Ranking FSU’s best-ever games: 30-21

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Across 898 games and 80 seasons in the books, there have been plenty of memorable moments in the story of Florida State Seminoles football.

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.

Now, week by week, we’ll be revealing each of the games that you voted as the best in Florida State football history. Last week, we revealed games 40-31 in the series.

Now, things really begin to pick up with 30-21, including some signature Jimbo Fisher (and one Mike Norvell) moments, the end of one of the best coaching careers in college football history and a whole bunch of other history.

FSU’s best-ever games: 30-21

• No. 30: 31–27 over No. 5 Notre Dame (the ‘no-catch’ finish) (2014)

Ask a Florida State fan about the 29-game unbeaten streak surrounding the 2013-14 seasons and they start to get sentimental like Vince McMahon in that one clip. Doubly so because of the current state of things.

But as resilient as that 2014 team was — with its ability to kick things into high gear when needed to pull another win out — the streak would have ended at 21 games were it not for a stunning (but correct) officiating decision against Notre Dame on Oct. 14.

It was No. 2 vs. No. 5 at Doak Campbell Stadium — kind of crazy that a team on a 20-game winning streak wasn’t No. 1 but this isn’t the time for that discourse — and the game lived up to the hype.

Despite a strong game from Notre Dame QB Everett Golson, who would be a Seminole the following season, FSU took its first lead of the game, 31-27, on Karlos Williams’ 1-yard touchdown run with 7:39 left. Notre Dame’s first would-be game winning drive stalled out but the second appeared to find paydirt after a fourth-and-18 conversion when Golson found Corey Robinson for a go-ahead 2-yard touchdown pass with 13 seconds left.

However, an offensive pass interference penalty for a pick play negated the touchdown. The eardrum-shattering eruption when the penalty was announced may be the loudest Doak has ever been.

The ensuing fourth-and-long was intercepted, and the Seminoles pulled off another wild escape to extend their streak after an all-timer.

• No. 29: 45–24 over LSU (season-opening statement) (2023)

FSU’s 2022 win over LSU in New Orleans was a major step forward for Mike Norvell. After two seasons that showed slow progress, it was the first sign of the heights he could build a program to.

That season ended with a 10-3 record and built quite a hype machine around the Seminoles entering 2023. Safe to say they paid that off in the second-half of their neutral-and-neutral series against LSU in Orlando.

No. 8 FSU didn’t just beat No. 5 LSU. It demolished the Tigers, running away with a statement victory. I can’t say I actually remembered until writing this that FSU trailed 17-14 at halftime. The Seminoles responded by rattling off the first 31 points of the second half, pitching a shutout over the final 30 minutes were it not freshman reserves giving up a long touchdown.

Jordan Travis looked like the Heisman frontrunner he had been evolving towards. Michigan State transfer Keon Coleman (122 yards, three touchdown catches) had a debut for the ages. The defense utterly stifled an LSU offense helmed by Jayden Daniels, who would go on to win the Heisman Trophy.

It was a culmination of years of building under Norvell. And one could argue it was the last time FSU was that close to the top of college football given how the season played out and ended.

• No. 28: Orange Bowl, 33–32 over Michigan (2016)

Everyone thought 2016 would be the season FSU’s run of BCS bowl appearances would come to an end.

That team started 3-2, crushed at Louisville with College Gameday in attendance and losing to North Carolina at home on a walk-off field goal. The bloom was starting to come off the Jimbo rose.

But a four-game win streak to finish the season paired with Louisville falling off a cliff paved the way for FSU to make its fifth straight New Year’s Six bowl as a touchdown underdog against No. 6 Michigan.

It was by no means a dominant showing for the 11th-ranked Seminoles. Deondre Francois was 9-of-27 passing for 222 yards. But it was certainly a clutch performance late.

Dalvin Cook, getting an FSU send-off in his hometown, racked up 145 yards and a score. Nyqwan Murray had two catches, both of which went for touchdowns. The defense held Michigan to 252 yards of offense.

