Top Five FSU Bowl Games (Part II)

The 2017 Independence Bowl ain’t exactly glamorous. Florida State’s sights were set on much loftier goals to start the season, but a variety of unfortunate events means it is headed to Shreveport to see if it can finish out with another winning season. Interim head coach Odell Haggins is a good motivator if nothing else, and he understands the gravity of the situation.

We here at The Daily Nole don’t blame you if you’d prefer to reminisce on the bowl games that actually meant something. That’s a bit dramatic considering the Seminoles won an Orange Bowl last year, but there’s nothing wrong with bringing up good memories.

We’ve attempted to do the impossible. After looking at the 45 bowl games the Seminoles have played in, we compiled the five best. When we say “best”, we mean the most exciting. While certain bowl games were fun to watch Florida State win, not all of them were actually thrilling or captivating. These are the five that held you close to the TV (or computer) screen and had you hanging on to every play. Obviously, there’s some subjective criteria involved, but we think you’ll agree with most of our choices.

This is the second of a 2-part series. The first ran on Tuesday:

2006 Orange Bowl

The 8-4 Seminoles sneaking in to another Orange Bowl did not look like worthy competition for the 10-1 and third-ranked Penn State Nittany Lions. The result? A triple overtime slugfest that ended on a game-winning field goal.

After exchanging punts early on, the Nittany Lions looked in control after an 85-yard drive to go up 7-0. But the Florida State defense tightened up. It forced an interception and four punts in the next five Penn Sate possessions. The last of those punts was late in the second quarter and got returned by Willie Reid 87 yards for a touchdown.

The fireworks weren’t over in the half; on the very next FSU drive, a short toss from FSU quarterback Drew Weatherford to running back Lorenzo Booker went 57 yards for a touchdown. Something odd happened after that: kicker Gary Cismesia missed the extra point. That’s called “foreshadowing”.

Thanks to poor field positioning from the offense, the Florida State defense gave up a Penn State passing touchdown with 20 seconds left in the first half. The Nittany Lions had a 14-13 lead as halftime began.

The third quarter wasn’t much to write home about. Eight punts and a turnover on downs made it the least riveting of any point in the game. It was the fourth quarter that ramped up the action.

Pinned deep in his own territory, Weatherford dropped back in the end zone and got pressured by the Penn State pass rush. He threw the ball away in hopes of avoiding a safety. Unfortunately for him, intentional grounding existed, and Penn State had a 16-13 lead in a game where a field goal was not guaranteed.

Penn State then used its possession from the safety to drive all the way down to the FSU 5-yard-line. On the verge of perhaps putting the game out of a reach, Penn State running back Michael Washington fumbled the ball and witnessed a Florida State recovery. The Seminoles’ offense then responded with an almost 5-minute drive that allowed Cismesia to tie it up at 16 apiece. A little over four minutes remained.

Once again, it looked like Penn State was going to walk away with a victory. The next drive involved a 3rd-and-14 conversion, roughing the passer on FSU, and a 38-yard completion to bring the Nittany Lions all the way to the FSU 12-yard line with just 30 seconds to go. Kevin Kelly lined up for the chip shot and…it curved left. FSU kneeled to take it to overtime. No one in the stadium thought they would be there for another hour.

The first overtime once again revolved around missed field goals. After Cismesia’s 48-yard attempt was no good, all Penn State had to do was convert a 38-yard attempt of its own. Kelly once again missed the mark. Double overtime.

This one started out with Penn State needing just five plays to punch it in for a touchdown from the 2-yard line. Florida State appropriately responded with four plays and a 1-yard touchdown rush from B.J. Dean. The score was 23-23 heading into triple overtime.

Then, as so often happens in Florida State history — especially in Miami — the next possession ended with another missed FSU field goal. This one from 38 yards out. Kelly was not going to miss three straight. His attempt from 29 yards out was good, and the Nittany Lions took home a 26-23 victory. Neither Penn State’s Joe Paterno nor FSU’s Bobby Bowden seemed all that elated after the game — probably because it was past their bed time.

2000 Sugar Bowl

This choice is the exact opposite of some previous selections. In this case, the 46-29 final score doesn’t actually portray how exciting this game was. The hype was considerable coming in, with the Michael Vick-led Virginia Tech Hokies riding an 11-0 record and incredible offense. Meanwhile, Florida State was looking to be the first wire-to-wire national champion after a similarly flawless 11-0 season.

The first few drives from each team stalled out and provided little action for viewers. That changed completely late in the first when quarterback Chris Weinke connected on a 64-yard bomb to Peter Warrick. On the ensuing drive, Virginia Tech was forced to punt. Florida State broke through and got a hand on the ball, giving the Seminoles a special teams touchdown and a 14-0 lead. The Hokies needed a response, and Vick gave them just that: a 49-yard touchdown pass to put it on the board. It was a tight 14-7 game going into the second quarter.

Florida State had what looked like a backbreaking couple of series. Weinke completed yet another 60-plus yard touchdown pass — this time to Ron Dugans — for a 21-7 lead. Virginia Tech’s offense was unable to get anything going and punted it to Peter Warrick; another special teams mishap ensued. Warrick took the punt back 59 yards for another score. At 28-7, Florida State was feeling good.

Vick then began to work his magic. After they exchanged unsuccessful drives, Vick led his offense 80 yards for a quick rushing touchdown to tighten the score. Still, the Seminoles were perfectly content with a 28-14 lead at half. They were set to receive the ball to start the third.

