The Swamp will say goodbye to a legend Saturday, but he will not be wearing any orange or blue.
A successful day for him would result in plenty of tears in Ben Hill Griffin Stadium, but few would be joyous.
With coach-in-waiting Jimbo Fisher set to take the helm at FSU sometime during the next two years, Bobby Bowden will likely be taking Florida Field for the last time when the No. 1 Gators (11-0, 8-0 Southeastern Conference) host the Seminoles (6-5, 4-4 Atlantic Coast Conference) at 3:30 p.m for Senior Day.
He will try for his eighth win in 17 trips to The Swamp when he wraps up his 33rd regular season as the Seminoles coach Saturday. He currently ranks second all time in wins among Football Bowl Subdivision coaches behind Penn State’s Joe Paterno. Bowden and Paterno are two of only four active coaches to be inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame.
“What they’ve accomplished — that won’t be touched,” Florida coach Urban Meyer said. “That’s an untouchable accomplishment. I personally have great admiration for both those guys. They do it the right way. They’re class individuals, and they truly love their players. It’s not about coach Bowden. It’s not about coach Paterno.
“The significance of those two, what those two have done for the game of football — enjoy it, because you’ll never see anything close to that again.”
A victory would give Bowden a shocking Swamp sendoff. The Seminoles are more than three-touchdown underdogs, and they are facing a possible sixth regular-season loss for only the second time since Bowden’s first season in 1976.
If they are to pull the upset, they will have to do it with their backup quarterback, redshirt freshman EJ Manuel. Starter Christian Ponder went down with a season-ending shoulder injury three weeks ago, a tough blow for an offense that had racked up 400 yards of total offense in seven of its first nine games under Ponder.
Manuel has stepped in and led Florida State to back-to-back wins over Wake Forest and Maryland, but those teams are a combined 6-16 and rank 73rd and 88th, respectively, in total defense.
Florida ranks second in the country, allowing 229.8 yards per game, and is No. 1 in scoring defense, giving up 9.8 points per game.
The Gators have won the last two meetings by a combined 63 points, and never in the 52-year history of the rivalry has an unranked FSU team defeated a ranked UF squad.
“Two years they’ve ripped us,” Bowden said. “I imagine they ripped everybody else the same way. We’re about like anybody else.
“Not anybody is going to beat them with an imperfect ball game. They’re too good. We’re going to have to play the best we can play, and they’re going to have to turn the ball over. Upsets are caused by turnovers. When a superior team, No. 1, is playing somebody not ranked, then the only thing that neutralizes it is turnovers.”
The Gators had started the season turnover-happy with 13 in their first seven games but have now gone four games without a single one.
And while Florida might not be the offensive juggernaut of a year ago, FSU’s defense might hold the recipe for a cure. The Seminoles are giving up 434.4 yards per game, which puts them 106th out of 120 FBS teams. Topping it all off will be a pregame Senior Day ceremony recognizing Florida’s 25 seniors that have gone 25-2 inside The Swamp.
In typical Meyer fashion, he hasn’t allowed his team to overlook its rival, despite the fact he has yet to lose in four tries to the “team out West,” as he refers to the Seminoles.
“This is as big a game as this school has ever had,” Meyer said. “What makes FSU dangerous is their athletes. Those are all great storylines. I wish they didn’t have good players — then no, they wouldn’t be a serious threat.”
