With a first-year head coach like Florida State’s Willie Taggart, there are a ton of “firsts” to accomplish in 2018. Taggart’s first win came against Samford, his first FBS win came against Northern Illinois and his first ACC and road win came at Louisville.
Taggart will be looking for his first homecoming and first ACC home win on Saturday as the Seminoles play host to Wake Forest. If Taggart’s Seminoles are able to accomplish the feat, it could be a fun fact or a trivia question one day.
Here’s five fun facts regarding Florida State’s history with Wake Forest:
1. FSU has shut out Wake more than any other opponent
Florida State is 29-6-1 all-time in its series against Wake Forest. Out of those 29 wins, six have been shutouts. That’s more than FSU has shut out any other opponent. The most recent instance was a 52-0 win in 2012. The first came in 1963. FSU has five all-time shutouts over Louisville — the next closest team in that category.
2. Wake Forest is the only team to shut out FSU in the last 30 years
Wake Forest’s 30-0 shutout of Florida State in 2006 unfortunately rings fresh in the minds of Seminole fans. Over the last 30 years, that is the only occasion in which FSU suffered a shutout loss. Prior to that defeat, FSU had not been shut out since 1988 when it was shut out by Miami, 31-0. The last home shutout prior to that was a 28-0 loss to Kansas in 1973.
3. One-third of Wake’s wins have come without a touchdown
Wake Forest has just six wins ever against Florida State with four of them coming since 2006. In two of those six victories however, the Demon Deacons won without scoring a touchdown. The first instance came in the 1973 opener when Chuck Ramsey kicked three field goals in a 9-7 win. In 2008, Wake used five interceptions to lead to four Sam Swank field goals in a 12-3 victory in the ACC opener for both teams.
4. Jimbo Fisher’s first ACC win came against Wake Forest
In eight years as Florida State head coach, Jimbo Fisher won the ACC three times. His first ACC win however, came against Wake Forest. The Seminoles opened conference play in 2010 with a 31-0 victory over the Demon Deacons. That was also the first shutout for FSU during Fisher’s tenure.
5. Since 1996, four FSU quarterbacks got their first win against Wake
Last season, James Blackman earned his first victory as FSU starting quarterback with a 26-19 win over Wake Forest thanks to a 40-yard touchdown pass to Auden Tate in the final minute. With the win, Blackman joined E.J. Manuel (2009), Marcus Outzen (1998) and Dan Kendra (1996), who all got their first wins as starters against the Demon Deacons. In each case, injury forced the aforementioned quarterbacks into action. The 44-7 victory over Wake Forest in Orlando in 1996 was the only career start at quarterback for Kendra.
Mike Ferguson is the editor of The Daily Nole. Follow Mike on Twitter @MikeWFerguson
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