Soon after Florida State capped a 12-2 season with a 31-10 victory over upstart Northern Illinois in Tuesday’s Orange Bowl, fullback Lonnie Pryor stood on the podium tossing to his teammates the oranges that had filled the bowl that was part of his most valuable player trophy.
Soon, a large group of Florida State players were flashing huge grins with oranges sticking out of their mouths, a celebration that has not occurred in more than a decade for this once-dominant program.
The Seminoles took another step in their journey back to being among college football’s elite with their first BCS bowl victory since defeating Virginia Tech in the January 2000 Sugar Bowl, a game that secured FSU’s second, and last, national title.
Florida State finished with an ACC title, its first since 2005, and has a chance at a season-ending top-10 ranking (it was No. 12 entering the bowls), which would be a first since it finished fifth following the 2000 season.
“Sometimes you take those things for granted,” said coach Jimbo Fisher, who is 3-0 in bowls as a head coach. “I’m extremely happy for our players, for what they’ve done in putting Florida State back on the map … where this program was and where they’ve brought it to.”
Two seniors, who suffered through a 7-6 season as freshmen, were instrumental in holding off the Huskies (11-2), who took a lot of heat for busting the BCS and becoming the first team from the Mid-American Conference to play in a major bowl.
Pryor, the Okeechobee product, saved his best for last, with a career-high 134 yards (on just five carries) and two touchdowns. Pryor’s rushing total was almost one quarter of his entire career output of 584 yards entering the game.
Pryor also had three of the four longest runs of his career: 60, 37 and 31 yards.
“The whole time when I was running I always talked to myself,” Pryor said. “I was just telling myself ‘no, no, no.’ In other words, not let that guy catch me.But it just felt good I went out with a bang, and the seniors, we all went out with a bang.”
Quarterback EJ Manuel concluded a solid career by completing 26 of 38 passes for 291 yards and a 9-yard touchdown run on the first play of the fourth quarter. Manuel becomes just the second quarterback in NCAA history to have a hand in four bowl victories, joining West Virginia’s Patrick White.
“The biggest thing for a lot of the guys in the ’08 and ’09 classes, we wanted to leave a legacy and change the culture,” Manuel said. “It wasn’t an overnight process, but we’re reaping the benefits right now.”
Although the offense finished the season with 6,591 yards, the most in school history, this season will be remembered for FSU’s dominating defense, which suffocated NIU star quarterback Jordan Lynch, limiting him to 44 rushing yards (on 23 carries), 15-of-41 passing for 176 yards and an interceptions and sacked him three times.
The MAC player of the year entered the game third nationally in total offense.
“The media made him look like he’s the next superstar quarterback,” FSU All-America defensive end Bjoern Werner said. “We saw a lot of running quarterbacks this year.”
Said Lynch: “It got frustrating at times.”
That defense, ranked second nationally behind Alabama, will lose five senior starters and at least two juniors. Cornerback Xavier Rhodes announced after the game that he is leaving and is projected as a first-round NFL draft pick. Werner, a consensus All-American, is almost certain to leave but will wait a few days before making it official.
“I’m excited about it,” Rhodes said.
Almost as excited as Fisher about the future of a program that is now 31-10 since he replaced Bobby Bowden compared to 25-16 in Bowden’s last three seasons.
“I think we’re knocking on the door and I think we had to get on this platform and understand that you have to go win the (ACC) championship, you have to get in a BCS bowl game and understand all the things that go with it,” Fisher said. “You’ve got to learn to handle those things to play on the big stage, and these guys did that and showed our young guys that we feel very confident about where we’re going and what we’re doing and for the future.”
