Blocked kicks, rivalry chaos and title stakes: FSU’s greatest games Nos 20 through 11

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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 time out, we revealed games 30-21 in the series. This week, we’ve got multiple wins over Miami and Florida, an ACC Championship, a last-second thriller and more.

FSU’s best-ever games: 20-11

• No. 20: ‘The Miami Muff,’ 10–7 over No. 8 Miami (2005)

There are beautifully played football games that deserve to be remembered as works of art.

This was not one of those.

Florida State finished with 170 yards of offense. Drew Weatherford completed 7 of 24 passes for 67 yards in his first collegiate start. The Seminoles were handed first and goal from the Miami 1 after a blocked punt in the third quarter and somehow turned it into a missed field goal.

But after six straight losses to Miami nobody cared about style points.

FSU scored all 10 of its points in the first quarter and spent the rest of the night holding on behind a defense that recorded nine sacks. Miami eventually mounted a 19 play, 81 yard drive and lined up for a 28 yard field goal that would have tied the game with a little more than two minutes remaining.

Instead, holder Brian Monroe failed to handle a low snap. The ball bounced into the pile and kicker Jon Peattie never got the opportunity to attempt the kick.

After years of watching potential victories over Miami sail wide, Florida State finally watched the Hurricanes suffer their own kicking catastrophe.

It was objectively a terrible game. It was also perfect.

• No. 19: 29–24 comeback at Georgia Tech, the fastbreak is born (1992)

Before this game, Charlie Ward was an extraordinarily talented two sport athlete whose future as Florida State’s quarterback remained somewhat uncertain.

One fourth quarter in Atlanta changed his career, the narrative surrounding Bobby Bowden, and the FSU football program.

FSU struggled for most of the night against Georgia Tech and entered the fourth quarter facing a double digit deficit. The Seminoles then stopped trying to force Ward into a conventional offense and allowed him to operate from the shotgun in an aggressive no huddle attack.

The result was the birth of what became known as the fast break offense.

Ward completed 14 of 19 passes for 137 yards in the fourth quarter as Florida State scored 20 points. His late touchdown pass to Kez McCorvey completed the 29–24 comeback and kept the Seminoles unbeaten in their first season as an ACC member.

The offense was hardly invented from nothing that night, but the Georgia Tech comeback showed Bobby Bowden and his staff how devastating Ward could be when given control of the tempo and the freedom to distribute the ball across the field.

A year later, Ward would operate an evolved version of that offense while winning the Heisman Trophy and Florida State’s first national championship.

• No. 18: 20–19 at Miami (Hard Rock Block) (2016)

Florida State entered this game at 3–2 and one week removed from losing its 22 game home winning streak when North Carolina made a 54 yard field goal as time expired.

The Seminoles then fell behind Miami 13–0.

With the season beginning to wobble, Deondre Francois returned after leaving the game shaken up and helped lead the comeback. Dalvin Cook rushed for 150 yards and turned a short pass into a 59 yard touchdown. Kermit Whitfield’s 20 yard touchdown reception gave FSU the lead in the third quarter.

Miami still had one final response.

Brad Kaaya found Stacy Coley for an 11 yard touchdown with 1:38 remaining, pulling the Hurricanes within one point. An extra point would have tied the game and likely sent it to overtime.

DeMarcus Walker had other plans.

Walker powered through the protection and extended his arm just far enough to block Michael Badgley’s kick, preserving FSU’s seventh consecutive victory over Miami.

The Hurricanes had spent the evening celebrating the 25th anniversary of Wide Right I. They ended it watching another rivalry game decided by a kick, only this time Florida State was celebrating.

College football has a cruel sense of humor. It is one of the sport’s better qualities.

• No. 17: Sugar Bowl, 13–7 over No. 2 Auburn (Deion Sanders) (1988)

Florida State’s 1988 season began with arguably the most humiliating loss of the Bowden era, a 31–0 defeat at Miami after the Seminoles opened the year ranked No. 1.

They responded by winning every remaining game.

The final victory came against an Auburn defense that entered the Sugar Bowl allowing just 63.2 rushing yards per game. Florida State immediately attacked that strength, driving 84 yards for a touchdown on its opening possession before building a 13–0 lead.

Auburn cut the margin to 13–7 before halftime, and the score remained there as FSU repeatedly failed to put the game away. That left the Tigers with one final opportunity.

Starting from its own 4 yard line, Auburn converted three fourth downs and advanced to the FSU 22 with 12 seconds remaining. Quarterback Reggie Slack then lofted a potential game winning touchdown toward Lawyer Tillman in the end zone.

