FSU Football: Late bye week perfect before rivalry game vs. Florida

FSU football is going to have two weeks of time before they take the field against the rival Gators, something that hasn’t happened in nearly 15 years.

For the FSU football team, the first 12 weeks of the season were a roller coaster of emotions both on and off the field – one that saw the Seminoles go 6-5 on the season with a two game winning streak that came under interim head coach Odell Haggins after former head coach Willie Taggart was shown the door.

Now, the Seminoles get a chance for the rare late November breather as a bye week rolls around before the Noles get back out on the field for the almost always regular season finale on November 30th when the garnet and gold hits the road to take on the rival Florida Gators.

It’s something that hasn’t taken place all that often over the last 30 seasons – as this is just the sixth time over that span dating back to the 1990 season that FSU football has been on the bye week before playing the Gators (with the Seminoles going 3-2 over that time with wins in 1990, 1992 and 2003).

Florida State Seminoles Football

This season, the late bye week could be the best thing the Seminoles have seen so far – especially when you consider the fact that the month of November so far as involved losing to rival Miami, firing Taggart the next day before winning the last two games and being bowl eligible after not making it to the post season in 2018.

Simply put, giving the Noles a breather this late is the perfect thing and not just because they are likely going to be playing a top 10 Gators team next weekend for the first time since 2015. It’s because this is what they need: a time to reset everything after what has been a rocky last three weeks of the season.

The Noles now have two weeks between the first task after Haggins took over – getting bowl eligible – and the second task, which is avoiding being swept by the in-state rivals in back to back seasons for the first time since the mid-1980s. FSU football is going to be heavy underdogs in the game, but now they have two weeks to get the game plan together.

More importantly, they are going to get a chance to focus on the most important thing – beating the hated Gators – without any of the other distractions that have plagued the team so far in 2019. They are also going to get a chance to be healthier (cough, cough…get Cam Akers healthy…cough, cough) heading into the Sunshine State showdown.

Does this mean that the Seminoles are going to get the upset win? Honestly, I don’t know. Does it increase their chances a whole heck of a lot more? 100 percent agree with that statement.