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Chop Chat FSU Football 2017 Awards: Best Victory

By Jason Parker

GAINESVILLE, FL - NOVEMBER 25: Matthew Thomas #6 and Jacob Pugh #16 of the Florida State Seminoles carry a gator head out of Ben Hill Griffin Stadium after the game against the Florida Gators on November 25, 2017 in Gainesville, Florida. (Photo by Rob Foldy/Getty Images)
GAINESVILLE, FL - NOVEMBER 25: Matthew Thomas #6 and Jacob Pugh #16 of the Florida State Seminoles carry a gator head out of Ben Hill Griffin Stadium after the game against the Florida Gators on November 25, 2017 in Gainesville, Florida. (Photo by Rob Foldy/Getty Images) /
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FSU football has completed another regular season of action – and we at Chop Chat are here to hand out awards from the 2017 campaign.

In the interest of full disclosure, we know this hasn’t been the season that FSU football fans would have wanted. With all the anticipation about what was supposed to take place this season, the fact that the Seminoles are 6-6 and playing in the Independence Bowl needing a victory to avoid their first losing year since 1976 is not something to write home about.

Even with that, there were still plenty of memorable moments this season that will have those in garnet and gold smiling when they think about 2017 – including the emergence of future stars like Cam Akers and James Blackman as well as Odell Haggins getting the honor he deserved after years of service by being named interim head coach.

With all that, there is one game that sticks out as the best of those six victories this season for FSU football. No, it wasn’t wins over bowl bound teams Duke and Wake Forest (a sentence I never thought I would write) – but it was a record setting win over a hated rival that earned the honor of being named Chop Chat’s FSU Football 2017 Awards best victory.

Florida State Wins Fifth Straight Over Rival Florida Gators

November 25th – Florida State 38 Florida 22

For just the second time in the series history that dates back to 1958, the Seminoles and Gators faced off with both teams having losing records. While it wasn’t a game with championship implications like it had been decades before, FSU football was all about making history and winning five straight over their foes for the first time ever.

The first half of action couldn’t have gone any better for the Noles. Two defensive touchdowns – a Jacob Pugh fumble return after a Brian Burns strip sack as well as a Levonta Taylor pick six – helped Florida State build a 24-7 lead. Florida would get a touchdown right before the half and add a third quarter field goal to cut that lead to 24-16 entering the fourth quarter.

FSU football would put the game away thanks to a Cam Akers touchdown run followed by a Matthew Thomas interception that set the Seminoles up for James Blackman’s second touchdown pass of the game, this time finding Auden Tate for the score. The Gators would add a garbage touchdown, but the Seminoles chopped their way out of Gainesville with a 16 point victory.

Next: Top FSU Football wins over Miami and Florida

In a season that went off the rails weeks before, getting this rivalry win was without a doubt the biggest highlight. Five straight wins over the Gators (along with four straight wins over them in Gainesville for the first time ever) would bring their record against rivals Miami and Florida to 16-2 since 2010 – and also be the final game coached by Jimbo Fisher before he bolted for Texas A&M.

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