The History of FSU Football: 1993 - Fifteen Years Ago

By Jim Joanos

Florida State University won its first ever national championship in football fifteen seasons ago. It was a wonderful season that created some wonderful memories.

Florida State 42, Kansas 0. It was a very hot day up near New York City in East Rutherford, New Jersey, when FSU trounced the University of Kansas in the Eleventh Annual Kickoff Classic. FSU's offense led by Quarterback Charlie Ward gained a lot of yards and scored a lot of points. "The defensive stand" by FSU was spectacular. The Kansas team was turned away on one series early in the game on six consecutive plays inside the FSU one yard line without scoring.

Florida State 45, Duke 7. The second game was a rain-soaked mess in Durham. FSU highlights included touchdowns scored by Tamarick Vanover on a 32-yard pass reception from Ward, by Derrick Brooks on a 32-yard interception return of a Duke pass, and by Sean Jackson on a 54-yard run from scrimmage. The FSU defense held Duke to 17 yards of rushing and 130 yards of passing.

Florida State 57, Clemson 0. Doak Campbell Stadium in Tallahassee had been expanded after the 1992 season. A new record crowd of 74,991 attended. Nine different Seminoles scored in the game. Of particular note were a 47-yard field goal by freshman Scott Bentley, Ward's 25 completions of 33 passes with no interceptions, and an 83-yard fumble return by Derrick Brooks. It was Clemson's worst loss in 62 years.

Florida State 33, North Carolina 7. Prior to the game at Chapel Hill, some described it as the "biggest in North Carolina history." Charlie Ward threw his first interception of the season and shortly thereafter North Carolina scored to become the first team of the season to lead FSU at anytime. But soon, thereafter freshman Warrick Dunn scored on a pass from Charlie Ward and in the second quarter Scott Bentley kicked a field goal to give FSU the lead which was never relinquished thereafter. Junior linebacker Derrick Brooks scored a touchdown for the third game in a row, this time by a 49-yard interception return.

Florida State 51, Georgia Tech 0. Back home in Tallahassee, FSU dominated Georgia Tech in every facet of the game. Charlie Ward threw touchdown passes to Lonnie Johnson, Kez McCorvey, Warrick Dunn, Kevin Knox. In addition to the touchdown catch, Dunn scored two more running touchdowns.

Florida State 28, Miami 10. In Tallahassee, the Miami game that year did not come down to a last moment kick attempt. The Seminoles scored two big play touchdowns in the first quarter against Miami and never looked back. The first was on a 69-yard run by Sean Jackson and the other on a 72-yard pass play from Ward to Matt Frier.

Florida State 40, Virginia 14. In their third consecutive home game, the Seminoles met previously undefeated Virginia. On FSU's second series, quarterback Ward threw to Tamarick Vanover on an 86-yard touchdown play to begin the game's scoring. By halftime, FSU led 30-0 in the ESPN nationally televised game. FSU coasted in the second half.

Florida State 54, Wake Forest 0. FSU took a weekend off and then played Wake Forest, at home. It was homecoming and the Seminoles treated the returning alums to a massacre of the visiting Demon Deacons. When it was over, FSU had won its fourth shutout of the first eight games of the season. In the game both Sean Jackson and Warrick Dunn gained over 100 yards each. FSU had stayed on the ground mostly gaining 414 of its 647 yards on offense in that manner.

Florida State 49, Maryland 20. The tribe next traveled to College Park, Maryland. Ward was held out of the game with an injury. Under the offensive leadership of sophomore quarterback Danny Kanell, FSU managed a fairly easy victory which clinched its second consecutive ACC championship. During the game, Kanell completed five touchdown passes. It was the start of an outstanding career for Kanell at FSU.

Notre Dame 31, Florida State 24. The number one Seminoles went to South Bend to play the number two Fighting Irish in, "the game of the century." The stadium was packed and a record television crowd watched the hard-fought game. FSU scored first but Notre Dame came right back and took control of the game. Late in the game FSU regained the momentum, closed the gap, but ran out of time. FSU started its final drive on its own 37 and moved to the Irish 14 yard line before time ran out. The last play was a Ward pass that was knocked down near the goal. Those of us there were screaming for Ward to throw the ball to an open Matt Frier but a scrambling Ward did not see him.

Florida State 62, N.C. State 3. To FSU fans, there were two very important games on November 20, 1993. In the first one, Notre Dame lost to Boston College on a last moment field goal. In the second, in Tallahassee, FSU walloped North Carolina State. As a result, when the games were over that night, FSU was back in the driver's seat towards winning a national championship. In compiling its largest number of points in a game that season, FSU sought to prove its right to be at the top of the college world.

Florida State 33, Florida 21. In Gainesville, FSU took early control of the game and by the end of the third quarter led 27-7 but in the fourth quarter the Gators scored two touchdowns and looked like they were taking over. But then on a third and 10 play from the FSU 21 yard line, Charlie Ward scrambled and found Warrick Dunn on a short pass to the left flat. Dunn did the rest on a 79-yard touchdown play. Some believe it was the most important play in FSU history.

Christmas came early for Seminole fans when in early December Charlie Ward was awarded the Heisman Trophy as 1993's best college football player in the United States. A special December 15th celebration at Campbell Stadium drew over 7,000 fans.

Kicker Scott Bentley and Holder Danny Kanell. Bentley kicked the winning field goal against Nebraska.

Florida State 18, Nebraska 16. FSU was favored to beat Nebraska in the Orange Bowl and win the national championship. In the end that is what happened. But it was not easy. In a close game, Nebraska took the lead, 16-15, with only 1:16 left in the game. Charlie Ward did his usual magic and moved FSU down the field and allowed Scott Bentley to kick a field goal to put FSU back on top with only 21 seconds left. But it was still not over. Somehow the Huskers managed to get all the way to the FSU 38 yard line in 20 seconds and called time out with one second to go. Fortunately, the last play field goal attempt went wide left and FSU had its first ever national championship.

The celebrations in the days that followed that spine-chilling game were fantastic. I will never forget watching the parade on Monroe Street on one of the coldest days of the year. Hopefully, someday fairly soon, FSU fans will be treated to a season as exciting as the 1993 one was. Let's hope so!