FSU vs. SEC: A History of Domination

Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

FSU vs. SEC: A History of Domination examines how the ‘Noles have fared against the most hyped conference in college football. 

The 2014 college football season is here, and with it the seemingly unquestionable self-appointed reign of the Southeastern Conference as the undisputed class of college football. Certainly, the SEC has an impressive recent history, highlighted by a run of seven straight BCS Championships. But we’ve come to a point at which questioning the SEC in any way, shape, or form, whatsoever, is untolerated.

But what of the team to end the SEC’s illustrious reign, the Florida State Seminoles? We’re constantly inundated with propaganda about how the ‘Noles have it easier because they’re not subjected to the gauntlet that is an SEC schedule. If that’s the case, then SEC teams should be sharpened by their stout competition, and have an edge over the FSU of the ACC. Right?

Not so, according to the numbers. Since FSU has held a conference affiliation, its record against the SEC is quite impressive. The ‘Noles joined the Metropolitan Collegiate Athletic Conference (better known as the Metro Conference) in 1976, and moved over to the ACC in 1991. And since ’76, the Seminoles’ record against teams currently in the SEC is 45-30-2, a winning percentage of 59.7%. Actually, it’s more impressive than that: Florida State won its lone matchup with the Alabama Crimson Tide, in 2007, but the win was vacated due to an academic scandal.

And there are other SEC teams that FSU has played scarcely as well. Tennessee won the school’s only meeting to claim the 1998 title. Kentucky and the ‘Noles only game was a 2007 Music City showdown, which the Wildcats won. The Seminoles are also 0-1-1 against UGA, 1-1 vs. Mississippi State, and 2-0 when playing Texas A&M. Florida State has not played Vanderbilt, Missouri, or Arkansas, and faced Ole Miss prior to 1976.

What of the more significant sample sizes? The ‘Noles have more than held their own against some of the SEC’s more storied programs. FSU is 5-5 against Auburn, and tops the in-state rival Florida Gators 20-19-1 since 1976. And then there are the teams that Florida State has simply dominated: the Seminoles are 10-1 against South Carolina and 7-1 against LSU.

What’s worse — at least for the SEC — is that these numbers are favoring Florida State increasingly under head coach Jimbo Fisher. Fisher, who was an assistant at Auburn from 1993-1998 and at LSU from 2000-2006, has a 5-1 record against his former conference. It’s a promising trend for FSU, given the heightened likelihood of encountering an SEC squad, or possibly even two, should it qualify for the championship playoff.