Across 898 games and 80 seasons in the books, there have been plenty of memorable moments in the story of Florida State Seminoles football.<\/p>\n
The challenge we issued to you was helping narrow them down, establishing the 50 best Seminole games. It was a difficult task, but one that you all helped make happen.<\/p>\n
We took one more vote to fully lock in the top 10 matchups in the illustrious history of the program, and while the top three were shoo-ins, the order in which everything shook out was a nice surprise.<\/p>\n
Three national championship wins, program-trajectory-changing victories and iconic plays round out the last of the series.<\/p>\n
FSU\u2019s best-ever games: 10-1<\/p>\n
No. 10: 51\u201314 at No. 3 Clemson (2013)<\/p>\n
If you wanted some indication that Jameis Winston was a special quarterback, you saw that in Florida State\u2019s season-opener vs. Pitt.<\/p>\n
If you wanted proof that Florida State was a special team, that came in the form of its beatdown of the Clemson Tigers on the road.<\/p>\n
Before the game, it was being portrayed as an ACC Game of the Century, the first time since 2005 that a conference matchup would feature two top-five teams. Florida State was seen as potentially a year away in the eyes of many, Clemson seemingly ready to ascend after an 11-win season and led by senior quarterback Tajh Boyd. To break with third-person for a moment, I remember being a guest on a Clemson talk show, where I thought that FSU would potentially win last minute after a Boyd interception. I was laughed off by the radio hosts, who said that the idea of a senior quarterback committing a turnover at home in the biggest game of the season was unimaginable.<\/p>\n
All I could think about after the game was how badly they wished my prediction was what happened, since that would have actually given some sort of relief in the result.<\/p>\n
Instead, FSU dominated each and every minute of the game, announcing itself to the college football world as a death machine, terrorizing the Tigers and clearing out Death Valley in one of the biggest statement wins in program history.<\/p>\n
Telvin Smith forced a fumble on the first play of the game, leading to a Jameis Winston-to-Kelvin Benjamin touchdown two plays later to give FSU a 7-0 lead. Later in the first quarter, Lamarcus Joyner stripped Boyd and Mario Edwards Jr. scooped it up, running it back for another Seminole touchdown.<\/p>\n
Clemson made it 14-7 in the second, but Rashad Greene tore out the Tigers\u2019 hearts shortly after on a 72-yard touchdown run. Florida State led 27-7 after a second Roberto Aguayo field goal to close out the first half, then proceeded to pile it on in the third.<\/p>\n
Outside of Greene shushing the crowd and Winston\u2019s exuberant postgame interview, the most memorable moment of the blowout perhaps came from Nick O\u2019Leary, who demolished a Clemson defensive back to turn a 5-yard catch into a 27-yard run.<\/p>\n
The win, which featured the most points ever scored by an opponent inside Memorial Stadium, snapped a five-game losing streak inside Death Valley for the Seminoles. And, as a bonus, it gave Florida State a hilarious reference for the rest of time, as Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney claimed afterward that \u201cwe\u2019d probably win five, they\u2019d probably win five\u201d if the teams were to play 10 times.<\/p>\n
No. 9: 24\u201321 over No. 1 Florida (1996)<\/p>\n
At the time, it was just the fourth-ever meeting between two undefeated teams in the regular season finale.<\/p>\n
The game against the two undefeated 10-0 rivals opened with Florida State safety Shevin Smith intercepting Florida quarterback legend Danny Wuerffel in the end zone after Wuerffel threw a bad pass off his back foot. FSU would turn and march 72 yards on the back of Dunn and kick a field goal.<\/p>\n
On Florida\u2019s next possession, Fred Taylor took a first-down shovel pass at the 40-yard line and was tackled for a 1-yard loss. On second down, Wuerffel was flushed out of the pocket by Reinard Wilson and Peter Boulware off the edges, then sacked by Connell Spain, though the referees called holding on the play. The penalty was accepted and on third and 23 with 4:43 left in the first quarter, Andre Wadsworth did Andre Wadsworth things, shooting right through the A gap past hapless Florida center Wyley Ritch and absolutely leveling Wuerffel from behind, setting up a fourth-and-forever.<\/p>\n
