Best FSU Football bowl game for January 6th: 2013 BCS Championship

FSU football isn’t playing in a bowl game this season, so we’re taking a look back at some of the best postseason games for the Seminoles by date.

Over the seven decades and more that the FSU football team has been talking the field of play, the Seminoles have fielded some amazing programs – some among the best in the history of the ACC and many of the best teams to ever play in the state of Florida when it comes to both talent on the field and championships won.

The product that was on the field during the 2013 season for the Seminoles was a special group – it was a team that was not just the best in program history and one that was probably the best team in the state and conference all time, but one that is in the conversation as maybe the best college football team there ever was.

The dominance that the Noles had all season was mind boggling when you look at the numbers – but it would take until the final seconds of the season before they were able to bring home the third championship in program history and officially enter the talk about greatest of all time.

Here’s a look at the best FSU football bowl game the program has played on January 6th.

2013 BCS Championship – Florida State 34 Auburn 31

When the Seminoles took the field to start the 2013 season, they were outside of the top 10 and seen as maybe a season away from playing for the title. By the end of the first weekend of December, FSU football was the top ranked team in the country who had the top scoring offense in the game and had outscored their final six opponents (two ranked) by a combined 321 to 48.

After beating No. 20 Duke for their second straight ACC title, the Seminoles prepared for the final ever BCS game – this one being for the national title inside the iconic Rose Bowl stadium in Pasadena, California against an Auburn team that was trying to win an eight straight title for that other conference in our region.

All of that success and points didn’t mean a thing early on as the Seminoles found themselves struggling both sides of the ball – going down 21-3 late in the second quarter before a fake punt call effectively saved the day and led to a touchdown before the half by Devonta Freeman as part of 17 unanswered points that cut the deficit to one.

An Auburn field goal made it a four point lead before Kermit Whitfield went 102 yards on the ensuing kickoff. After the Tigers scored with less than 80 seconds in the game, Heisman Trophy winning quarterback Jameis Winston led the drive of the season – aided by a long catch and run by Rashad Greene and a game winning catch from Kelvin Benjamin with 13 seconds left.

While the 2013 FSU football team was one of just four championship teams to be in the top seven of both offense and defense in the last 30 seasons, it didn’t show in this game as Auburn outgained the Seminoles and sacked Winston four times. But when it was all said and done, it was the Noles who walked out of SoCal as the champions of the game.

The victory was one of 29 in a row for the Seminoles that included three ACC titles as well as the final crystal football to be awarded – and clearly showed the world that the best team to play the game may just have originated in Tallahassee.