Florida State football: 5 best seasons in program history
By John Buhler
2. player. National Champions/ACC Champions. No. 1 Coaches/No. 1 AP. 2013 (14-0). 804. Scouting Report. Pick Analysis
Florida State’s greatest season of late was a perfect one back in 2013. With redshirt freshman quarterback Jameis Winston, the Seminoles navigated a 14-game schedule to become the final national champions of the BCS era. This ended a streak of seven straight national champions hailing from the SEC. 2013 was the finest year of the Jimbo Fisher era in Tallahassee.
The Seminoles started the season ranked No. 11 in the country. After beating No. 25 Maryland at Doak Campbell, this is when Florida State really found its stride. The next week they went into Death Valley and handed the No. 3 Clemson Tigers a bludgeoning of a loss, 51-14. Two weeks later, they pulverized the cross-divisional rival Miami Hurricanes at home, 41-14.
In-state rival Florida was not competitive, so the Seminoles navigated a 12-game regular-season schedule to perfection, facing the No. 20 Duke Blue Devils in the ACC Championship game in Charlotte. After putting Duke out of its misery, Florida State would face the No. 2 Auburn Tigers at the Rose Bowl for the right to be named national champions.
It was a hard-fought game, but one where Florida State prevailed on a game-winning touchdown pass by Heisman Trophy winner Winston to wide receiver Kelvin Benjamin with only 13 seconds left. This was Florida State’s first 14-0 season and third perfect one in school history. Though they made the inaugural College Football Playoff the next year, this team was the best Fisher coached.