Florida State University traces the official origins of its American football team to 1947, after the school became coeducational following more than forty years as a white women's college. However, football had began at the school much earlier than that. American football was played at the school, originally a coeducation institution known as the West Florida Seminary until 1901 and Florida State College from 1901–1905, prior to 1902. However the early games were intramural between students, and not played against outside teams.[1]
Then in 1902 FSC students, supported by president Albert A. Murphree, organized the school's first official football club to play against other schools and teams. The team was known as the "Florida State College Eleven" and W. W. Hughes, professor of Latin and the head of men's sports at the school, served as the first coach.[2] They played their first game against the Bainbridge Giants, a city team from Bainbridge, Georgia, defeating them 5–0. The team then played back-to-back matches against Florida Agricultural College (which later merged into what is now the University of Florida) one week apart, winning the first 6–0 and losing the second 0–6. The following season student enthusiasm grew even more, and the Eleven arranged a full schedule of six games. They competed against teams such as the University of Florida in Lake City (as Florida Agricultural College was then called), Georgia Tech, and the East Florida Seminary (another school that merged into the University of Florida), and finished the season by competing against Stetson College in Jacksonville for the Florida Times-Union's Championship Cup.[3] The following year Jack Forsythe replaced Hughes as coach, and the Eleven won the state championship by defeating Stetson in Tallahassee.[4]
This would be the Eleven's last season, however, as the Florida State Legislature passed the Buckman Act, which reorganized the state's colleges, and Florida State College became the Florida Female College (later Florida State College for Women), a school for white women. Four other institutions (including the University of Florida in Lake City and the East Florida Seminary) were merged into the new white men's-only University of the State of Florida in Gainesville. Many of Florida State's male students, including the members of the fraternity system and the football team transferred to the new university.[5] In 1906 the new school established its first official football team led by former Florida State College coach Jack Forsythe. Several former FSC players transferred to Grant University (now the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga), with five joining Grant's football team. In 1909 several veterans of the FSC Eleven founded a city team named the Tallahassee Athletics, but this folded after one season. Except for this, until 1947 Tallahassee's only organized or collegiate football team were the team from the Florida Agricultural and Mechanical College for Negroes (now Florida A&M University).[6]
Modern era
The end of World War II brought enormous pressure on the university system in Florida, which saw an influx of veterans applying for college under the GI Bill. The Florida Legislature responded by renaming the Florida State College for Women the Florida State University and allowing men to attend the university for the first time since 1905. Football then returned to Florida State University, beginning in the 1947 season.
From 1948 through 1959, the Seminole football program achieved much success under coaches Don Veller and Tom Nugent. With the arrival of Bill Peterson in 1960, the Seminoles began their move to national prominence. Under Peterson's direction, the Seminoles beat the Florida Gators for the first time in 1964 and earned their first major bowl bid. Peterson also led the Seminoles to their first ever top ten ranking. During his tenure as head coach, Peterson also gave a young assistant by the name of Bobby Bowden his first major college coaching opportunity.[7]
In the summer of 1967, Peterson also engineered another first for the Seminole program when he decided to begin the recruitment of African American football players. Apparently, he did so without approval from either the school president or its athletic director. On December 16, 1967, the Seminoles signed Ernest Cook, a fullback from Daytona Beach. Several months later, the Seminoles would sign running back Calvin Patterson from Dade County. Ultimately, Cook decided to switch his allegiance to Minnesota where he would become an All-Big Ten running back. In the fall of 1968, Patterson would become the first black to play for the Seminoles as a starter for the Florida State freshmen football team. In the fall of 1970, J. T. Thomas would become the first black to play in a varsity game for the Seminoles. [8][9]
Stadium
A view of the north end zone
The stadium, named after former Florida State President Doak S. Campbell, hosted its first game against the Randolph-Macon CollegeYellowjackets on October 7, 1950 with the Seminoles winning the game 40–7. At that time the facility had a seating capacity of 15,000. Florida State first began play at Centennial Field during the team's inaugural 1947 season and would continue to play there for the following two years (1948 and 1949). Doak Campbell Stadium, with its original capacity of 15,000 in 1950, was built at a cost of $250,000. In 1954, the stadium grew to a capacity of 19,000. Six thousand more seats were added in 1961. During the Bill Peterson era (1960–70), the stadium was expanded to 40,500 seats, and it remained at that capacity for the next 14 years. Since that time, the stadium has expanded to almost 83,000, largely due to the success of the football team under head coach Bobby Bowden coupled with the ever growing student body. It now is the largest football stadium in the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC). Aesthetically, a brickfacade surrounding the stadium matches the architectural design of most of the buildings on the university's campus. In addition to the obvious recreational uses, The University Center surrounds the stadium and houses many of the university's offices. The field was officially named Bobby Bowden field on November 20, 2004 as Florida State hosted intrastate rival Florida.