Deion Sanders appeared in front of Tillman and intercepted it.

It was a fitting conclusion to Sanders’ Florida State football career. The best defensive back in the country ended his final game by taking away the opponent’s final chance to win.

After beginning the season with a shutout loss to its biggest rival, Florida State finished No. 3 in the country with 11 consecutive wins. That is one way to recover.

• No. 16: 31–28 over Miami (the 4th-and-14 conversion) (2021)

Florida State entered this game 3–6 after starting the season 0–4. Miami had won four straight in the rivalry, and patience with the early stages of Mike Norvell’s rebuild was beginning to wear thin.

For one night, none of that mattered.

FSU surged to a 17–0 lead and took a 20–7 advantage into halftime. Then the familiar dread returned. Miami scored 21 unanswered second half points and led 28–20 with 11 minutes remaining.

The Seminoles cut the deficit to five and forced a punt, giving Jordan Travis the ball with 2:09 left.

Travis opened the drive with a 59 yard completion to Ja’Khi Douglas, but three unsuccessful plays left FSU facing fourth and 14 from the Miami 25.

Travis stood in the pocket and delivered to Andrew Parchment, who fought through a defender before being stopped at the 1. Travis scored two plays later and added the two point conversion himself, giving FSU a 31–28 lead with 26 seconds remaining.

Miami’s final attempt ended in appropriate confusion. Tyler Van Dyke completed a fourth down pass but spiked the ball with only two seconds showing. Because the rules required at least three seconds for the spike, the game was declared over.

It was FSU’s first victory over Miami since 2016 and one of the first nights when Norvell’s rebuilding project felt like something more substantial than promises about the future.

Also, fourth and 14. Never forget fourth and 14.

• No. 15: ACC Championship, 16–6 over No. 15 Louisville (13–0) (2023)

It is now nearly impossible to remember this game without thinking about what happened the following afternoon.

That should not diminish what Florida State accomplished in Charlotte.

With Jordan Travis already lost for the season and Tate Rodemaker unavailable after suffering a concussion against Florida, true freshman Brock Glenn made his first career start with an ACC championship and a potential College Football Playoff berth on the line.

The offense was every bit as limited as everyone feared. Glenn completed 8 of 21 passes for 55 yards.

Florida State’s defense simply decided Louisville would not score a touchdown.

The Cardinals entered averaging 33 points per game. FSU held them to 188 total yards, recorded seven sacks and finished with 14 tackles for loss. Louisville reached the FSU 7 early in the fourth quarter but was pushed backward and forced to settle for a field goal.

Lawrance Toafili supplied the game’s decisive offensive play, breaking a 73 yard run from the wildcat formation to set up FSU’s only touchdown. He finished with 118 rushing yards and was named the game’s most valuable player.

Florida State finished 13–0 and won its first ACC championship since 2014 despite starting its third quarterback.

The selection committee responded the next day by excluding the Seminoles from the playoff. Apparently winning every game was merely a suggestion by that point.

But whatever came afterward, this team completed an undefeated season and won a conference championship through sheer defensive dominance. Nobody can take that night away from it.

• No. 14: 18–14 at No. 3 Nebraska (1980)

Florida State had developed into a very good program during Bobby Bowden’s first four seasons.

Winning at Nebraska was the type of result that showed the rest of the country the Seminoles were becoming something more.

Sixteenth ranked FSU traveled to Lincoln to face a Nebraska team ranked third in the country and fell behind 14–3 by halftime. The Seminoles took advantage of three Nebraska turnovers and scored 15 unanswered points to take an 18–14 lead.

Nebraska still had one final drive.

The Cornhuskers advanced to the Florida State 3 with 12 seconds remaining, leaving them one play away from escaping with the victory. Linebacker Paul Piurowski hit quarterback Jeff Quinn as he rolled to his left, forcing a fumble that Gary Futch recovered.

Nebraska’s fans gave the Seminoles a spontaneous ovation as they left the field, a gesture that prompted Bowden to send a letter thanking them.

FSU returned home the next week and defeated another third ranked opponent, Dan Marino and Pittsburgh. That two game stretch announced that Florida State could travel anywhere, play anybody and win.

The dynasty would not fully arrive for another several years, but the road toward it ran through Lincoln.

