legendary head coach, Bobby Bowden. I never liked his coaching. If my personal blog were a few years older, you would have heard me bitching about his vanilla playcalling and total uninventiveness (is that a word?).

Richt left Florida State after they captured a second national title in 2000. Yes, he was part of the formula, but let's face it, the Noles were LOADED with talent and led by a 27-year-old, Heisman-winning quarterback! Lee Corso could've won with this team.

When Richt left for UGA, I told anyone who would listen that the Bulldogs would NEVER win a national championship. Why was I so sure? Because Mark Richt is the consummate nice guy. A devoted Christian and family man, he doesn't have one shred of the killer instinct as say...a Steve Spurrier (though I loathe the man) or a Jimmy Johnson. Those guys went after the throat of the other team. I know, FSU lost to both of those coaches more times than I care to remember.

Nice guys don't make good head coaches. And don't let Bowden's "aw, shucks...dadgummit" schtick fool you. They guy was a student of General MacArthur. He lived and breathed football strategy, just like the famed general loved war strategy. And underneath his good-ol-boy charm, Bobby had the heart of a lion. He'd call the endzone fade if there were four seconds on the clock and the School of the Blind was down by 40. That's why I love him, DADGUMMIT!

Mark Richt, though tutored by Bowden, is no Bobby. He'll never have a bronze cast statue on any college campus, nor a field named after him. And let's face it...he graduated from "da U." (Sidebar: Why hasn't anyone else called out their dumbass alum for embracing that stupid moniker? Nearly EVERY SCHOOL has "university" in their name!)

So Richt goes 82-22, a winning percentage of better than 78-percent, in his first eight seasons. The first few years he was feasting off someone else's recruiting. And let's face it, Georgia is a football-rich state, third only to Florida and Texas, in my opinion. If you're "the" state school in Georgia and you cannot land blue-chippers from your own backyard, then you have no business coaching at the collegiate level.

Richt follows up his two SEC titles with a couple of subpar seasons, then starts this year with two painful losses, and YES, people are saying he's on the hotseat. On Football Tickets Online's blog, a guy named Patton begs the question, "Can Mark Richt survive this?" I think the answer is obvious.
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Lacking the skills and killer instinct of his contemporaries (I refuse to use "the old bawl coaches'" name again), he cannot survive another subpar season. Not at Georgia. Those bulldogs are rabid.

Maybe he gets picked up again as an offensive coordinator at a bigtime school. Maybe he steps down from coaching altogether. Again, football is not his number one priority. And while I admire his personal character and priorities, I've never respected him as a coach. And I'll say it again, with more emphasis this time, Mark Richt will never lead a team to a national championship!

Two down, real test to go!

Well I guess the questions after Game 1 were answered. The 34-0 home opner last week definitely showed a little rust, but it was obviously shaken loose by a week of practice. Game 2 saw multiple touchdown passes from both EJ Manuel and backup Clint Trickett, as FSU ran up 62 points on Charleston Southern. To say the offense was clicking is a major understatement. With :05 seconds on the clock, and the third-string QB leading the offense, backup running back Wilder almost broke loose for another score. A shoestring, TD-saving tackle by a Charleston Southern defensive back ended the game and stopped the bleeding.

This was just the sort of tune-up game FSU needed headed into next week. I just hope they don't get too cocky. Oklahoma is #1 and for good reason. Last year, they put a hurting on a hopeful FSU team who thought they had arrived under first year head coach Jimbo Fisher. This year, they should be playing with a chip on their shoulder. If the offense comes out firing on all cylinders like they did this week, it should be no problem putting points up against the vaunted OU defense, "the sharks." In that regard, FSU's D can hold their own. They are fast and hard-hitting like the teams of old. I'm sure Defensive Coordinator Mark Stoops would love to repay his brother, Oklahoma Head Coach Bob Stoops, for last year.