The best years of Florida State football came in the late 1980s and throughout the 1990s. The Seminoles had 14 consecutive seasons with 10 or more wins and a top 5 finish. They had a record of 152–19–1 between these years (11 of their 19 losses were decided by 7 points or less). FSU's accomplishments in these 14 seasons included 11 bowl wins, 9 ACC championships in 9 years, 2 Heisman Trophy winners, and 2 National Championships.
Divisional play began in the Atlantic Coast Conference at the start of the 2005 football season following the addition of Boston College. Coincidentally, in both years, they had the same 5–3 record as Boston College. In 2005, Florida State won at BC, whereas BC won at Florida State in 2008.
Year
Division
Overall Record
Conference Record
2005
ACC Atlantic
8–5
5–3
2008†
ACC Atlantic
8–4
5–3
2010
ACC Atlantic
9–3
6–2
† Denotes co-champions
Total Division Titles
3
Conference championship games
Florida State has appeared in the ACC Championship Game as the winner of the Atlantic Division twice, defeating Virginia Tech of the Coastal Division in the inaugural game in 2005, and losing to Virginia Tech in 2010.
In terms of winning percentage, Florida State ranks as the 3rd most successful team in the past 25 years (as of the 2010 season) with a 77% win rate (231-69-2) and 12th over the last half century (1955–2010) with 67%.[10]
The College Football Research Center lists Florida State as the 10th best college football program in history (ahead of rivals Miami and Florida, at #15 and #18 respectively).[11] Seven Florida State squads were listed in Billingsley’s Top 200 Teams of All Time (1869–2010),[12] and after the 2008 season, ESPN ranked Florida State the 9th most prestigious program in history.[13]
The Associated Press poll statistics show Florida State with the 7th most appearances in the final AP Top 5 (with 15). Since the Coaches Poll first released a final poll in 1950, Florida State has 32 seasons where the team finished ranked in the top 25 in the Coaches Polls.
1-Some Victories vacated due to ineligible players
All-time bowl record
Florida State has played in 40 bowl games in its history and owns a 24–14–2 record in those games. Florida State's two most common opponents in bowl play have been Oklahoma and Nebraska. The Seminoles are 1–3 against Oklahoma in bowl games and 4–0 against Nebraska. Florida State's most common bowl destination has been the Orange Bowl (8 trips). Its second most common bowl destinations have been the Sugar Bowl and the Gator Bowl (6 trips each).
Since 2002, the Florida Cup has been awarded to Florida State, Florida, or Miami if one team defeats the other two teams in the same season (it is not necessary for the two losing teams to have played each other). Five Florida Cups have been awarded, with Miami winning three, Florida State winning one, and Florida winning one. Florida State won the Cup in 2010 by beating Miami and Florida, even though Florida did not play Miami that season.
Florida State and Florida have played each other 52 times. The Gators hold a 33–20–2 all-time lead against the Seminoles. During the Bobby Bowden Era, FSU barely lost out at 17–18–1. Current Florida State head coach Jimbo Fisher is 1-0 against University of Florida.