• No. 13: ‘Swindle in the Swamp,’ 38–34 at Florida (Rix-to-Sam) (2003)

In the only time you will see this sentence written on this website, a series of disputed decisions by an ACC officiating crew all went Florida State’s way. The “Swindle in the Swamp” label has survived for more than two decades, and the controversy surrounding the game helped accelerate college football’s eventual adoption of instant replay.

FSU fans remember something else: Chris Rix and P.K. Sam ripping the heart out of Ben Hill Griffin Stadium.

The Seminoles led 17–6 at halftime before Florida scored 18 consecutive points, including a 77 yard fumble return touchdown. Pat Watkins answered with a 25 yard fumble return of his own, setting up a frantic fourth quarter.

Rix scored from the 1 to give FSU a 31–27 lead with 5:01 remaining. Florida responded when Chris Leak found Ben Troupe for a touchdown with 2:50 left.

FSU needed to travel 72 yards to avoid the loss.

Five plays later, Rix stepped up and launched the ball deep to Sam, who got behind the Florida secondary and scored a 52 yard touchdown with 55 seconds remaining.

Rix finished 14 of 19 for 256 yards, three touchdown passes and the fourth quarter rushing score. It was one of the best games of his turbulent Florida State career.

Florida fans can continue arguing about the officiating. The officials did not throw the 52 yard touchdown pass.

College GameDay was also in Gainesville for the game. Back when the show still cared about making each week feel distinct instead of endlessly recycling “Comin’ to Your City,” it had Bubba Sparxxx record custom intro music for each location. The UF vs FSU 2003 version has somehow survived on YouTube, preserving a very specific piece of early 2000s college football culture that feels completely impossible to recreate today.

• No. 12: 30–23 at No. 3 Florida (kept the perfect season alive) (1999)

For the sixth and final time in the 1990s, Bobby Bowden and Steve Spurrier met in a top five showdown with national championship implications. Florida State entered Gainesville ranked No. 1, undefeated and two victories away from becoming the first team in college football history to hold the top ranking from the preseason poll through the final poll.

Naturally, Florida had no intention of making the journey easy.

FSU built a 13–3 advantage before the Gators scored 13 consecutive points, taking a 16–13 lead when Bennie Alexander returned a Chris Weinke interception for a touchdown in the third quarter.

Sebastian Janikowski responded with a 54 yard field goal to tie the game. Jeff Chaney’s 2 yard touchdown run put FSU back ahead before Weinke found Marvin Minnis for a 27 yard score that extended the advantage to 30–16.

Florida cut the margin to seven with 3:33 remaining but never got the ball back with another opportunity to tie.

Weinke completed 24 of 36 passes for 263 yards. Peter Warrick, greeted by Florida fans carrying Dillard’s bags after his well publicized legal trouble earlier that season, caught nine passes for 90 yards and scored FSU’s opening touchdown on a 4 yard run.

The win moved Florida State to 11–0 and sent it to the Sugar Bowl with its perfect season intact.

Watch Sean McDonough’s introduction to the game to understand just how special this rivalry was during the 1990s and how much it meant to college football as a whole. Florida State and Florida were not merely playing for state bragging rights. They were regularly playing for national championships, and for much of the decade, the road to the title ran directly through this game.

• No. 11: 24–23 over LSU (blocked extra point as time expires) (2022)

Before this night in New Orleans, Mike Norvell’s first two Florida State teams had gone 8–13.

There had been progress, particularly during the second half of the 2021 season, but not enough evidence that FSU was actually returning to national relevance.

Then came LSU.

Jordan Travis delivered one of the first signature performances of his career, throwing for 260 yards and two touchdowns. Ontaria Wilson caught seven passes for 102 yards and both scores as the Seminoles built a 24–10 fourth quarter lead.

Then the game descended into complete nonsense.

LSU pulled within seven before muffing a punt inside its own 10. FSU appeared ready to finish the game but fumbled at the goal line with 1:20 remaining. LSU responded by driving 99 yards and scoring a touchdown as time expired.

The extra point would send the game to overtime.

Shyheim Brown burst through the line and blocked Damian Ramos’ kick, which deflected into the crossbar before falling away. Florida State had survived 24–23.

The ending was spectacular, but the larger meaning became clear over the months that followed. FSU finished 10–3, its first 10 win season since 2016, and carried that momentum into an undefeated 2023 regular season.

The 2023 LSU victory may have been the more complete performance. The 2022 game was the moment the rebuild first became believable.

That makes it worthy of stopping just outside the top 10.

Next week, the countdown concludes with the 10 greatest games in Florida State football history.

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