Was 2013 the Best Seminole Team Ever?

By Charlie Barnes, Guest Columnist

Much of our delight in the magician's art lies in the unexpected flourish. A bird darts from beneath an empty scarf and soars above the crowd; we didn't see it coming. It is the unanticipated surprise that evokes wide eyes and smiles. So ... surprise! Welcome to Seminole Football, 2013.

Our fans gasped in wonder and delight as the spectacular 2013 magic show unfolded right up to the final seconds in the Rose Bowl. And now, as we Seminole fans love to do, we luxuriate in endless exchanges about any and all things having to do with our team regardless of whether or not it makes sense or if it has any basis in fact.

Meaningless banter is all part of the fun. And so, in that spirit, let us speculate on how this edition of the Seminoles compares to other great Seminole teams of the past.

The question before us is this: Are the 2013 National Champions the greatest Seminole team ever? Maybe, but let's meander through the Dynasty and compare.

Of course, a sentimental favorite for the honor of best team ever would have to be the 1993 champions, winners of our first national title. But that team, good as it was, lost a close game on the road in South Bend. So, just for the sake of discussion, let's limit our choices to those Seminole teams that arrived at the gate of the National Championship following an undefeated regular season.

We have now played in six national championship games and won three. We played in five national title games between 1993 and 2000, but during the Dynasty years only two of those national championship contenders sailed through the regular season without a loss. Each of those undefeated teams would have to be in consideration to be placed alongside our 2013 trophy winners.

Languishing behind dusty stacks in Seminole Booster storage is a large box. Its bulging sides sealed with tape, it is packed tight with newspaper articles, preseason magazines and folders stuffed with Monday luncheon scripts.

That box contains everything you ever would want to know about the 1996 Seminole football season. I began saving pre-season articles and newspapers in mid-summer detailing the season that everyone anticipated would lead to our next national title.

We entered the season at No. 3, rose quickly to No. 2 and ended the regular season at No. 1. All-Americans Warrick Dunn, Peter Boulware, Walter Jones and Reinard Wilson were seniors on that team along with future Lombardi Award winners Corey Simon and Andre Wadsworth, and fellow Consensus All-American Sam Cowart.

We did play for the National Championship in 1996, just as we played for five others during the Dynasty. But that 1996 season ended in the forced re-match against rival Florida. We had already beaten them at the end of November in Tallahassee. Our No. 2 Seminoles overcame the No. 1 Gators by a score of 24-21.

However an almost surreal sequence of events resulted in a re-match that favored Florida in every way. The game would be indoors, on artificial turf, and thousands of additional tickets were made available to Florida because of the bowl's SEC ties. The game would be played in the echo chamber of Spurrier's relentless complaints about Seminole "late hits." Chicago Tribune sports columnist Bernie Lincicome dismissed Spurrier as a "sniveling, twitchy dipstick" but you can bet the late hits mantra was ringing in the ears of the game officials.

Add to that, we lost our cover corner to a knee injury the day before the game, running back Rock Preston was declared ineligible for the game and other Seminole players fell prey to the mysterious "flu" that in those days seemed to afflict us only when we played in the Sugar Bowl. Warrick Dunn was given fluids intravenously at halftime.

Even so the game was close at the half (17-24 Florida) but we couldn't hold on and the final score was 52-20. That night we fans stumbled out the Superdome to see the New Orleans sky bursting with light as the Gators celebrated their first National Championship - and at our expense.

Before the season began I had intended to write a book about 1996. I saved every scrap of paper, every pundit, every column and magazine. But after the final game - our only defeat - everyone wanted to move on. No one wanted to look back at the painful conclusion or to discuss what was arguably was one of the greatest Seminole teams of all time. It was just too painful.

Still, I considered writing the book but I'd change the title. I'd call it, "The Greatest Year That Never Was."

Only three years later, the 1999 Seminoles became - and remain to this day - the only college football champions ever to progress from pre-season to post season with an unsullied No. 1 national ranking.

It's easy to argue that 1999 is the greatest Seminole team. Virtually every pre-season publication and pundit picked the 'Noles to win the championship. Our game was circled in red on every opponent's calendar; we were everyone's No. 1 target, every Saturday.

Athlon's pre-season magazine noted that the Seminoles were the winningest Division I program of the 1990s, and "the Seminoles' 1999 team returns their entire receiving corps, their top five rushers and nine of their top ten scorers ... [and] the defense has a penchant for mayhem."

Heroic measures were taken to derail FSU every week, but the 1999 Seminoles crushed and mangled opponents like a runaway freight train. It was the sixth game of the season before the 'Noles scored fewer than 40 points in a contest, and that was 31 points vs. a ranked Miami Hurricanes team.

