TALLAHASSEE — As Treon Harris lined the Florida offense up with fourth and the ballgame to go, I scanned the crowd of 82,485 at Doak Campbell Stadium. My eyes met briefly with a female Florida State fan, and she smiled at me. It wasn’t one of those happy smiles, it was a nervous one, an "oh crap there’s still a chance we might lose this game," kind of smile. I just assumed she was new around these parts. Perhaps she had woken from a coma last Sunday and this was her first FSU game this season.
And surely she hadn’t seen Florida play anytime in the last four years.
Minutes later the fireworks were going off, and Tallahassee native T-Pain’s "All I do is Win" was blaring over the celebratory din of Doak. The song’s meaning becomes more applicable for FSU as the weeks go by.
For 28 straight games, all the Seminoles have done is win.
Set the adversity up, Florida State will knock it down.
This time it was a formidable Florida pass defense that forced Heisman winner Jameis Winston into the worst game of his career, with a career-high four interceptions. He reminded you that he’s still the most naturally talented quarterback in college football with plays like the pretty back shoulder throw to receiver Rashad Greene and the touchdown strike to tight end Nick O’Leary.
But at one point, Winston had more completions to Gators than he did Noles, he wasn’t at his best Saturday night.
Instead, the team in garnet and gold did things a different way on offense as it rode freshman Dalvin Cook to the tune of 144 yards, putting him six away from being the first FSU player to rush for 150 yards since Florida State’s win against Wake Forest on Sept. 15, 2012. FSU also gained more yards on the ground than through the air for the first time this season and scored a defensive touchdown on a 94-yard pick six.
While the Seminoles found another way to win, the Gators for the umpteenth time under Will Muschamp found a way to lose.
This time, it was death by a thousand field goals, or at least it seemed like it. Austin Hardin attempted six and missed two.
Florida consistently squandered unbelievably good field position against Florida State. UF only advanced the ball into the redzone once from drives that didn’t begin already inside of it. Florida had 14 drives total — none of which started farther back than its own 22-yard line — and 19 points out of an effort with an average field positioning of the UF 45 is abysmal.
The self inflicted wounds didn’t help things much either, with 105 yards of penalties incurred, including 25 on one play which backed UF out of field goal range.
Florida’s rushing attack never really got going. Harris led the team with 41 yards. Kelvin Taylor and Matt Jones combined for 66 yards on 22 touches. In the passing game, Harris was also unable to produce much of anything with errant throws and two interceptions. He finished 13 of 32 through the air with 169 yards in a disappointing performance.
As usual, Florida couldn’t pick up the slack of a defense that played about as well as could be expected, only giving up 17 points to Florida State’s offense as well as a season-low 306 yards of total offense.
This is what these teams are. One the standard-bearer of college football excellence over the past two seasons; the other a case study in how many different ways one of the titans of the sport can go in the wrong direction.
In 2012, Florida left Doak happy, with hope that it was only a USC victory later that evening away from a potential national championship game bid. The Seminoles, on the other hand, had beaten themselves, falling flat in a big game. From that night on, the programs have hurtled in opposite directions at Mach speed.
Two years later, things are different. Florida State pulled through and Florida didn’t, but then again, what did you expect?
Follow Richard Johnson on Twitter @RagjUF
FSU quarterback Jameis Winston celebrates during Florida's 24-19 loss to Florida State on Saturday at Doak Campbell Stadium in Tallahassee.