ESPN's GameDay Crew will be on-hand in Tallahassee. I can remember their visits in the early 90's during FSU's heyday. I was front and center for the time they came and set up in the student endzone. That was back when Craig James, aka "The Pony," was sitting in Herbie's chair and I had to get an autograph for my wife. James was the ONLY reason she ever watched GameDay with me on Saturday mornings (once a religious-level ritual for me). This will be their first trip back, sans The Pony, in quite awhile. I hope FSU doesn't disappoint. OU will definitely be on upset alert!

Tune-up for the big game? Check!

Seminoles undefeated? Check!

Time for the first real test of 2011. LET'S GO NOLES!!! <-;;;--------<<<

Is this the end for #18?

Since being drafted by the Colts in 1998, Peyton Manning has not missed a start in the regular season or the playoffs. Number 18 has logged 227 games since then, always lining up under center or in shotgun formation on the Hoosier/RCA Dome and Lucas Oil turf. That streak is coming to an end. Could it also spell the end of a hall-of-fame career?

It would seem that neck surgery last spring will keep Manning in street clothes for this weekend's home opener and possibly longer. Columnist Bob Kravitz says that without Peyton, "the Colts are cooked." I don't know if that is true for the game against the Texans. I assume that given the weaponry of Addai and Wayne, Kerry Collins will find a way to lead Big Blue to victory. Of course, there are a lot of questions at offensive line, but if they can block worth a damn, the offense should be able to score. Oh, and Ryan Diem...stay put until the ball is snapped, please!

I am not worried about one game or one season. I am worried about the waning years of Peyton's career. Will this neck problem sideline him for good? Why is it taking so long to heal after surgery?

I've been worried for years that Bill Polian had no plan for Peyton's exit. He's never courted a decent backup and old man Collins was an act of desperation, a stop-gap measure, if you will. What is the future of this team? Who will carry the coveted franchise tag? Who's even willing to carry the clipboard for #18? We need a long-term solution. We needed it three or four years ago!

C'mon Irsay and Company! I hope this is a wake-up call for the organization.

***UPDATED THURS, 9/8 @ 11:34 A.M.***
Speaking of Irsay, ESPN reports that he just tweeted that Manning will be out "awhile." See what I'm saying? This could be the unwinding of a spectacular career.

First Game Rust?

Let me say right from the start that I'm VERY happy with a shut-out win to start the 2011 season. BUT, the Seminoles didn't quite play up to all the hype or the Top 5 ranking. Shannon J. Owens nails it in the Orlando Sentinel column, "The Seminoles played footsie with the Warhawks when they should have been cutting off their toes."

Courtesy Seminoles.com

The team with national championship aspirations wasn't playing like a contender today. Their first quarter performance was lackluster and uninspired. You'd never know they had a Heisman-caliber quarterback or lightning-fast receivers. As Owens points out quite graphically, they lacked the killer instinct of the Seminole teams of old.

While other top teams were steamrolling their first opponents of twenty-eleven, the Seminoles were settling for punts and field goals. And say what you will about ULM, but they were scheduled to be a cupcake of a home opener. The shutout was nice, but it should have been by 50 points with all the firepower in Jimbo's arsenal.

I don't know if it was the playcalling or the execution, but I was having flashbacks during the the first quarter of the "good ol'" Bowden days...and I'm talking about the infamous Bowden playcaller, Jeff, not Bobby. Some of the vanilla plays early in the game definitely had a hint of Jeffy. Very conservative (as if the Warhawks were just supposed to play dead and grant the Noles 10 yards on every play).

Granted, the Warhawks did put up a fight, but their offense couldn't muster 200 total yards. They laid a golden goose egg on the final scoreboard.

What do we take away from this so-so home opener? Well, a win for one. I am very happy the Seminoles go into Week 2 with a 1-0 record. I was glad to see some flashes of brilliance from EJ Manuel at quarterback. His long, touchdown pass before the half was beautifully thrown and right on the mark! But we're used to seeing those kinds of plays on the first first-and-ten of the game, especially against cupcakes like ULM. So, there's room for improvement. Better playcalling and better execution are a MUST if FSU wants to be taken seriously this season.

Let's go Seminoles!!!