FSU Football: Did Vegas making Stanley Cup hurt expectations for Willie Taggart?

FSU football is going to be debuting a new coach this fall – but the success of one pro expansion team might have just made expectations unrealistic to some.

Here at Chop Chat, we don’t like to assume anything about those who root for FSU football – but since many of our fans are in the southeast, it might be safe to say that not everyone is the biggest hockey fans in the world (except maybe those rooting for the Tampa Bay Lightning over their past few seasons of becoming relevant again or Nashville becoming decent).

So for those of you who haven’t been paying attention, here’s a quick recap: the Vegas Golden Knights, who are literally in their first season of playing in the NHL, defeated the Winnipeg Jets on Sunday to become the second team in any of the four professional leagues to make it to their sport’s final series – as the Knights will play either Tampa Bay or Washington for the Stanley Cup.

While it’s a great thing for folks in Sin City and maybe the sport of hockey, all future expansion teams and those doing things in the first season are now going to face a serious problem – including first year FSU football head coach Willie Taggart.

From this point on in sports, doing okay is not going to be considered good enough in sports. A team could make the playoffs in their first season and lose in the first round – something rarely done in all of sports – and the first comment is going to be “Well, Vegas made it to the Stanley Cup Final.”

Yes, I am writing this with a grain of salt because people with common sense are never going to put that kind of pressure or insane line of thought into things – but, at the same time, there are plenty of crazy sports fans out there who will, including some that are in garnet and gold and support FSU football.

What Vegas is doing in the Stanley Cup Playoffs is amazing – this was a team predicted to finish last because…well, they are an expansion team who quite frankly has no business doing this. But, that’s why sports are great (and a side note, hockey playoffs are pretty amazing as a whole.)

At the same time, the Golden Knights have pretty much ruined it for any team or coach who is in their first go around. Can you imagine if they win the Stanley Cup Final over either the Lightning or Capitals? God, people like Willie Taggart will have to bring home a national title in the 2018 season or some will say it was a “failure” of a season.

Next: Willie Taggart disrespected in ranking of P5 coaches

So, in a weird and twisted way to keep some of the pressure off Taggart, any future FSU football coach or any new coach or team for that matter, we as Seminoles might need to root for either Tampa Bay or Washington to end this madness. Yes, the Lightning killed the NHL for a season after winning the Stanley Cup, but it might be worth it to help our new Noles leader.