The latter Murray score, a game-winning 12-yard touchdown catch with 36 seconds remaining, was set up by what has to be one of the funnier on-field moments in FSU football history, a 65-yard kickoff return by Keith Gavin on a play where his fellow return man, Kermit Whitfield, visibly jumped in frustration when he didn’t stay in the end zone for a touchback.

It’s a good thing Gavin didn’t listen.

• No. 27: Gator Bowl, 33–21 over West Virginia (Bowden’s final game) (2009)

One can quibble with the way it was done, but I think we can all agree it was time for Florida State to move on from Bobby Bowden by the time the 2010 season was winding down.

After FSU won double-digit games every year between 1987-2000, it did so just once in the following nine seasons. That season began with a 2-4 start which included a hapless home loss against USF.

With coach-in-waiting Jimbo Fisher waiting in the wings, waiting any longer could have cost them the chance to keep him.

When FSU went down 14-3 in the first quarter of the Gator Bowl against the Mountaineers, it seemed he wasn’t going to go out in the proper manner. But perhaps understanding of what was at stake, the Seminoles took total control of the game from there, scoring 30 of the game’s final 37 points — with Jermaine Thomas rushing for two touchdowns — over the final three quarters to send Bowden off, fittingly, as a winner.

While it may not have ended in the manner Bowden desired, he was shown the appropriate level of adoration in the moment, carried off the field by his players in front of a pro-FSU crowd grateful to show Bowden love for the man who put their football program on the map.

• No. 26: 28–10 over No. 3 Miami (Devin Bush pick-six) (1993)

After each of the prior two Florida State-Miami games came down to the wire before ending in heartbreak for the Seminoles with missed field goals, they were desperate to not have another game in danger of further heartbreak when the third-ranked Hurricanes came to face the No. 1 Seminoles in Tallahassee on Oct. 9, 1993.

The team delivered and then some, breaking through with a comfortable win against Miami on the way to its first national title later that season.

Sean Jackson set the tone less than four minutes in with a 69-yard touchdown run. Charlie Ward found Matt Frier for a 72-yard touchdown late in the first quarter that gave the Seminoles the lead for good before Ward made it 21-7 with a 2-yard score early in the second quarter.

While it was already close to over at 21-10 FSU in the dwindling minutes of the fourth quarter, Devin Bush drilled the final nail in the coffin with a 40-yard pick six.

It may have been just FSU’s second win in the rivalry over the span of seven straight top-10 matchups between 1987-93, but it came with enough catharsis to last a lifetime.

• No. 25: 37–9 at Florida (snapped a 9-game skid) (1977)

Speaking of catharsis, I wasn’t alive when FSU played at Florida in 1977 but one can imagine that feeling permeated through Tallahassee in the aftermath of this game.

When Bobby Bowden arrived at FSU ahead of the 1976 season, the Seminoles were on an eight-game losing streak against the Gators, with three of those last four losses by 26-plus points.

After his unranked, 2-3 1976 team gave No. 12 Florida a scare in a 33-26 loss, he broke through in Year 2.

His FSU team was ascending, 19th in the AP poll, while Florida was falling, unranked this time. So it wasn’t a total surprise when the Seminoles walloped the Gators in Gainesville.

A 17-9 game at half thanks to three UF field goals was put to bed in a 20-0 second half. Roger Overby caught three of his five career touchdown passes in this game, with Larry Key tacking on 143 rushing yards.

After what had been a one-sided rivalry — UF lost just two of the first 19 games in the series — thanks to Florida’s sizable football head start, this marked the moment when the playing field became essentially level, kicking off a four-game FSU winning streak over the Gators.

• No. 24: Fiesta Bowl, 31–28 over No. 5 Nebraska (McManus-to-Lewis) (1987)

Were it not for a strong comeback and a memorable late touchdown in Tempe, Ariz., FSU’s dynasty run of the late 1980’s into the 90’s may not have begun when it did, if at all.

