It had been over two years since Florida State lost a football game, dating back to November of 2012. The Seminoles had won 29 games in a row, 26 of them with Jameis Winston starting at quarterback. That streak came to a screeching halt in Thursday’s Rose Bowl at the hands of Oregon, as the ‘Noles turned the ball over five times en route to a 59-20 drubbing.
It was a fitting end to the Winston era, who likely played his final collegiate game. Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports reported back in October that Winston would declare for the NFL draft after the season, but nothing official has been announced yet.
After everything that the Seminoles have been through, all of the late game comebacks, the Winston lawsuit and the run-ins with the police, it was only right that the streak came to an end in dramatic fashion.
Jimbo Fisher’s squad finally met a team that was too good to allow a late game comeback. The Rose Bowl started off as a close game, only an 18-13 Oregon lead at halftime, but the Ducks imposed their will in the second half. The Seminoles were a turnover machine in the third quarter, as their four turnovers in that period led to 28 Oregon points.
The ‘Noles have faced adversity all season, but this time around the wheels started to come off early. It has become a common sight over that time to see Winston and Fisher yelling at each other, but it reached new heights on Thursday evening. There was a sense of desperation on the FSU sideline as Winston repeatedly walked to the sideline without putting points on the board.
Things got so heated that if one was to read Fisher’s lips, it looked as if he threatened to bench his starting quarterback. Fisher downplayed the conversation after the game to reporters, but that instance showed that the Seminoles were overmatched.
“He gets animated, but it wasn’t words,” Fisher said via ESPN.com. “One of the receivers on the play…the guy fell down on the route. It would have been wide open. I couldn’t see it from there. I asked him what happened and that was it. He always gets animated like that when he talks.”
Whatever the case, the shot of them arguing exemplified the Seminoles’ Rose Bowl experience. They found themselves matched up against a superior opponent, and they didn’t know how to react.
However, it didn’t take a genius to see that this was going to happen.
Florida State repeatedly needed big comebacks and plenty of good fortune throughout the year to beat the mediocre opponents on its schedule. Oklahoma State, NC State, Notre Dame, Louisville, Miami, Boston College and Florida all took the ‘Noles down to the wire, so it was inevitable that the streak was eventually going to end.
And the way it ended, and how the Seminoles handled defeat, showed the nation what kind of program they have down in Tallahassee.
As the Ducks continued to chew up yards and widen the lead, the ‘Noles started to show their true colors. Kirk Herbstreit, who was announcing the game on ESPN, said that it looked like the Florida State defense had ‘quit’ as Oregon went on yet another long scoring drive.
Herbstreit was right. On one particular touchdown run, half of the defense didn’t even get in a stance before Thomas Tyner bullied his way into the end zone. How can a team that has won 29 games in a row not have the pride to play a full 60 minutes of football?
The final score was 59-20, but it could have been much, much worse. Oregon coach Mark Helfrich mercifully took his foot off the gas pedal in the fourth quarter, as the Ducks slowed down their pace with about 11 minutes left in the game. Marcus Mariota and Co. could have scored at least 70, especially since the FSU defense was dog-tired.
Then, when the clock hit zero and the final buzzer sounded, the Seminoles went straight to the locker room without shaking hands with the opposition. Instead of congratulating the Ducks for the great game they played, as most teams usually do, they showed their lack of character by sprinting to the confines of their locker.
Herbstreit even scolded them on the air, which was a surprise considering he seemed to become more and more infatuated with the Seminoles as the season progressed.
In Fisher’s press conference the day before the game, he had an interesting quote regarding his team’s character.
“We’re going to continue to do things the right way,” Fisher said via USA Today. “The Florida State way, and we believe that’s definitely the right way and be good people, and in time we’ll see.”
Well, it didn’t take too long to see what the ‘Florida State way’ entails. It’s a culture that is fueled by winning, but when failure is on the horizon, the players don’t know how to react.
The Seminoles have a roster that is loaded with speed and athleticism, but until Fisher changes the culture in a positive manner, they will not be able to utilize that talent to its fullest extent and won’t be able to win the College Football Playoff.