Florida State Football: 2012 Is Make-or-Break Year for Jimbo Fisher

For over a decade, Florida State fans have patiently waited for the Seminoles to resurrect their program and transform back into the team that dominated college football the previous decade. 

The ugly ending of legendary coach Bobby Bowden’s career gave way to the promise of a new day under Jimbo Fisher’s leadership.

Fisher has guided the Seminoles to a respectable 19-8 record during his first two seasons as head coach, and on the heels of another stellar recruiting class, expectations are once again high in the offseason for the ‘Noles.

However, with FSU failing to meet the hype that preceded last season, the Seminoles chief is in danger of becoming a coach that is known more for what he accomplishes in February than what his team does on the field in the fall. 

Considering that Fisher has been at FSU since 2007 and served as the team’s coach-in-waiting for two years before taking over, some fans are quietly wondering if Fisher could be FSU’s version of Ron Zook.   

That line of thinking fails to give Fisher the proper credit for rescuing the ‘Noles from their program’s Dark Ages, but such is the cutthroat business that college football has become.

Fisher knows that he has all of the necessary pieces in place to get FSU back into a BCS bowl and the talent on the Seminoles roster is among the best in the country. 

While injuries played a major role in FSU’s 2011 early season collapse, while a valid excuse—that will not get Fisher any more leeway—regardless of if that is fair or not.  

With the news that their Sept. 8 game against likely preseason top-10 opponent West Virginia has been canceled, FSU will likely be forced to replace the Mountaineers with a non-BCS league opponent—despite their efforts to attract a big-name opponent.

Aside from road trips to South Florida, Miami (FL) and Virginia Tech, the schedule should be favorable for the ‘Noles, with Clemson and Florida having to come to Doak Campbell Stadium. 

Fisher has a fifth-year senior at quarterback and a vicious defense that returns nine starters off of a group that finished fourth in the country in total defense last season. 

With a cavalcade of prep studs set to join an already stacked roster, year three of the Fisher era will only be successful if it ends with a championship—an ACC title is the minimum standard for 2012. 

Fisher knows that the time for underachieving lies in the past and the time for getting FSU back to being one of college football’s elite starts now.