11 Days Until FSU Football: FSU Wins 11 Straight Bowls From 1985 to 1995

There are 11 days left until Florida State football starts the 2018 season. As part of the offseason, we’re highlighting players, games, and specific moments from FSU football history.

On Wednesday it was Justin Motlow and his 12-yard touchdown catch against Delaware State last season that made history.

Today, it’s Florida State’s NCAA record 11 consecutive bowl wins from 1985 until 1995.

FSU’s undefeated bowl streak actually spanned 14 years. The Seminoles collected bowl victories over West Virginia and North Carolina in 1982 and 1983 before tying Georgia, 17-17, in the 1984 Citrus Bowl.

The winning streak started in 1985 with a 34-23 win over Oklahoma State in the Gator Bowl. The final win in the streak was a 31-26 victory over Notre Dame in the Orange Bowl to conclude the 1995 season.

While the streak spanned more than a decade, there were some close calls in the process. The Fiesta Bowl to close the 1987 season watched the Seminoles march 97 yards for the winning score with Danny McManus finding Ronald Lewis for the decisive touchdown on 4th-and-goal from the 15-yard-line in a 31-28 victory over Nebraska.

One year later, Deion Sanders capped his FSU career by intercepting Reggie Slack’s pass in the end zone with five seconds remaining to seal a 13-7 win over Auburn in the Sugar Bowl. Derrick Brooks did likewise against Florida in a 23-17 win in New Orleans to conclude the 1994 season.

To close the 1993 season, Charlie Ward led the Seminoles down the field to set up a Scott Bentley field goal with 21 seconds remaining in an 18-16 Orange Bowl win over Nebraska for FSU’s first national championship. The Cornhuskers had a chance for a field goal of their own, but Byron Bennett’s kick sailed wide as time expired.

FSU rallied from 26-14 down in the fourth quarter to top the Fighting Irish in the final victory during the streak. Danny Kanell threw a pair of fourth quarter touchdowns in the victory.

Nebraska was the most common victim during the streak as FSU topped the Cornhuskers in the Fiesta Bowl to close the 1987 and 1989 seasons and in the Orange Bowl to end 1992 and 1993. Other unmentioned victims were Indiana in the 1986 All-American Bowl, Penn State in the 1990 Blockbuster Bowl and Texas A&M in the Cotton Bowl to conclude the 1991 season.

Florida State held Texas A&M to 180 yards of offense in a 10-2 Cotton Bowl win to conclude the 1991 season. (Mike Powell /Allsport/Getty Images)

Despite not playing football until 1947, FSU holds some of college football’s unprecedented streaks, such as the 14 straight top-5 finishes from 1987 to 2000, the current streak of 41 straight winning seasons and the current streak of 36 straight bowl appearances. The latter two are unrecognized by the NCAA.

The 11 straight bowl wins is a streak unlikely to be broken any time soon. The closest anyone has come was Boston College, which won eight straight bowls from 2000 to 2007. No one else has won more than seven straight bowls. FSU is also tied for the fifth-longest streak with six straight bowl wins from 2008 to 2013.

Mike Ferguson is the editor of The Daily Nole. Follow Mike on Twitter @MikeWFerguson