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The great season that wasn’t: The FSU 2012 Campaign

Florida State’s 2012 season opened on the smaller screens of America’s laptop and tablet computers, the first two games shown on ESPN 3, a glorified way of saying "streaming on the website." The opener on September 1 was against Murray State—a university in Kentucky, which you probably did not know—and the Seminoles waltzed to a 69-3 victory against a lower division team. Such wins are not to be taken for granted (see: Jacksonville State, 2009 and Samford, 2018—both wins, barely) but these contests are rarely competitive. Games against FCS schools are held in such low regard that the NCAA only counts one FCS win per year toward bowl eligibility and the Big10 does not allow FCS opponents to be scheduled (with some exceptions). Still, this was opening weekend when fans will show up for just about anything and there was a good crowd in Doak Campbell Stadium, more than 70,000 people.

A week later the FSU family had a very similar Saturday, playing FCS opponent Savannah State—a university in Georgia, as you guessed. This game was no more fun to watch than Murray State and the only real difference from week one to week two was that this game was not supposed to be played at all. Conference realignment sent the West Virginia University Mountaineers from the Big East to the Big XII in 2012 and WVU cancelled the home-and-home with FSU in January, leaving athletic director Randy Spetman just eight months to fill a slot that had been scheduled years in advance. A team from a small HBCU that would go 1-10 was what he found. The score was 55-0. These two blowout wins against lower division competition are a microcosm of the 2012 that would unfold for Florida State: a season that looked like success without feeling successful.

There is certainly a way to spin 2012 as unquestionably positive: the season ended with the first BCS bowl appearance since 2005, the first BCS bowl win since 1999, and the first 12-win season since that same year. Florida State won the ACC for the first time since 2005, beat division rival Clemson and in-state rival Miami for the third consecutive time, and there were no home losses to ACC opponents. The following April a school-record 11 players would be taken in the NFL draft, 5 in the first round including QB E.J. Manuel, the second QB in the first round in a row for the Seminoles (Christian Ponder was taken 12th overall by Minnesota in the 2011 draft). None of this occurs to me, however, when I look at my commemorative FSU Tervis cup with the 2012 schedule written on it.

The year 2012 was full of promise. After the drudgery of the late-Bowden era (especially three 7-6 seasons in four years, 2006-2009) Head Coach Jimbo Fisher had landed big-time recruits and highly-ranked classes. In 2010 the ‘Noles got to 10 wins for the first time since 2003, only the second since 2001, and beat Clemson, Miami, and Florida all in the same year, a first since 1999. A plague of injuries in 2011 contributed to 4 losses, but Miami and Florida were not among them and fans watched a very young team grow up before their very eyes in a comeback victory over Notre Dame in the Champs Sports Bowl to end the year. In 2012 a tested group of former four- and five-star recruits would take the field. Leading the team would be Manuel, a former 5-star (Scout) recruit, and a true dual-threat quarterback. After watching the immobile QBs of the 2013-2017 seasons, re-watching 2012 games I am amazed at how often Manuel ran and by the beauty of his option plays, holding the ball until the last possible second and then pitching to an open running back, usually for large gains.

In addition to those 11 future draft picks there were many of the names you would know and love from the 2013 championship team: destroyer-of-quarterbacks Larmarcus Joyner (CB), FSU-record-setter Rashad Greene (WR), future 1,000-yard rusher Devonta Freeman (RB), grandson-of-golden-bear-who-plays-without-gloves Nick O’Leary (TE), and Telvin Smith—currently one of the higher paid defenders in the NFL. It was easy to be a Florida State University fan and/or alumni when your school colors were worn by this group plus Dustin Hopkins (K), Lonnie Pryor (FB), Chris Thompson (RB), Brandon Jenkins (DE), James Wilder Jr. (RB), Björn Warner (DE), and Kenny Shaw (WR). This team was not just talented, but likable.

The Seminoles were ranked #7 and were small-font-magazine publisher Phil Steele’s pick to win the national championship. The schedule was also manageable with both Clemson and Florida at home, a light out-of-conference schedule thanks to WVU bailing, and Florida State playing the rest of its games against ACC competition. Let us pause to recall that 2011 ACC standard bearer the Clemson Tigers had scored a respectable 33 points against West Virginia in the BCS Orange Bowl while allowing an embarrassing 70. Recall also that WVU was in the Big East at the time. In 2012 so was Connecticut, Rutgers, Cincinnati, Louisville, and Pitt, and Maryland was still in the ACC. More on this to come.

After thrashing lower division talent in the first games, FSU stayed home for a sweltering noon kick against Wake Forest, who was only marginally better than the States FSU had already played. Fans thrilled to see running back Chris Thompson return after breaking two vertebrae against Wake the previous year and run all over the Deamon Deacs in a 52-0 blowout. The high point of the season, however, had to be the battle for the Atlantic the following week on September 22, the fourth consecutive home game.

