FSU Football: Independence Bowl bid perfect ending to rocky 2017

FSU football will be making their first ever appearance in the Shreveport, LA based game – a bowl that symbolizes the rocky year the Noles had.

In the first 35 bowl games FSU football played as part of their record tying streak of appearances, the Seminoles played just four of those games before December 30th: the 1984 Citrus Bowl tie against Georgia, the 1990 Blockbuster Bowl win over Penn State, the 2006 Emerald Bowl win over UCLA and the 2008 Champs Sports Bowl victory over Wisconsin.

For the record setting 36th consecutive game in program history, the Noles will be getting thing out of the way early when they head to Northwest Louisiana for a battle against a Southern Miss team they do have some history with but haven’t faced in over two decades – translation, it’s the perfect ending to a season that some just want to come to an end.

Before I get jumped on by some readers, I’m not saying that I’m disappointed the Seminoles are in this bowl game – in fact, I’m ecstatic that the former 3-6 FSU football team was able to turn things around and become bowl eligible. I also, though I have never been to the city, am sure that Shreveport will put on quite the event and hopefully the Noles come out with a win to extend a winning season streak dating back to 1977.

With all that being said, it will also be the fifth time the Seminoles are playing in a game that is not one of what is now the New Years Six games or a game played on January 1st. The previous four times culminated seasons that finished with a combined record of 32-20. So I guess we can say that the 2017 Seminoles are in good company with those teams.

The game against the Golden Eagles for FSU football will still have plenty on the line – including that winning season streak, getting a fourth straight win to take momentum into next season and get interim head coach Odell Haggins his second straight win to finish as the Florida State coach with the best all time winning percentage (with a slightly smaller sample size).

After the win over Florida, there was some rumors that the TaxSlayer Bowl -where the Seminoles played the last time a coaching change was coming when it was known as the Gator Bowl – was interested in taking the Noles against an opponent from either the Big Ten or the SEC (including one rumor about a game against Texas A&M).

A visit to Jacksonville would be too good for a team that needed to beat Delaware State, Florida and Louisiana Monroe to go to a bowl game. No, a visit to the Walk On’s Independence Bowl is more symbolic of a season where almost every prediction in the country had the Noles playing in either of the playoff semifinals or, at the very least, the Orange Bowl.

(For those who don’t know – and I had to look it up – Walk On’s is a bar and restaurant with 15 locations in Louisiana and Texas that, just by looking at the menu, has some good food.)

Next: Top FSU Football wins under Jimbo Fisher

Before those big games have kicked off, FSU football will already be home hopefully celebrating another bowl win – and being able to say that the rocky and crazy 2017 season had finally come to an end.