The Miami-Florida State rivalry dates to 1951, when the Miami Hurricanes defeated the Seminoles 35–13 in their inaugural meeting. The schools have played uninterrupted since 1966, with Miami holding the all-time advantage, 31–24.
During the 1980s and 90s, the series emerged as one of the premier rivalries in college football. Between 1983 and 2002, the Hurricanes and Seminoles combined to win 7 national championships (5 for Miami, 2 for Florida State) and play in a whopping 13 national championship games (83, 85, 86, 87, 89, 91, 92, 93, 96, 98, 99, 00, 01). The rivalry has been popular not only because of its profound national championship implications and the competitiveness of the games but also because of the immense NFL-caliber talent typically present on the field when the two teams meet. The famous 1987 matchup featured over 50 future NFL players on both rosters combined.
The games have been characterized by remarkable team speed, big plays, hard hitting, and missed field goals. In 2004, the intensity of the rivalry was dialed up another notch when Miami joined the Atlantic Coast Conference and the teams became intra-conference rivals.
The rivalry is a television ratings bonanza, accounting for the two highest rated college football telecasts in ESPN history. The 2006 game between Miami and FSU was the second most-viewed college football game, regular season or bowl, in the history of ESPN, averaging 6,330,000 households in viewership (6.9 rating). It trailed only the 1994 game between Miami and FSU, which notched a 7.7 rating.[14]
Florida State has a lesser rivalry with Atlantic Division foe Clemson UniversityTigers. Florida State leads the all-time series 17–7. Florida State dominated the contests through most of the 1990s but 1999 marked a milestone as the hire of Bobby Bowden's son Tommy led to the first meeting, in 1999, which was the first time in Division I-A history that a father and a son met as opposing head coaches in a football game. During the time Tommy coached at Clemson the game was known as the "Bowden Bowl" Bobby won the series in the 9 years it played before Tommy's resignation, winning 5–4 with all four losses within the last five seasons. Tommy's four wins in the series remain the only times the son has ever beaten the father when facing off as head coach in any of America's four major sports.[citation needed].
One sticking point in the rivalry remains that a proud Clemson Tiger program that was strong in the 1980s had won 6 of the past 11 ACC titles from 1981–1991. 1991 would be the last ACC Championship the Tigers would ever win as Florida State entered the ACC in 1992 and proceeded to win the next 9 ACC Championships in a row, and 12 of the next 14 in the series. The Tigers advanced to the 2009 ACC title game for the first time since its inception in 2005 but a late Georgia Tech victory lengthened the Tigers' title drought.
Academic cheating scandal
In Spring 2007, several FSU athletes including football players were accused of cheating in an online music history class. The NCAA ruled that Florida State was guilty of major violations, announced that it would reduce scholarship limits in 10 sports and force Florida State to vacate all of the victories in 2006 and 2007 in which the implicated athletes participated and placed the university on probation for four years.[15] Florida State appealed parts of the decision.[16]
On January 5, 2010 the NCAA Infractions Appeals Committee denied FSU's appeal and ruled that all penalties, including vacating up to fourteen wins during the 2006–2007 seasons would remain in effect. FSU officials responded that they were surprised and disappointed by the NCAA decision and felt that their own investigation and self-imposed penalties were sufficient. The NCAA Infractions Appeals Committee responded that "the cooperative efforts of the university in the academic cheating scandal involving 61 Florida State athletes failed to outweigh the aggravating factors in the case."[17] The games to be vacated will be determined by certifying in which of the 14 games any of the 25 ineligible players competed.[18]
12 wins were eventually vacated in all.[19]
Ron Simmons - A football legend in his own right when he played at Florida State, Simmons would later go on to fame as a professional wrestler under his own name and under the name Faarooq after a short stint with the Cleveland Browns
Given in the memory of Robert E. (Bob) Crenshaw (Played 1952–55), Florida State Football Captain in 1954 and student leader who was killed in a jet crash in 1958. The plaque's inscription reads: "To the football player with the Biggest Heart." The recipient is chosen by his teammates as the man who best exemplifies the qualities that made Bob Crenshaw an outstanding football player and person.
