With a golden opportunity squandered, Jimbo Fisher was now interested to see how his team would respond.
The Seminoles’ offense had brain-locked the night of Oct. 6 at North Carolina State, turning a 16-point halftime lead into a one-point defeat. Now, many believed the team that some projected to play for the national championship was teetering.
“After we lost to N.C. State nobody knew outside of our program where this was going to go, it could go up or down,” FSU quarterback EJ Manuel said. “We knew as a team if we could stick together, we’d be fine. We came back and had the winning streak we’ve had since that one game. I think it still can be a very special season.”
Special, as in national championship special? Not without a remarkable spate of upsets and some goodwill from the computers that have dumped on FSU from the start.
But Manuel is right. This could actually turn into a special, even historic, season.
A victory today at Maryland (4-6, 2-4), where No. 10 Florida State (9-1, 6-1 ACC) is a 31-point favorite, assures FSU of a spot in the Dec. 1 ACC title game in Charlotte, N.C., for just the third time since the game was created in 2005.
An ACC title and victory in the Orange Bowl, likely against the Big East champion, and the Seminoles will finish with the second-best record in the program’s 66-year history (a minimum of 10 games), behind the undefeated, national championship team of 1999.
“It’s what your goal is and what you try to get too,” Fisher said about the conference championship. “The key is to focus on Maryland and not focus on the championship. To go to a BCS game or national championship … your first objective has to be to win the conference.”
Fisher has to be pleased with the way his team recovered from the disappointing loss at N.C. State, hammering two opponents at home (Boston College and Duke) and winning at Miami and Virginia Tech. The Seminoles kept alive their ACC title game hopes last week at Virginia Tech, 28-22, thanks to a 39-yard scoring pass from Manuel to Rashad Greene with 40 seconds remaining.
This week the Seminoles have heard all about Maryland’s anemic offense (last in country with 284.3 yards per game) and how the Terrapins have lost four quarterbacks and turned to true freshman Shawn Petty, a scout team linebacker just three weeks ago, to play quarterback two weeks ago against Georgia Tech.
Petty is 15-of-30 for 156 yards in two games, both losses. He has one interception and lost three fumbles in last week’s 45-10 loss at Clemson.
Now he gets to face the No. 1-ranked defense in the country.
“The biggest thing is that we can’t make mistakes,” Maryland coach Randy Edsall said. “If we want to have a chance to win, we’ve got to play a perfect game and get turnovers against them.”
Florida State has shown it is not the same team on the road as it has been at home this season. The Seminoles have been at least a two touchdown favorite in each road game but the margin of victory is just more than 10 points per game.
The Seminoles have won their six home games by an average of 45 points.
“When you go to somebody else’s house they’re going to defend their house,” Fisher said. “You generally play better at home than you do on the road but to be a very good team you have to be able to win on the road.
“That’s what we have learned to do. We have learned to overcome situations.”
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