The fewest points that year were 17 in a victory over Tommy Bowden, new head Coach of the Clemson Tigers. Bobby joked he suspected Ann had given Tommy the Seminole playbook. The final three victories included a dispatch of No. 3 Florida in Gainesville by a score of 30-23.

The national championship game in New Orleans was a matchup of No. 1 Florida State vs. No. 2 Virginia Tech. Peter Warrick's sensational catch for the final Seminole touchdown was appropriately illustrative, an exclamation point on the game and on the season.

Quarterback Chris Weinke went on to win the Heisman and then returned to FSU to play another season. Consensus All-Americans on that 1999 team included Groza Award winner Sebastian Janikowski plus Lombardi Award winners Jamal Reynolds and Corey Simon. As incredible as it is, that one team featured seven current or eventual Consensus All-Americans plus a Heisman winner. Cornerback Tay Cody, guard Jason Whitaker, and receivers Peter Warrick and Snoop Minnis also won the Consensus honor.

Just one month after the Championship game, ESPN Magazine christened Florida State "The Cool School." The magazine said, "Coolness has its perks, and no school is cooler than Florida State."

The coolness of those heady Dynasty days now seems to have found its way back to Tallahassee in 2013.

Because of their lofty pre-season ranking, both the 1999 team and to an extent the 1996 team were targeted from the moment they stepped onto the field. We were the established Dynasty. Everyone schemed and planned and played their best game against us.

It may not be a determining factor inour discussion, but the 1993 Championship team averaged final scores of 41-10 through 13 games, including the late loss to Notre Dame. In only five games did that team allow any opponent more than 10 points.

The 1996 team won by an average score of 38-11, not counting the lopsided loss in the Sugar Bowl. The 1999 team won by an average score of 38-17.

And that brings us roundabout to our 2013 National Champions. Are they the best Seminole team of all time?

The Tribe of 2013 won their first 13 games by an average score of 53-11. In fact, they held seven opponents to less than 10 points each and only one of the 13 opponents scored more than 17 points.

This team features the 2013 Heisman Trophy winner Jameis Winston plus center Byran Stork, the 2013 Rimington Trophy winner, and the Lou Groza Award winner in kicker Roberto Aguayo. Coach Jimbo Fisher was named American Football Coaches Association "Coach of the Year."

In fact, 10 Seminoles won All-American honors this year, including cornerback Lamarcus Joyner, possibly the only player in the country named first team on all 10 recognized All-American teams.

The 2013 Seminoles became the first FSU team to win 13 games - and also 14 games. Even the undefeated 1999 team won only 12. With the 34 points scored in the Rose Bowl, our 2013 team claimed the record as most prolific single season scoring machine in NCAA history. Shattering records became routine for this team. In fact, even in the heart-stopper Championship game the 'Noles set a record for the greatest comeback in BCS title game history.

But prior to the 2013 season not everyone - in fact hardly anyone - foresaw the wonderful magic show to come.

A new coaching staff and a freshman quarterback didn't suggest anything to opponents other than a rebuilding year. But that just turned out to be misdirection on the part of the magician.

FSU was ranked 11th in the preseason AP poll and 12th in the preseason USA Today poll. The top four in both polls were Alabama, Ohio State, Oregon and Stanford. The preseason Sports Illustrated poll had FSU at No. 13. Auburn did not appear at all among the pre-season Top 25, nor was it to be found among "others receiving votes."

Yes, by the time the first official BCS poll appeared the Seminoles were ranked No. 2, but that wasn't until the 8th week of the season. Auburn came on quickly. In that first BCS poll released October 20, the Tigers were No. 11 even though they had already lost one game.

More than a year ago, pundits rushed to see who could be the first to get their predictions in front of the public. Bleacher Report posted their first 2013 preseason rankings on December 28th, 2012. Bleacher Report had LSU No. 1, Florida No. 7 and the Seminoles were ranked No. 20. The Report cited the loss of key Seminole playmakers and uncertain strength of schedule for the low ranking. Bleacher Report also predicted the Gators would win 10 games and the Seminole would win nine.

At least USA Today waited until January 8, 2013 to make their preseason picks. They projected the top five as Alabama, Ohio State, Stanford, Oregon and Florida. Florida State came in at No. 6.

Now with a third National Championship crystal football on the shelf, we fans will continue to speculate about where this 2013 team stands in the pantheon of Seminole greatness.

And do you know what will be even more fun? Speculating whether Coach Fisher has another rabbit hidden away in that magic hat for 2014.

Charlie Barnes is the former vice president and executive director of Seminole Boosters.