FSU Rapid Reaction: It’s Over

The Florida State Seminoles have lost in the college football playoff semifinal to Oregon, here’s some FSU Rapid Reaction:

After a season spent dodging bullets, this is what happens when it all catches up to you. Florida State got clobbered in the second half — largely the result of five turnovers over the course of 20 minutes — and the Ducks rolled the Seminoles.

Now the rest of the country rejoices.

More from Chop Chat

• FSU football: Q&A with Clemson experts at Rubbing The Rock 2023
• FSU football: 3 reasons Noles beat Clemson, two reasons they lose
• FSU football: QB Brock Glenn out with an injury for ‘a few weeks’
• FSU football: Which TV announcers will call Clemson game?
• FSU football: Is Jared Verse ready to make an impact versus Clemson?

It’s not going to be fun to be a Florida State fan over the next few days. Fans of other teams — every other team in the country has lost at least three times over the span of FSU’s win streak — are going to pile on. They’ll make their cracks. They’ll say FSU didn’t deserve its spot in the playoff. They’ll call Winston the lesser of the two QB’s.

Let ’em.

It just wasn’t FSU’s day today. And frankly, since day one it just hasn’t felt like FSU’s season. This year has been about surviving. It’s been about weathering a constant stream of distractions, criticisms and slights.

This has been a joyless season.

And that couldn’t have been more evident tonight. FSU pressed. Even when it took momentum it never looked like the Seminoles were enthralled– looked like they were having fun. It looked like work. It felt like work. And that’s what this season became.

FSU’s biggest burden this year was the sizable expectations that were heaped on it from the moment that last season ended.

FSU’s biggest burden this year was the sizable expectations that were heaped on it from the moment that last season ended.

If you’re honest, FSU never played like the team it was expected to be this year. Even when it was firing on all cylinders we were all too distracted by the massive hole the Seminoles had dug themselves in the first place — the set of uncharacteristic mistakes that put them in the situation to begin with — to even appreciate the good moments.

This was a season filled with success that will only be remembered for the misses.

And that’s how tonight will be remembered. FSU had its chances. It was in position to take control of the game several times. But at the end of the day the sum Florida State’s mistakes was finally too much to overcome. Dalvin Cook fumbled two balls away. Jameis Winston coughed one up as he tried to do too much on a 4th down. A tipped pass ended up in the arms of an Oregon defender. Bobo Wilson fumbled one.

In the span of just a few moments it all fell apart.

Now FSU has about eight months to pick up the pieces. This isn’t the end of a run by any stretch. Sure, Jameis Winston is likely headed to the NFL. And Rashad Greene, Nick O’Leary and most of the offensive line will be graduating and moving on. But this team is loaded. It’s got NFL talent at every position. And there’s more on the way as Jimbo Fisher puts the finishing touches on yet another top recruiting class.

FSU will reload.

It should also be hungry again.

Not that the Seminoles weren’t hungry this year, but keep in mind no player in either of the last two recruiting classes had ever even lost a game in college. Last year’s championship was built on the backs of seniors who saw FSU down early on in their career. The passion was at an all-time high. Last year’s team was hungry. As Telvin Smith said in Charlotte last December, it wasn’t a return to glory– it was a reckoning.

This year felt different. It felt more like work.

Maybe next year the Seminoles will find the fun again.