There are eight 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 Saturday, it was FSU’s nine straight conference titles upon entering the ACC.
Today, it’s Florida State’s 8-0 finish in 1950 to complete the school’s first perfect season.
Most FSU fans know about the 1999 team that went wire-to-wire as No. 1 and gave legendary head coach Bobby Bowden his only perfect season at Florida State. More recently in 2013, FSU completed a 14-0 campaign to claim the school’s third national championship. Many may be unaware of the school’s perfect season, which came in just its fourth year as a program.
After an 0-5 season to start a football program in 1947, FSU went 7-1 the following season before capping the 1949 season with a 9-1 record and a 19-6 win over Wofford in the Cigar Bowl. The 1950 campaign however, watched the Seminoles go unblemished under third-year head coach Don Veller.
With a defense headlined by the likes of Ted Hewitt, Tommy Brown and Bill Dawkins, FSU would hold seven of its eight opponents to eight points or fewer and record a pair of shutouts. Opponents averaged less than 175 yards of offense per game.
For the FSU offense, Mike Sellers led the FSU offense with nine touchdowns while quarterback Nelson Italiano accounted for 13 total touchdowns with eight of those being of the passing variety. Each of Harry Bringger’s five receptions that year went for scores.
FSU opened the season with a 26-7 road win at Troy State before returning home to knock off Randolph-Macon in the first-ever game at Doak Campbell Stadium, 40-7. FSU trailed for the first time a week later at Howard College, but scored the game’s final 20 points in a 20-6 win.
FSU completed shutouts of Newberry College and Mississippi College that season. The closest contest was a 14-8 home victory over Sewanee on the day the Marching Chiefs and FSU fight song were introduced.
The final contest of the 1950 season watched FSU dispose of Tampa 35-19 to complete the 8-0 slate. Italiano connected with Bringger on a pair of touchdowns. Italiano also rushed for a 27-yard touchdown.
Sellers finished with 108 yards rushing and a touchdown. Wayne Benner returned a shanked punt 11 yards for a score in the victory while Bob Wodrich blocked a punt that led to a safety to cap the FSU scoring.
The Seminoles declined a bowl invitation, instead electing to be home for the holidays and making the first perfect slate complete. It would be the mid-1960s before FSU became a blip on the national radar and the late-1980s before it has established itself as a national power. Still, it wasn’t until the 1999 season — 49 years later — that Florida State would again run through the scheduled unblemished.
Mike Ferguson is the editor of The Daily Nole. Follow Mike on Twitter @MikeWFerguson
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