FSU Football hopes to avoid another Jacksonville upset 30 years later

FSU Football knows they are going to have a target on their backs against a Group of 5 team in their opener, 30 years after getting upset in the same spot.

In less than two months, the FSU football team will take the field and open the 2019 season against a team projected to be one of the tops in the Group of Five on what should be a steamy night in Jacksonville – just two days short of the 30th anniversary of the first time that the Seminoles did the same thing…a moment many fans would like to forget.

It was on the same site of TIAA Field – at what was then just called the Gator Bowl Stadium – on September 2, 1989 that head coach Bobby Bowden brought in a Seminoles team ranked sixth in the country and coming off an 11-1 season the year before to face off against a Southern Miss team in a battle of two big named Independent programs at the time.

The FSU football team had names like Dexter Carter and Lawrence Dawsey and Peter Tom Willis on offense to go along with players like Odell Haggins, LeRoy Butler and more on defense while the Golden Eagles really had just one person who would become a superstar in the game – a quarterback by the name of Brett Favre.

Thanks to two second quarter touchdown passes from the signal caller who would eventually make it to the NFL, Southern Miss had the lead at the half and retook the lead thanks to a touchdown run to start the fourth quarter. The Seminoles would retake the lead before the Golden Eagles shocked the college football world with less than 30 seconds to play.

For the second straight season, the Seminoles found themselves dropping their first game of the year – but unlike in 1988, when they lost on the road to defending champs Miami, Bowden and the Noles were upset by a team they had no business losing to. It was a loss that would amplified the following weekend when they lost their home opener against Clemson.

For the first time in over a decade, the Seminoles were 0-2 to start a season and needed to win the remaining 10 games – which they did, including winning the state championship for the first time since 1979 – to continue what would be the best dynasty era in college football history.

FSU football would not open a season in Jacksonville again for over a decade, returning to start their title defense in 2000 with a convincing victory over another team from the Rocky Mountain region when they defeated BYU thanks to a 300 yard passing day from Chris Weinke and a five sack, three interception day from the defense.

While the Seminoles may be a slight favorite to beat Boise State this season in Jacksonville, there will be plenty of fans in garnet and gold who will be nervous until the final seconds thanks to what took place three decades before.