Florida State was sailing along at 5-0 and had risen to No. 3 in the Associated Press Top 25, its highest ranking in the Jimbo Fisher era, when the Seminoles arrived last season in Raleigh, N.C.
The game was just another on the schedule, nothing like the showdown No. 5 FSU faces Saturday when it visits No. 3 Clemson. But when the Seminoles were upset 17-16 by an unranked N.C. State team, suddenly it became a defining game.
And a measuring stick for Fisher’s critics.
Florida State finished the 2012 season 12-2, winning its first ACC title since 2005 and its first BCS bowl game in 13 years. But Fisher’s success since replacing Bobby Bowden in 2010 became his curse.
Some program followers believed the season could have been better, pointing to second-half collapses against the Wolfpack and Florida, and uninspiring wins in the ACC title game over Georgia Tech and in the Orange Bowl over Northern Illinois.
And while the noise might have been coming from a vocal minority, the rumblings were there.
When Fisher was asked last week in a conversation with the Palm Beach Post how he deals with unrealistic expectations, he said: “You don’t. You know you can’t control it.”
He then added: “Winning a BCS game and an ACC championship is not unsuccessful. We understand that, but we are not satisfied, either.”
Fisher, 48, has had a handful of defining moments since replacing Bowden, but one thing is certain: most have been successful. He is 36-10 in his first head coaching job (including 3-0 in bowls), which is tied for the seventh-best record among BCS conference schools since he took over in 2010. Fisher’s .783 winning percentage is the highest in ACC history.
Now, Fisher prepares for the biggest regular-season game of his career. Some believe this will be a defining moment for Fisher. Others say win or lose, the program is headed in the same direction.
“This game doesn’t define Jimbo’s career as a coach,” said former FSU star receiver Ron Sellers of Palm Beach Gardens. “You have to look at the body of a coach’s or team’s work.”
Sellers became a believer last season and thinks all of FSU’s goals are attainable even if the Seminoles stumble Saturday in Death Valley.
FSU entered 2013 with lower expectations than the last two seasons after 11 Seminoles were taken in April’s NFL draft. But an explosive offense led by freshman quarterback Jameis Winston and an improving defense could put this team on a fast track. With just 12 seniors on the two-deep depth chart, this was expected to be a transition year.
“I felt we had a good football team … but you never know until you play the games,” Fisher said. “I like this team. I like the direction it’s going.”
That direction is the opposite of where the Seminoles were headed when Bowden was forced out after 34 seasons. FSU went 7-6 in three of Bowden’s last four years. Those struggles and Fisher’s relationship with Bowden — he was hired by Bowden in 2007 as offensive coordinator — likely played a role in easing the transition, which history has shown can be difficult for coaches following a legend.
“The one thing I learned from Coach Bowden … (is) I have to do things my way,” Fisher said. “We basically changed the program from the ground up. Not that it was wrong, but it is how I believed you had to do things today to be successful.”
Fisher was 10-4 his first season, leading the Seminoles to the ACC title game and a bowl win over South Carolina. He was accepted, but he also raised the bar.
Lee Corso, the ESPN analyst who played at FSU in the early 1950s, says it was important that Fisher embraced Bowden’s legacy while putting his stamp on the program.
“He didn’t fight the legend of Bobby Bowden, and he didn’t fight Florida State and its history,” said Corso, who will be in Clemson, S.C., this weekend as part of the “GameDay” crew.
Bowden kept his distance, fearing every move Fisher made would be compared to his style. And while Fisher sought advice from Bowden, Bowden didn’t initiate those conversations. Now, with Fisher entrenched, Bowden agreed to return to FSU for a game for the first time since he retired. He will be honored Oct. 26 when N.C. State visits Tallahassee.
“Jimbo having had a relationship with Bobby Bowden, FSU accepted him more than if he came in after Bowden left,” Sellers said.
And now, in this fourth season, Fisher can do something his predecessor and mentor was able to achieve once in his last 10 seasons and just five times in his 34 years at FSU: defeat a team ranked in the top three on its home field.
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