FSU Football: 2018 Miami loss hurts most of any in series history

FSU football watched a huge lead go away in a game they had no chance even winning according to so called experts leading into the showdown.

In the moments after D.J. Matthews took a Miami punt 74 yards to the house early in the third quarter for FSU football on Saturday in their game against the rival Hurricanes, I cracked a smile from my seat in the stands inside Hard Rock Stadium as I heard a Miami fan several rows behind me saying the following sentence:

"“I don’t like losing to Florida State, but at least when they’re good I can understand it.”"

Entering Saturday’s action, there was almost no one in the country – including a decent segment of the garnet and gold population that supports the Seminoles – who thought that the Noles were going to leave Miami-Dade with a victory to continue their winning streak on the road in this series that had dated back to the 2004 season.

The comeback by Miami hurt, without a question. It hurt even more when (and I don’t care if this sounds like sour grapes) you realize that he Hurricanes did not win the game – the FSU football team lost it with two turnovers that gave the Canes a short field and basically two touchdowns that were the difference.

In essence, this was the worst loss for the Seminoles in their series with Miami – and I say that as someone who has seen every Wide Right, Wide Left, Wide muffed kick and everything else over the last three plus decades in college football’s best series.

When Miami needed a last second touchdown to defeat a 1-2 Seminoles team last season, it took some of the luster off the win considering that it was not supposed to be that close. Can you imagine the ridicule that FSU football fans could have put on their rivals had the Seminoles blown out the Canes?

Many of the “wide” games were ones where the teams were both ranked higher and the game meant more – but in 1991, the Noles would lose their next game to Florida so likely wouldn’t have played for the title while 1992’s game would have ended in a tie so who knows. In 2000, FSU football still played for the title while the 2002 Wide Left was during a five loss season.

Yes, we are all currently living in the moment about what took place this weekend – but in the years and decades to come when people ask which loss to Miami hurt the most, many FSU football fans will point to this game as they one that both got away and would have caused the most embarrassment to the Hurricanes.