Florida State Football: Are They Ready for the Return to Prime TIme?

The last several years for Seminole football fans were trying times. The mental agony of dealing with an aging and out-of-touch Coach Bowden and his apparent refusal to retire grew tiresome for one of the nation’s most dominant fan bases.

Bowden’s refusal to retire, accompanied by the hiring of Jimbo Fisher as the head coach in waiting, allowed an unnecessary tension to arise throughout the program.

The stagnation and anxiety that developed within the program eventually morphed into an era of mediocrity, an unacceptable occurrence in Tallahassee.

Following the 2009 season, the program had reached a boiling point, and the administration reached the realization that now was the proper time to force the hand of their legendary coach.  

Bowden had to leave.

Enter the aforementioned Fisher.

With Fisher at the helm, the ‘Noles fans have taken little time to regain the Tallahassee swag that thoroughly dominated college football during the entire decade of the 1990s. The chatter around the program, the Garnet and Gold that is arriving clad on the backs of fans in a city near you, the buzz of a Tomahawk Chop is becoming louder and louder.

FLORIDA STATE FOOTBALL IS BACK!

Or, are they?

The same media and fan driven ruckus made its noisy way around the football world last season. The return of Ponder, a possible Heisman candidate, and plenty of skill and ability at several other positions had the media and FSU fans gulping down the kool-aid faster than a chubby eight-year-old at a family picnic.

That party crashed and burned by week two, when a fast and dominant bunch of Sooners scalped the Seminoles, 47-17 in Norman.

And what is the difference this season? Nothing.

Florida State is looking at a possible 10-win season and an appearance in the ACC Championship game, but they are not to the point of BCS title contender quite yet. 

Seminole fans, do not take this as an insult and berate my opinion thoroughly on your message boards. I still expect great things from your program this season. The possibility of ten wins and an ACC Championship ring is nothing to fret about!

As an avid fan of football, I realize that your program enters each season with aspirations of a national title, but this season that appears to be just out of reach.

A program cannot lose talent the caliber of Christian Ponder at the quarterback position and replace him with a rather inexperienced quarterback, E.J. Manuel, and believe that there will be zero hiccups throughout the season.

Manuel, while extremely talented, is still lacking big game experience, but is surrounded by talent aplenty that will help ease the transition. This talent is why it is likely the Seminoles can maintain and achieve a similar amount of success as the previous year, even with losses at several key positions.

This whole idea of a BCS Championship this coming season?

Not just yet. Not just yet.