FSU Football: Recent letdown losses clouds hope for monster 2019

FSU Football has found themselves bitten more than once over the past few seasons by a loss to a team that they had no business falling to.

For as much as the FSU football team struggled over last season to the first losing campaign in over four decades, let us not forget that this is a decade for the Seminoles that – in nine seasons – as seen the Noles win a national title, multiple ACC crowns and bowl games to go along with six seasons of double digit wins.

It’s also a decade that has seen the Seminoles, no matter who the head coach has been, lose games that they quite frankly had no business losing – the classic letdown game that impacts many teams, but of late seems to reside for the most part inside the heads of those playing for the Seminoles.

From an upset loss in the home finale of 2011 to Virginia to a 2015 loss on the road at a bad Georgia Tech team that started to signal cracks in the armor for FSU football, the Seminoles have had plenty of moments they would love to have back – moments that will keep them from being  championship team in 2019.

Florida State Seminoles Football

Now, by writing that I am in no way saying that the Seminoles are going to have back to back losing seasons in the first two campaigns for head coach Willie Taggart – but until the Seminoles can get over this mental hump and beat the teams they are supposed to, it’s going to be a eight or nine win season in Tallahassee.

Don’t get me wrong – after seeing what took place last season, many in garnet and gold are going to be happy to be playing back in the postseason and having a respectable record and they should be grateful.

But – and I know I’m going to sound like a tired fan of schools like Miami or Notre Dame here – but it wasn’t all that long ago that FSU football handedly beat every team they played over a 29 game stretch that included some of the best (and worst) teams in college football.

Yes, the 2014 season was a struggle coming off the national title one year before and the Seminoles were lucky to escape with an undefeated record – but even the biggest football insider will tell you that luck can be just as important as anything in the game.

So, what team is it going to be this season? Is it going to be a September contest against a Louisville team that is rebuilding? How about in October, when the Seminoles travel to take on a Wake Forest team one week after facing Clemson? What about in the cold of November on the road at Boston College?

We can all be real about this one – there is more than likely going to be a game for the Seminoles where we are going to ask what the heck happened. It’s better to face the reality and deal with how to handle it now.