FSU Football title teams ranked among best in last two decades by magazine
By Jason Parker
FSU football has brought home two national titles in the last 20 years – and Athlon Sports shows both squads plenty of love in their rankings.
Over the last thirty years, it has been a great time to be a fan of FSU football – from 14 straight seasons with top four finishes to three national championships over the last 25 season, including two of those coming during the 20 years of the BCS or College Football Playoff.
From Tallahassee to points across the country, those teams have always been considered some of the best during that span to say the least – with the 2013 team giving plenty of argument for being considered one of the greatest college football teams of all time after their dominating performance that season.
Recently, Athlon Sports ranked the 20 champions over the last two decades of seasons (sorry, UCF…we’re talking the actual college football national champs) to see who they think was the best of the best – and that 2013 team came in No. 4 on their list.
"Jimbo Fisher’s best team since succeeding Bobby Bowden brought the Seminoles back to the national championship discussion with a dominant start to the year. Florida State’s offense was filthy. The Florida State defense was nasty, holding opponents to 14 points or fewer 11 times before facing Duke in the ACC Championship Game."
That FSU football team finished behind 2001 Miami, 2004 USC and 2005 Texas on the list with the first two teams traditionally mentioned among the best of all time. Meanwhile, the 1999 Seminoles team – which was one of three straight Noles teams to play for the title – came in at No. 10.
"With Chris Weinke and Peter Warrick on offense, few teams could handle Florida State’s offense. The Seminoles scored 40 points or more in each of their first five games, and a season-ending victory over No. 4 Florida locked Bobby Bowden’s squad into the championship game, where it managed to outlast Virginia Tech quarterback Mike Vick in the Sugar Bowl."
The Seminoles found themselves next to the teams they lost to in the other national title games in 1998 Tennessee (No. 7) and 2000 Oklahoma (No. 9). Other teams the Noles played include 2008 Florida (No. 6), 2016 Clemson (No. 11), 2017 Alabama (No. 18) and 2006 Florida (No. 19).
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Considering the 2013 FSU football team is the ONLY program to finish in the top five of both total offense and defense in the same season to win a national title since 1990, you really have a legit argument that the Seminoles were the best team of that era – and have an argument to be mentioned among the best to ever play the game.