ESPN Gameday was on hand in Tallahassee for No. 10 Clemson and the game delivered on the hype. Future NFL players Sammy Watkins, Deandre Hopkins, and Andre Ellington got Clemson off to a fast start. No. 4 FSU was down by seven at the half thanks in part to two fumbles and two missed field goals. James Wilder Jr. had an early 4th quarter run that topped the highlight reels, shedding tackles and dragging as many as 5 defenders on his back before being tackled at the Clemson 10 yard line. He punched it in the next play and the ‘Noles ultimately overcame a 14-point deficit in the second half to take a commanding lead by the end of the game (49-37). Florida State came away from Clemson still ranked #4 without an obvious speed bump ahead of them until the last weekend in November.

Florida State would play three loose categories of games in 2012. The first was the blowouts. In six games—the first three plus Duke (48-7), Boston College (51-7), and Maryland (41-14)—the Seminoles outscored its opponents by a factor of 10 (316-31) and this makes sense because many teams on the schedule were bad and FSU was loaded. There were also two great games: Clemson and Florida. Florida State lost to the Gators but was leading 20-13 at the start of the fourth quarter and was still in the game late. Ultimately three Manuel interceptions and two fumbles were too much to overcome, but this was not an outmatched team and the game was exciting.

What remains is the third category of too-close games played against a weak schedule by a team that would eventually have twenty-nine players drafted in the NFL [nota bene: Brandon Jenkins had a season-ending injury in the first game and Thompson against Miami so not all 29 played the entire year]. This group began with the week 5 Palindrome Bowl against the University of South Florida, which had the feeling of a home game with so much garnet and gold in the stands. While a letdown was understandable following the top -10 win against Clemson the week before, Florida State played down in Raymond James Stadium, up only 13-3 at the half against an eventual 3-9 team that would fire HC Skip Holtz at season’s end. FSU was never in danger of losing to USF, but the score should not have been as close as 30-17 at the final whistle.

Leaving aside the bowl game, the rest of these too-close games were in-conference and the Seminole’s ACC opponents went 60-67 overall, 37-42 ACC. Against BCS opponents these teams were simply dreadful with wins only against LSU (Clemson in a bowl game) Southern Cal (Georgia Tech, bowl) and Rutgers (Virginia Tech, bowl) and 11 losses including to West Virginia and Connecticut (by Maryland), Pitt (Va. Tech), Stanford (Duke), Northwestern and Notre Dame (Boston College), Tennessee and Vanderbilt (NC State), South Carolina (Clemson), and two games (2!) to Cincinnati (Duke and Virginia Tech). [We should note here Florida State did not help the conference's standing by losing to the Gators.]

Using BCS opponents is instructive because this comparison leaves out wins over lower-quality FBS and FCS opponents. Doing so, however, also leaves out the losses. Boston College fell to Army during this 2-10 season that would see HC Frank Spaziani fired, and your Coastal Division Champion Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets lost to Middle Tennessee State and BYU. The Coastal Division was locked in a three-way tie but because this was FSU’s 2012, 7-5 Miami of Florida, who lost to Kansas State, was on a self-imposed bowl ban for the Nevin Shapiro scandal and 8-4 North Carolina (not an FSU opponent, but did lose to a non-con BCS team in Louisville) was serving a one-year NCAA bowl ban for a cheating scandal. So, the team with the worst record, a 6-6 Georgia Tech squad who had been wrecked 42-10 by Georgia the week before, gets the nod to play in the ACC Championship Game as the only eligible member of the three. That game, however, was months away.

A week 8 game against Miami was another head-scratcher. On FSU’s first play from scrimmage Nick O’Leary caught a pass and leaped over a defender but on his way to the ground fumbled. Miami recovered and got a touchdown. Florida State then went three-and-out with what Brent Musburger described on the broadcast as a "terrible punt" that gave the Hurricanes great field position and a field goal: 10-0, the ugly. The game was a typical ‘Noles-‘Canes contest from there. Greene muffed a punt, Hopkins missed a field goal, and there were penalties. Among the rarer calls in football is offensive pass interference. Most teams go an entire season without having one called but in this game three of these went against Florida State including one that took away a beautiful fade catch by Kelvin Benjamin in the end zone. The final was 33-20, FSU, but Miami scored in the last two minutes. This game should have been a blow out by a far superior team but miscues and mistakes kept the game relatively close.

The worst close game, however, came one week after the USF Bulls. In week 6 your #3 Seminoles traveled to Carter-Finley Stadium in Raleigh at 5-0 for the first time since 2005. NC State has long been a thorn in the side of FSU (see: No. 2 FSU, 1998; No. 10 FSU, 2001; No. 14 FSU, 2002; No. 8 FSU 2005; No. 16 FSU 2006; No. 16 FSU 2010), but this reputation was never earned more than in 2012. Let’s recall this team was thoroughly average, taking on FSU at 3-2 with wins only over Connecticut, South Alabama, and the Citadel (losses to Miami and Tennessee), an eventual 7-6 squad that was the 3rd team on the ‘Noles schedule that would fire the head coach (Tom O’Brien) at the end of the season. This team was also not quarterbacked by Phillip Rivers—still starting today in the NFL 20 years later—as the 1998 team (also 7-6) was. Florida State shut out the Wolfpack defense in the first half and scored a respectable 16 points, but coming out of the locker room in the second half the script flipped. An anemic FSU offense could not put points on the board and a blocked punt late in the fourth quarter put NC State in great field position. Led by QB Mike Glennon, a 4th down touchdown put the Wolfpack up 17-16 with just 16 seconds left in the game. That was the final.

