It wasn’t utterly dominant this time, but Monday night’s BCS championship comeback against audacious Auburn was about as perfect an ending to a perfect 14-0 Florida State season as anyone could wish.
Blasting all the way back from a 21-10 halftime deficit, the Seminoles minted their own kind of miracle. It was a touchdown pass from Jameis Winston to Kelvin Benjamin with 13 seconds remaining that squeezed the last drop of destiny out of the Tigers, who had made a habit this season of pulling games out of the fire in the wackiest ways.
Just like that, a shocking upset turned into an equally fantastic finish for the favorites, who were No. 1 by a mile and by every measure during the regular season. Forever FSU will celebrate this 34-31 victory, not only because of the multiple comebacks that made it happen, but because this was different than all the others.
Previously, the Seminoles had blown every team out of the water, winning 13 games by an average of 42.3 points and never letting another team get closer than 14 points. This night was far nuttier, with Auburn showing plenty of the SEC speed and muscle that won the past seven BCS titles for America’s power conference.
The Seminoles looked stuck in the mud for so long that it seemed nothing could break them loose. Then, once the points started pouring, there was no way to stop them.
Auburn led 24-20 until FSU freshman Kermit Whitfield, a 5-foot-7 bottle rocket, shot down the left sideline for a 100-yard kickoff return. Then Auburn’s Tre Mason flipped the scoreboard on its head by running 37 yards for a touchdown and a 31-27 Tigers lead with 79 seconds remaining.
Winston, a Heisman Trophy winner showing off on his 20th birthday, kept saying that he would be just fine under such crushing pressure. Didn’t matter that FSU hadn’t even trailed at any point of the previous nine games. Didn’t matter that the Tigers had sacked him four times in this game, and kept coming at him with a fresh rotation of marauders up front.
Turns out he was right. He made an 80-yard winning drive look easy when it counted most, hitting Rashad Green for 49 yards to light the match and then pouring on the gasoline with a perfectly lofted 2-yard pass to the high-flying Benjamin just when it seemed everybody in the crowd of 94,208 would find the breath to endure another play.
Add it all up and you’ve got the greatest season in FSU history, stamped as such by the most comprehensively talented team. No other Seminoles squad has gone 14-0. This is how you make a statement, by winning from the bottom of a hole, doing it the hardest way possible and at the last possible moment.
Auburn didn’t flinch, you see, even as a heavy underdog. Mason, a Heisman finalist himself, rushed for 195 yards and the Tigers outgained FSU 449 yards to 385 overall. There was no lack of magic here, on either sideline.
The fourth quarter, however, was FSU’s. The Seminoles won that final period by a margin of 21-10, which is exactly the edge Auburn earned in the first half.
“This team has heart, it has guts, it has determination,” said FSU coach Jimbo Fisher, “but most of all it loves each other.”
What’s not to love?
FSU looks loaded for another run at the national title next season, even if Benjamin and others head off early to the NFL draft.
“This is a program again,” Fisher said. “We’ve got a lot of work to do.”
No amount of effort can ever match this one, however. The Seminoles were beaten down in this game but never shut down.
If that’s not magic, nothing is.