The Seminoles’ only blemish on their 10-1 season entering this game was a one-point loss to Miami. And yet, third-ranked FSU found itself in a 14-0 hole late in the first quarter against Nebraska after a 62-yard punt return touchdown.

Danny McManus wasn’t rattled by the slow start, throwing for 375 yards — at the time a Fiesta Bowl record — and three touchdowns. The last of those scores, a 15-yard strike to Ronald Lewis, capped off a 97-yard drive and gave the Seminoles the lead for good with 3:07 left.

The win secured a No. 2 finish for FSU in the AP poll, three spots better than it had ever wound up in the final poll. It also marked the start of FSU’s record run of 14 straight top-five finishes.

• No. 23: Sugar Bowl, 23–17 over Florida (’Fifth Quarter in the French Quarter’) (1994)

Some (not me, for what it’s worth) may argue against The Choke at Doak being a top game in FSU football history because all it did was see the Seminoles rally from 28 points down in the fourth quarter to tie rival Florida during the 1994 season.

But in reality, the Seminoles had to wait just six weeks to complete the comeback after they were slated to break the tie and face off against the Gators when both teams were placed into that season’s Sugar Bowl after the fateful tie ended both of their regular seasons.

The first-ever postseason matchup between the in-state rivals was won on the shoulders of a heroic Warrick Dunn performance. He had 182 all-purpose yards and was responsible for FSU’s first touchdown pass, a 73-yard throw to Omar Ellison.

FSU was outgained 454-401 but made up the difference with a 3-0 margin in forced turnovers — including Derrick Brooks’ game-sealing interception — and three made field goals from Dan Mowrey.

If the Choke at Doak and the Fifth Quarter in the French Quarter could be connected into a single game, it may have a strong case for No. 1 on this list.

• No. 22: 31–7 over Florida (snapped a 6-game skid) (2010)

The 2000s were a tough decade to be a Florida State football fan, with the Seminoles fading after their remarkable run while Florida rose to power under Urban Meyer, winning national titles in 2006 and 2008.

The 2010 matchup in Tallahassee, though, marked a turning point back in the Seminoles’ direction. After a six-game losing streak to UF — with four of the six by 27-plus points — it was FSU that laid down the beating this time.

The Gators’ only touchdown came in the first quarter before FSU surged ahead with a 21-point second quarter. Christian Ponder threw for three touchdowns, while UF QB John Brantley — who had the unfortunate honor of following Tim Tebow — completed 6 of 12 passes for 52 yards.

FSU’s defense allowed 276 yards and forced four turnovers.

That this was Meyer’s final game at Florida before announcing he would be resigning as head coach in early December was just the cherry on top.

• No. 21: 35-22 home upset of No. 3 Pitt & Dan Marino (1980)

The two-game stretch that really put FSU football on the map nationally may have come in the middle of the 1980 season.

After an 18-14 road upset of No. 3 Nebraska, the Seminoles, up to 11th in the AP poll, came home to face another third-ranked team, this time a positively loaded Pittsburgh squad which included 23 future NFL draft picks, seven of whom were taken in the first round.

But a Pitt defense which held nine of 12 teams it played that season to single-digit points was no match for Bowden’s offense that day as the Seminoles ran away with a stunning upset.

While Pitt’s Dan Marino would be the one to go onto a career as an all-time NFL quarterback, FSU starter Rick Stockstill owned the day, throwing three touchdown passes with no interceptions. Sam Platt ran for 123 yards and Bill Capece made his first five field goals of the day for the Seminoles, helping them out when finishing drives proved difficult against a stifling Pitt defense.

That wound up as Pitt’s only loss of the season, costing them their chance at a second national title in five seasons as the Panthers finished the season second in the AP poll.

It also set the tone for FSU’s best AP poll finish to date that season at No. 5.

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