Entertaining factoid about SWAC record in the ACC

The ACC objectively sucked back in the 90s when FSU joined and FSU was objectively one of the 3 best programs in the country. It took them years to even lose an ACC game (shoutout to Charlottesville).

 

That’s quite a stat, There’s a gap between the first 110 games and the last 10 right?

 

Miami is better than the rest of their schedule, but at least teams can see fsu is not invincible and give them their best shot.

 

Exactly the reason Bowden wanted no part of the SEC. fsu would've taken a lot more lumps if they had hooked up regularly with the big guys. Bama and Tennessee won national championships during the 90s. Those numbers wouldn't be so glowing.

 

I remember they won their first 29 and nobody thought they'd ever lose and then Bobby started sharting.

 

Well, being that they were 7-4-1 against the SEC's top team in the 1990s, I'm not sure how many more lumps they might have taken.

 

What is this SWAC? Thought f$u was the SOW.

 

School with a Circus.
Free Shoes U has many names.

 

No disrespect intended but I knew this exact retort was coming from you. Zero doubt actually.

Fsu was an absolute juggernaut in the 90s under Bowden and they made their name by playing "anybody anywhere" when they didnt have a conference but they benefited mightily by playing in the ACC and only playing one or two physical games against a Florida or Miami many years. There were years fsu was just flat out better than Florida especially early on in Spurriers time here but Florida had SEC title games looming many of those years following the fsu game. You can say the sec wasnt what it is today and thats true but Florida always had some combination of multiple top 10 games on their slate in some rotation of Tennessee, Auburn, Alabama, fsu and an SEC title game to boot.

I appreciate objectivity but you seem to enjoy taking shots at Spurriers gators often.

 

We weren't the only good team in the SEC then. Bama and Tennessee had good teams as well.

 

They were a great team no doubt.
But their schedule was a joke...
They had 1 or 2 at most games to peak for, while we had a gauntlet.
Including the SECCG as antny above me points out...

If only there was a game where we could face them w/out the SECCG looming.
On a neutral field, with neutral refs, to see how Bowden's Noles and Spurrier's Gators REALLY matched up...
With a few weeks for both teams to get healthy...

Oh wait- there was!!!
January 2nd, 1997. How that turn out for those Noles??

So yeah- if FSU had to play in the SEC in the 90s they would have done well, but NO where near the cakewalk they had...
Bowden knew what he was doing...

 

This doesn't factor in the cumlative effect of a,difficult schedule.....injuries, mental and physical fatigue, and thin margin of error.
We know all those are real, Bobby Bowden told us

 

I thought they joined the ACC because their academic profile was a better fit for schools like Duke, UNC and Ga Tech and because it was such a good basketball conference.

 

Didn’t he promise to give back some of his salary if the holes didn’t play well this year?
Dude’s going broke!!

 

Yeah, that too.

 

He got that in a fight with a white board to try and pump the team up.

 

Not a shot at Spurrier at all. Florida DID play more top teams than FSU, but not by as much as you think. Take a look at the number of teams with three or fewer losses/ties each opponent faced (SECCG *):

FSU

1990: Miami (L), Penn State (W), Florida (W)
1991: Michigan (W), Syracuse (W), Miami (L), Florida (L), Texas A&M (W)
1992: Miami (L), North Carolina (W), Nebraska (W)
1993: North Carlina (W), Miami (W), Notre Dame (L), Florida (W), Nebraska (W)
1994: Virginia (W), Miami (L), NC State (W), Florida (T), Florida (W)
1995: Miami (W), Florida (L), Notre Dame (W)
1996: North Carolina (W), Miami (W), Florida (W), Florida (L)
1997: North Carolina (W), Florida (L), Ohio State (W)
1998: Texas A&M (W), Miami (W), Georgia Tech (W), Virginia (W), Florida (W), Tennessee (L)
1999: Virginia Tech (W)
2000: Georgia Tech (W), Louisville (W), Miami (L), Clemson (W), Florida (W), Oklahoma (L)

Total: 31-12-1 (.716)

Florida

1990: Auburn (L), FSU (L)
1991: Alabama (W), Syracuse (L), Tennessee (W), Georgia (W), FSU (W), Notre Dame (L)
1992: Tennessee (L), Georgia (W), FSU (L), Alabama (L)*
1993: Tennessee (W), Auburn (L), FSU (L), West Virginia (W)
1994: Auburn (L), FSU (T), Alabama (W)*, FSU (L)
1995: Tennessee (W), FSU (W), Nebraska (L)
1996: Tennessee (W), LSU (W), FSU (L), Alabama (W)*, FSU (W)
1997: Tennessee (W), LSU (L), Auburn (W), Georgia (L), FSU (W), Penn State (W)
1998: Tennessee (L), Georgia (W), FSU (L)
1999: Tennessee (W), Alabama (L), FSU (L), Alabama (L)*, Michigan State (L)
2000: FSU (L), Miami (L)

Total: 20-23-1 (.466)

Each team played 44 games against such opponents. We played four SECCGs against strong opponents, going 2-2. Looking at it objectively, FSU:

1990: Probably run the table
1991: May lose to Alabama, but did beat Syracuse. Tossup for Notre Dame.
1992: Probably run the table, but lose to Alabama.
1993: Probably run the table. Auburn may be close like ours.
1994: Auburn and Alabama would be close, as ours were.
1995: Tennessee and Nebraska could be losing games
1996: Tennessee could be close.
1997: Tennessee, Auburn and Georgia could be close. probably lose 1 or two.
1998: Lose to Tennessee (they did)
1999: Probably run the table
2000: Lose to Miami (they did)

Now this doesn't take into account the WTF loss. FSU had one to Virginia (9-4). We had two to MSU (7-5 and 8-4). Neither SOS nor Bowden lost to lesser teams when their team was strong very often. Needless to say, however, FSU wouldn't have taken many lumps in the 1990s, if they had our schedule. If they had another SEC team's schedule (say Kentucky), they'd probably be better.

Now for extra credit, let's unearth some patented excuses we used to use back in the day. I can think of 2-3...