But the Florida State offense was unable to replicate its first half success. The Hokies chipped away at the lead with a field goal and then a touchdown that was helped by a punt return deep into FSU territory. A failed 2-point conversion made it 28-23 Seminoles as the contest became interesting. It was made worse by a Weinke interception on the very next drive. Vick then combined for over 50 yards with scrambling and passing, eventually leading to a Hokies’ rushing touchdown. After 22 unanswered points, they had a 29-28 lead going into the final frame.

Florida State then put it into overdrive. Weinke went down the field and tossed another touchdown to Dugans to retake the lead 36-29. A timely Virginia Tech fumble let Florida State regain possession and extend the lead to 10 points with a Sebastian Janikowski field goal. The Hokies knew their back was against the wall, so on the next drive they went for it on fourth down with a fake punt. It was stopped short, and the very next play saw an acrobatic 43-yard touchdown catch by Warrick from Weinke.

From then on, the Seminoles were able to stop any more Virginia Tech attempts at a comeback. FSU bled the clock and was able to relax on its way to a second national championship.

1996 Orange Bowl

The 1996 Orange Bowl is a bit of a forgotten game for the Seminoles. It wasn’t for a national title, it was in a comparative down year for each team, and it gets sandwiched in between the two more notable bowl games against Florida. Have no doubt though — it was an incredible comeback.

It started off evenly enough. Notre Dame began the scoring with a 39-yard pass for a touchdown. FSU’s Danny Kanell then got to work with a 15-yard touchdown pass of his own to Andre Cooper. Notre Dame was able to add a field goal before the first quarter ended to go up 10-7.

The second quarter saw each defense stifle its opponent. The only score in the quarter came with around two minutes to go, when Kanell once again found Cooper in the back of the end zone for a 14-10 lead. Halftime rolled around and it was still anyone’s game.

Notre Dame took advantage and capitalized yet again on another deep touchdown pass, this one from 33 yards out. Florida State struggled to respond until the end of the quarter, when it got in range for a Scott Bentley field goal. Unfortunately for the Seminoles, Bentley was off the mark from 42 yards away, and Notre Dame entered the fourth quarter with a slim 17-14 lead. As with every game on this list, it came down to the final 15 minutes.

Kanell made a brutal mistake early in the quarter when he dropped back in his own end zone and stepped out out of bounds by accident. On the Notre Dame drive following the safety, the Fighting Irish used just two minutes to score again. They were up 26-14 and it didn’t look like Florida State had the offensive firepower to come back.

The next 11 minutes produced a furious comeback by Florida State. Kanell led the team 73 yards in just five plays on the following drive and connected with E.G. Green for a touchdown. The Seminoles’ defense then forced a Notre Dame punt and got a great return by Dee Feaster to set them up on the Notre Dame 30-yard-line. After converting a fourth down, Kanell found his favorite target Cooper once more to grab a 29-26 lead with a 2-point conversion. Cooper set the Orange Bowl record for touchdown receptions in the process.

No one thought the game was over just yet. Shortly after it reached midfield on the next drive, Notre Dame fumbled the ball and linebacker Henri Crockett fell on top of it. Florida State went all the way down inside the Notre Dame 5-yard line before it had to face a 4th-and-goal situation. Bobby Bowden put it all on the line and went for it with a fade pass to Cooper. It was ruled incomplete, and with two minutes to go, the Fighting Irish had one last shot to at least tie the game.

In a twist of irony, Notre Dame got called for a safety after quarterback Tom Krug tried to throw it away to avoid the sack. Florida State walked away with a 31-26 victory after scoring 17 unanswered points in the fourth quarter to run its streak of consecutive 10-win seasons and top 5 finishes to nine.

2014 BCS National Championship

This one is still fresh in the memory of any living Florida State fan. That might make some say that it’s recency bias to put this as the best bowl game in FSU history. But when one looks at everything that transpired in this game, it’s obvious how incredible of a contest it was from an objective standpoint.

One of the most dominant teams in college football history faced off against one of the most seemingly destined teams ever. Most Florida State fans began the stages of grief when the Seminoles went down 21-3 with no momentum in sight. The dominant offense was getting rattled on every play and the stonewall FSU defense could not figure out the Auburn combo of Nick Marshall and Tre Mason.

With time winding down in the second quarter, Jimbo Fisher called a fake punt to Karlos Williams. The Seminoles converted, and Jameis Winston pulled off some impressive plays to help Florida State cut into the lead. It was 21-10 at halftime and Florida State had a much-needed regrouping.

A couple of punts turned in to a Roberto Aguayo field goal that brought the Seminoles within one score. After holding the potent Tiger offense to no points in the quarter, Florida State needed something to help give it a motivational push in the fourth quarter.

It got just that when cornerback P.J. Williams rose up and made an acrobatic interception near midfield. Winston turned it into seven points with a pass to fullback Chad Abram and Aguayo extra point. Auburn was able to muster a slight response with a field goal on the next drive to make it 24-20 Tigers.

Over four minutes remained. In one of the most iconic plays in FSU history, Kermit Whitfield took the ensuing kickoff out of the end zone and ran the full length of the field for a touchdown. Was Auburn going to be “stunned by its own medicine” as commentator Brent Musburger put it? Not if it had anything to say about. The Tigers hurried down field and reclaimed a 31-27 lead after Mason trucked his way into the end zone from 37 yards out.

A little over one minute remained. We don’t need to go in depth about the last drive. The catch and run by Rashad Greene, the pass interference call on Auburn’s Chris Davis, the final touchdown throw to Kelvin Benjamin — all of it is cemented in college football lore. FSU squeaked out with a 34-31 victory and the third national championship in program history. Quite the way to end the BCS, don’t you think?