9 Days Until FSU Football: FSU Wins Nine Straight ACC Titles Upon Entering Conference

There are nine 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 Friday, it was a look at the 10-win seasons in FSU program history. Florida State has hit that plateau 24 times.

Today, it’s FSU’s nine straight conference titles upon entering the ACC.

The first season for Florida State in the ACC was 1992, but the conference crown that season did not come easy. The Seminoles were forced to rally in road victories over Clemson and Georgia Tech.

FSU ultimately beat the Tigers 24-20 on a touchdown pass from Charlie Ward to Kevin Knox with 2:08 remaining. In Atlanta on Oct. 17 of that year, the Seminoles outscored the Yellow Jackets 15-0 over the final 3:20 to come out victorious, 29-24. Following an onside kick recovery, Ward’s 17-yard touchdown pass to Kez McCorvey with 1:48 to play was the deciding score.

Over the next two seasons, FSU beat every ACC conference opponent by at least 13 points, capturing conference crowns in each of those two seasons and the national championship in 1993. FSU’s 29-game ACC winning streak would ultimately come to an end on a Thursday night at Virginia in November 1995 as running back Warrick Dunn was ruled down short of the goal line on the game’s final play in a 33-28 defeat.

The Seminoles still managed to win the ACC crown in 1995 and would go unblemished in conference over the next two seasons. The closest contests were a 31-24 win over Virginia in 1996 and a 35-28 victory at Clemson in 1997.

Florida State finished undefeated in ACC play in seven of its first nine years in the conference. (Mandatory Credit: Craig Jones /Allsport)[/caption]

In 1998, FSU dropped its ACC opener at NC State, 24-7, but ran the regular season table from there on out to win a seventh straight ACC championship. The Seminoles completed a perfect season in 1999 to win their second national championship and ran through conference play again in 2000 for a ninth straight conference crown.

Maryland would finally dethrone Florida State in 2001, but over the first nine years in the ACC, FSU was a remarkable 70-2 in conference. Florida State opened ACC play by winning 29 straight conference games and closed its 9-year run on a 23-game ACC winning streak.

In the 17 years since the streak of consecutive ACC titles ended, Florida State hasn’t had nearly the same success. Still, the Seminoles have managed to win six more ACC titles since the streak ended. That’s more than any other program in the conference.

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