Back when I was 8 years old, I remember sitting on my couch watching football with my dad. We were watching Florida State play someone on a Saturday night when my dad asked me where I wanted to go to college. I told him I wasn’t sure, but my attention quickly switched from figuring out where I was going to hide the booger I just picked to figuring out what university I wanted to attend. FSU had great uniforms and a player in Deion Sanders that seemed pretty cool so after about 3 minutes of debating between them and Depaul (the only other college I was aware of), I told him Florida State. It wasn’t long after I gave that answer that I started to pay attention to the Seminoles. And when I say pay attention, I mean that very liberally, there wasn’t internet back in the 80’s so I was mostly consumed with GI Joe and making sure I had cool shoes.
Fast forward to my 7th grade year and the start of the 1992 college football season. My best friend growing up was Blake Witzman, a die hard Michigan fan. He liked them because of their cool uniforms but unlike me, the kid actually did his college football homework. He knew everyone on their roster and where they went to high school. In order to talk football with this kid, I studied up myself and dove into being a REAL Florida State fan.
For the next 3 years, I watched as much Florida State football as I could. I lived and died with those great teams. Charlie Ward, Warrick Dunn, Tamarick Vanover, and Derrick Brooks became my idols. I watched them win a National Championship on my living room floor celebrating all by myself, it was a great time in my life and I even had most of my Jr High identifying me with FSU.
Over the years, and with the amount of sports coverage, sports became almost too much to keep up with. I played a lot of baseball, was living in a city where Michael Jordan was becoming a legend, and got really involved with high school extracurricular activities even though my high school was 30 minutes from my house (Go Carmel!). Needless to say, I stopped paying too much attention to Florida State. We had some great times, but I had other stuff going on. Plus, it’s not like I knew anyone that went there or liked them enough to have my parents spend $3K on a family vacation to go see them play. Sure, I rooted for them, but I lost my obsession.
The 2000’s happened and even though FSU was still good and relevant (hey, they won a National Championship in 1999), I was out having a great time on Friday and Saturday nights with the local bar scene to invest any emotion in those teams. I didn’t enjoy Chris Rix or the Miami missed field goals like I should have. But don’t get me wrong, I still watched the games and had a good time when they won, but it wasn’t like 93 where I talked about it all the time.
Then Jimbo Fisher took over for the legend Bobby Bowden and so I thought, why not get back into it? I love college football and wanted to identify with a team again so I decided to be a Florida State die-hard again. So that’s what I did, anytime they were on, I made sure I was watching. And you know what? It kind of sucked. Watching Ponder fumble a snap on a Thursday night against NC State ruined my entire weekend. That’s the risk you run when you emotionally invest in a sports team. Now hear me right, I’m not advocating putting things that deserve priorities in your life like your faith, family, marriage, job, or anything else that’s REAL on hold so that you can watch your favorite college football team play. But if you are going to enjoy sports, and in this case, a college football team’s success, you have to be emotionally invested in them. So, I made the decision after the NC State game, that even though it was awful, I was all in with Florida State again.
This offseason I’ve read and paid attention to everything Florida State, from recruiting, to player interviews, to You Tube highlights from the years I’ve missed. And during this offseason, there has been one game that’s I’ve invested a lot of emotion in and that’s the Oklahoma game this Saturday at Doak Campbell Stadium. Will the Seminoles get revenge from last year’s blow out? Or will the Sooners beat FSU again in another big game? It all remains to be seen but one thing I can tell you is that I’ll be watching the game with my Fear The Spear t-shirt on, rooting for EJ Manuel, Bert Reed, Brandon Jenkins, Greg Reid, and Lamarcus Joyner.
Oklahoma -3.5 at Florida State
Trends
The ACC is 1-32 in their last 33 games against Top 5 ranked teams.
Oklahoma is 4-5 in their last 9 road games, including an 0-3 mark their last 3 trips to the state of Florida.
Florida State has won 10 of their last 11 home games.
Why FSU Will Win
Manuel
EJ Manuel is not only the Seminoles best player on offense, but he’s a REAL leader. This isn’t taking anything away from Christian Ponder, but Manuel is a vocal about the things he does. He’s not afraid to get in the face of a teammate when things take a turn for the worse and you can bet your next paycheck that something early on (a turnover, special teams play, a let up on defense) will happen that forces Manuel to do just that.
Defensive Speed
The FSU defense is fast and can keep with Oklahoma’s high powered offense. Brandon Jenkins will make Landry Jones uncomfortable and force him to throw the ball to the Seminole’s “sharks.” I know Jones is as hyped as a quarterback can be, (he’s definitely a first round prospect) but Greg Reid and Lamarcus Joyner will have something to say about a couple passes he throws in the direction of Ryan Broyles.
Home Field Advantage
Playing at Doak Campbell Stadium will give the Noles the home field advantage they didn’t have in last year’s rout. Seminoles fans aren’t known for creating hostile environments but with the largest crowd in school history expected Saturday night (the student section’s 16,000 tickets sold out in 17 minutes), you can bet your next paycheck that momentum swings will work the crowd into a frenzy and help with Florida State’s cause.
Revenge
Losing last year 47-17 in a game that wasn’t even THAT close has this year’s squad thinking revenge. Lamarcus Joyner said earlier in the week, “We’re hungry. We’re a better team. We’re closer as a family.” Reid chimed in and said when asked about last year, “It was terrible last year. I can’t let my daddy see me play like that. Not at all.”
Not to worry Mr Reid, you won’t have to, I will join your dad in watching Florida State win this one 31-26.
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