Florida State is a perfect 6-0 in home-openers under head coach Jimbo Fisher and that isn’t expected to change with Charleston Southern on the schedule for Sept. 10. Though it’s unfathomable at this point to see FSU losing this game, the Tallahassee tilt with the Buccaneers might not be as easy as one would think.
Charleston Southern won 10 games a season ago and the Southern Conference before being bounced by Jacksonville State in the FCS quarterfinals. Charleston Southern returns its 3-headed monster of running backs in Darius Hammond, Mike Holloway and Ben Robinson and key defensive contributors like linebackers Solomon Brown and Zane Cruz as well as cornerback D.J. Curl.
What makes this contest scariest for Florida State however, is that it’s on such short rest. The Seminoles will open the year on Labor Day against Ole Miss in prime time before turning around and taking on Charleston Southern at 12:30 p.m. EST five days later.
Over the last 12 years, it hasn’t been uncommon for FSU to play on Labor Day. Its done so five times and four of those times, it played a football game the following Saturday. Though the Seminoles have scheduled lesser opponents for the most part, the contests have hardly gone swimmingly.
After beating Miami 10-7 on Labor Day in 2005, FSU found itself down 10-3 to The Citadel late in the first half five days later. FSU would score 10 quick points to take a lead to the locker room and the final 59 to close the game in a 62-10 win, but the Seminoles were still forced to sweat for an entire half.
After downing Miami again on Labor Day the following year, FSU trailed Troy 17-10 in the final quarter of its home-opener before scoring two touchdowns in the final 6:12 to walk away with a 24-17 win.
The Seminoles lost to Clemson on Labor Day to kick off 2007 and trailed 17-3 early in their home-opener against UAB five days later. FSU won the game 34-24, but didn’t go ahead for good until the final play of the third quarter.
To open 2009, FSU dropped a heartbreaker to Miami at home, 38-34 and narrowly avoided embarrassment the following week. Against FCS Jacksonville State, the Seminoles trailed 9-7 with 35 seconds to play when Ty Jones scored to put FSU ahead 13-9. Kevin McNeil’s fumble return for a score put the victory away, 19-9.
Those examples aren’t to say that FSU’s home-opener with Charleston Southern will come down to the wire or even be in serious doubt in the second half. All of the aforementioned contests took place before Jimbo Fisher became head coach, but the Buccaneers are a good FCS team. An upset probably isn’t in the works for this one, but don’t be surprised if the Seminoles don’t come out clicking on all cylinders or if the starters have to play just a little bit longer than anticipated.
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