This game is as inexplicable now as it was at the time. Had the ‘Noles prevailed, State would have been 5-7 on the year. They were not a good team and certainly had nowhere near the talent Florida State did on its roster and this game was sandwiched between blowouts in 2011 (34-0) and 2013 (49-17). Florida State would gone on to play very similar games twice more before the end of the season, against Virginia Tech and then Georgia Tech in the ACC Championship Game.

By the time Florida State traveled to Blacksburg on November 8 for a nationally televised Thursday night game, Virginia Tech was 4-5 with wins against Georgia Tech (OT), Austin Peay, Bowling Green and Duke. Up 13-10 at the half FSU would exchange touchdowns with VT in the third, 20-17 good guys. But in the fourth quarter on 3rd and 25 from the FSU 5, Fisher called a run play that developed into easily the most foolish play of Devonta Freeman’s otherwise stellar career. He took the handoff and ran into FSU’s endzone, meeting a defender who pulled him to the ground. Before he landed, he threw the ball into the field of play and Tech landed on it. Fortunately for FSU, he was ruled down and the play resulted in a safety, but the succeeding free kick gave VT great field position at the Tech 44, down 19-20 with 6:50 remaining. The FSU defense held Tech to a 21-yard field goal, but they still took the lead, 22-20 with 2:20 in the game. A manful run by James Wilder Jr. on 4th and 1 kept the final drive alive with 1:35 left to play.

Rashad Greene is my favorite all time FSU offensive player for his many remarkable catches and sneaky-fast runs, but his finest moment to me was his 39 yard catch-and-run with seconds on the clock that put the ‘Noles up for good. This was the only game on TV that night and Greene’s run spared Florida State from national humiliation.

The ACC Championship Game was even more similar to the NC State game. Florida state rushed to a 21-6 lead in the first half and was once again shut out in the second. Still up 21-6 with 7:02 in the 3rd quarter, Fisher called a run play on 3rd and 25. James Wilder Jr. did not convert. With 12:22 remaining in the 4th Manuel fumbled and Tech recovered, marching methodically down the field and converting a 4th and 1 on the 3 yard line for a first down then scoring a touchdown on the next play: 21-15 FSU. On the next possession Manuel threw an interception and Georgia Tech once again moved down the field but with 1:05 left in the game threw an interception right to Karlos Williams to ice the game. Not to belabor the point, but the North Avenue Trade School would have to get a waiver from the NCAA to play in a bowl game because at 6-7 they technically had a losing season (with the bowl win they arrived at the highly unusual record of 7-7). For the third time that season the Seminole faithful went to bed wondering how such a tremendous group of experienced, talented athletes could struggle against such a subpar opponent.

Following the 2013 National Championship year the Florida State faithful gleefully pointed to a column written by ACC correspondent Heather Dinich after the 2012 Orange Bowl: "Memo to Florida State fans who want to jump in celebration of the 31-10 Discover Orange Bowl win against Northern Illinois: Don’t jump too high, you might hit your head on Florida State’s ceiling…Because this is it…This is what you get with back-to-back top-10 recruiting classes, with a roster bursting at the seams with talent, size, speed and depth, and a defense worthy of a national title. You get a flat, disjointed offensive showing against the MAC champs. You get the same inconsistent effort against a lesser opponent that became the trademark of this year's ACC champs. You get a heart attack in the third quarter when it’s 17-10 and Northern Illinois is driving with all of the momentum after a predictable onside kick." That Orange Bowl capped this season off perfectly, one last disappointing success: an unconvincing win in a BCS game against a non-BCS opponent.

Starting in 2015 there was a knock on Jimbo Fisher that I think FSU fans were sensitive to: that he couldn’t win without Jameis Winston. With the Jimbo Fisher era now behind us we can conclude that both this assertion and Heather Dinich’s column were correct and 2012 was really the clearest distillation of the limits of Fisher’s ‘Noles. We can look around the NCAA and see with top talent it is possible to win nearly every game, every year as demonstrated by Saban’s Alabama (146-21, 87%), Meyer’s Ohio State (83-9, 90%), and Swinney’s Clemson (116-30, 80%. Last 8 years: 87%). Absent Winston, Fisher was (including post season) 58-21 (73%) in all games, against ACC teams 33-16 (67%), against P5 44-20 (69%). Without that generational talent, 2012 really was Fisher’s best, and it really wasn’t that good.

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