All-American Peter Boulware proceeded to block the punt, electrifying the record-crowd of 80,932 in what is surely one of the loudest moments ever in Doak Campbell Stadium.<\/p>\n
Florida would try and mount a comeback, cutting the Seminole lead to 17-14 in the second half and missing and a wide-right field goal just before halftime that would have tied it. But in the end, Wuerffel\u2019s 362 passing yards and three touchdowns were all for naught. Mostly because he was harassed all day by the FSU pass rush.<\/p>\n
Three straight carries by fullback Pooh Bear Williams would give FSU a 24-14 lead with 7:15 left to play in the fourth quarter. Wuerffel would cut it to 24-21 with 2:28 to play but the Gators\u2019 NCAA-best scoring offense wouldn\u2019t touch the ball again. Florida State ran out the clock on the No. 1 team in the nation and clinched its second-ever undefeated regular season and a trip to the national championship. After the final whistle, fans stormed the field and tore down the goal posts in Doak, bringing one of the uprights to Lee Corso \u2014 who had picked the Gators to win earlier that day during College GameDay.<\/p>\n
No. 8: 1989: 24\u201310 over No. 2 Miami (Dexter Carter)<\/p>\n
Despite finishing in the top five three different seasons between 1980 and 1988, the reality of the situation in 1989 was that Bobby Bowden and his Barbarians had yet to beat a truly elite Miami Hurricanes squad. Yes, there was the 38-3 shellacking of the defending national champs and No. 4 \u2018Canes in 1984, but the Miami team lost four other games and finished just inside the top 20. By the end of the decade, people were beginning to wonder if Bowden would ever get his team over the Miami hump. 1989 changed that and in a way legitimized the rivalry.<\/p>\n
Of course, the way the season began you never would have guessed this type of performance was coming. FSU opened the season with a 30-26 loss to Southern Miss and followed it up the next week by getting physically dominated at home by a Clemson team out for revenge from the previous year\u2019s Puntrooskie game. At 0-2, the \u2018Noles dropped out of the top 25 for the first time since 1986. But the Seminoles found their footing over the next few weeks. A 41-10 demolition over a top-20 Syracuse team in the Carrier Dome raised eyebrows and a home victory two weeks later over the 11th-ranked Auburn Tigers moved FSU to 5-2, setting the stage for a top-10 showdown in Tallahassee against Dennis Erickson\u2019s undefeated Hurricanes, who came into the game having defeated five of six opponents by 28 or more points.<\/p>\n
In a classic \u201cDoak after Dark\u201d game, the electricity was palpable from the start. A pregame fight where Miami refused to let Osceola and Renegade come to midfield ratcheted the atmosphere up another level and a hit stick of a tackle on the opening kickoff whipped the frenzy even further (I made sure the video below shows the pregame activities). Then Florida State did what they seemed to pull off more than any other program in the country in that era \u2014 landed an uppercut to the chin in round one.<\/p>\n
LeRoy Butler picked off Gino Torretta on the game\u2019s first play from scrimmage after Kirk Carruthers forced a rushed an errant pass. One play later, Dexter Carter smoked the \u201cfastest defense in the country\u201d for a 37-yard touchdown run and pandemonium ensued. For many people the game ends there in their minds. But while Miami was knocked to the canvas, they picked themselves up and made a game of it, at least for a little while. FSU\u2019s defense forced not one, but two stops at the 1-yard line, recovered two fumbles, and controlled the time of possession to shut Miami out after the opening quarter for a 24-10 win.<\/p>\n
FSU used the game as a launchpad, running roughshod over the rest of their schedule. In the playoff era, the \u2018Noles would have marched into the postseason playing the best team in the country and favorites to win it all. Alas, the bowl and poll era did not allow for a title shot, and Miami of all teams wound up winning the national championship anyway. As it is, the 1989 team is still one of just two FSU teams (along with 1996) to defeat the eventual national champs.<\/p>\n
No. 7: 1991: 51\u201331 at No. 3 Michigan (No. 1 vs. No. 3, the Big House)<\/p>\n
By 1991, Florida State was solidly into the era that would later become known as \u201cThe Dynasty,\u201d having finished the season ranked in the AP top four each year from 1987-1990. To put this into perspective, after FSU\u2019s 14 straight, the next longest streak of consecutive years finishing in the top five of the AP poll is seven years (Miami, USC and Oklahoma). So, four straight years was a pretty big deal on its own at the time.<\/p>\n
