How FSU Football created ACC monster it is trying to overcome in 2018

FSU football was once the best thing going in the conference when it came to football, and forced the ACC to take a step up in the sport.

When the FSU football team takes the field on Labor Day against fellow Atlantic Coast Conference foe Virginia Tech, the Seminoles will be starting their 27th season as a member of the league – and the first 26 couldn’t have been any more different between the first half and the second half if you scripted the story.

In the first 13 seasons, from 1992 until 2004, the Seminoles won the conference a total of 11 times and finished in second place the other two times. Once the league expanded and broke into divisions, the story takes a sad turn.

During the second 13 seasons, from 2005 until last season when the ACC has played a conference title game, the Noles have won four championships while winning the Atlantic Division just one other time and only finishing as high as second in the division two other times.

The scope of college football has changed – and the ACC has become more than just FSU football and the eight dwarfs. After getting dog stomped for the first decade the Seminoles were in the conference, the ACC realized that it needed to adjust and actually put some energy behind a sport other than basketball.

Don’t get me wrong, the conference is still all about the hardwood first – but there is no doubt that the drive to compete with the once powerful Seminoles has built a conference that can compete with any of the other Power Five leagues as a whole.

During ACC Kickoff last weekend, former FSU football assistant and current Miami Hurricanes head coach pointed out the difference he saw once he came back to the conference.

"“Even two years ago when I got here compared to then was night and day. There’s no question. Florida State at that time, we just – we out-classed a lot of people in just the athletic ability and all that type of thing.I think people are beginning to say, in order to be great in football, we’ve got to pour resources into all the things that it takes to develop a player, whether it’s facilities or strength and conditioning or how you feed them or all those types of things…”"

There will never be an era when a team goes on to win nine straight ACC championships like FSU football did in their first seasons in the conference. Since then, just the Seminoles and Clemson have won at least three straight titles – a streak the Tigers will hope to push to four this season, while the Seminoles look to get back to Charlotte.

New FSU football head coach Willie Taggart, who grew up watching those dominant Seminole teams of the 1990s, knows that he won’t have that same easy road this time around as the leader of the Noles.

"I think if you look at being the only new coach in this conference, and only new coach and the coach before didn’t get fired, says a lot about this conference and the winning that goes on. You understand that each and every week, you’ve got to come and play your A game, and each and every week you can get beat by any team in this conference."

The Seminoles will get tested early and often this season in the ACC and can’t take any team for granted like they did decades before – and they have no one to blame but themselves for creating that monster.