Nevertheless, there was a large segment of national college football pundits and fans who still didn\u2019t fully place FSU\u2019s program among the sport\u2019s elite. Sure, the \u2018Noles had tremendous athletes with lots of flash and style, and yes, Florida State had done well to beat other southern teams like Miami, Auburn and Clemson, or even a Big Eight power like Nebraska. But this was different. This was a true blue blood of the sport. This was The Big House and Keith Jackson. This was the Maize and Blue with their massive offensive line, pro-ready quarterback, and Heisman favorite Desmond Howard. \u201cLet\u2019s see how those flash and dash boys from Florida handle this\u201d was the general refrain heading into the game. (the first video below shows the entire pregame lead-in and it\u2019s worth a watch if you want a sense of what I\u2019m talking about).<\/p>\n
Three hours later, FSU walked out of Ann Arbor, Michigan, having scored the most points of any visiting team in the Wolverines\u2019 113-year history.<\/p>\n
Terrell Buckley, the latest in FSU\u2019s chorus line of game-changing defensive backs, let everyone know early how this one would go when he stepped in front of Howard on an out-route to house an interception on the second play from scrimmage. (He might have even given LeRoy Butler inspiration for the not-yet-invented Lambeau Leap when he jumped into the arms of Seminole faithful who made the trip north). But it was Bobby Bowden\u2019s high-flying offense that would ultimately steal the show. FSU rolled up 460 yards of offense against the third-ranked team in the country, had three different quarterbacks complete a pass (one of them thrown to Casey Weldon himself), faked a field goal for a touchdown, and senior running back Amp Lee piled up 201 total yards from scrimmage while breaking the ankles of hapless UM defenders all game long.<\/p>\n
Devastating injuries to the offensive line later in the 1991 season capped the offense \u2014 and the season \u2014 at the knees and a national title quest would have to wait a couple more years. But on a picture-perfect late September afternoon, Florida State put on what might be argued as their most entertaining and best offensive performance in the history of the school up to that point.<\/p>\n
No. 6: The Puntrooskie, 24\u201321 at Clemson (1988)<\/p>\n
Florida State knew heading into its matchup vs. Clemson that it might pull out the Puntrooskie at any point.<\/p>\n
The Seminoles were still smarting from an embarrassing 31-0 season-opening loss to Miami. A dominant win over Brett Favre and Southern Miss the next week took the sting out of it a bit, but the high was short-lived as Florida State knew it had another major test on the docket in Week 3 \u2014 No. 10 Clemson.<\/p>\n
And so in the leadup to the matchup, head coach Bobby Bowden decided to install the Puntrooskie, a play he knew was something special after seeing how often it confused his own team in practice. Clemson, in fact, knew that something was coming after LeRoy Butler let it slip to his old high school coach that FSU had cooked up a trick play \u2014 a game of telephone ensued, leading to the Tigers being on watch.<\/p>\n
Clemson largely controlled the game through the first half, leading 14-7 and outgaining the Seminoles 232-71, boosted by a 99-yard touchdown drive to retake the lead.<\/p>\n
The first break for Florida State came in the form of an all-time punt return for a touchdown by Deion Sanders, who called his shot before the kick was even in the air. He took it back 76 yards, floating through Clemson\u2019s punt team with such ease you\u2019d think it was scripted. FSU then took its first lead of the game after FSU wide receiver Bruce LaSane beat out Clemson cornerback Donnell Woolford for a gain of 36 yards to the 1, with running back Dayne Williams punching it in after to make it 21-14. Clemson tied it up with 2:32 on the clock, giving Florida State one last shot at making something happen. The Seminoles, at first, seemed to have squandered the opportunity, first being pushed back on kickoff due to a clipping penalty. FSU picked up just 6 yards, and on fourth and 4, lined up to punt from its own 21, potentially giving Clemson a shot at stealing a win in front of its home crowd.<\/p>\n
Instead, the moment that Bowden had been clamoring for all game finally presented itself.<\/p>\n