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In any dream home, a heartache

By JOHN ROMANO

© St. Petersburg Times,
published September 25, 2001

The story will end a few chapters shy of happy. The plot need not thicken for that much to be evident.

There will be no winning pass in the final moments of a championship game. No congratulatory phone call from the White House. Florida State will not be playing in Pasadena on Jan. 3 and may not even have a date for New Year's.

All that remains are the details.

Like whose fingerprints will be discovered when they dust off FSU's season? And will there be enough characters around for an uplifting sequel?

This is the cost of unencumbered success. When failure finally does arrive, it tends to overwhelm everything in its wake.

It is not so much that Florida State lost an Atlantic Coast Conference game Saturday. The Seminoles tend to do that every few years or so.

It was the way they lost (horribly), the way they played (horrendously) and the way they reacted (rolling over) that gives pause.

This was not a great team having a bad day.

This was not a good team encountering a great opponent.

This was a young team that did not have the good sense to know times have changed. In the past, FSU was so grotesquely rich in talent, it could beat mediocre opponents with an impressive swagger and a big play or two.

These Seminoles are not strong enough to show up at an opponent's field and win with little more than a soulful glare.

Now before going further, let it be said that there is no need for the condemnation of the program, staff or players. This team has been too good for too long for one loss to change the landscape of Bobby Bowden's legacy.

The shock is not that the Seminoles may be in store for a season with four losses or more. The shock is that it has taken so long to get here. This is not how the other half lives. This is how the other 99.9 percent lives.

Even the greatest programs have roller coaster rides when a particularly strong recruiting class leaves town. Florida State, on the other hand, has seen neither dips nor turns during its 14-year ride at the top.

No team in NCAA history has more consecutive 10-win seasons and more consecutive top-five finishes than FSU's 14.

Common sense may have told you the Seminoles were in for a challenge because more than half their starters from 2000 had departed. But common sense has not applied in Tallahassee for a long time. FSU had only nine starters returning in 1993 and went on to win the national championship.

The difference, of course, is that team had some special players returning and arriving. A quarterback such as Charlie Ward. A linebacker such as Derrick Brooks. A freshman running back such as Warrick Dunn.

There may be talents like that hidden on the 2001 roster, but they are not yet ready to make that kind of impact. And the overall package is not strong enough to make up for the shortcomings.

Florida State has made its mark on offense over the years with speed and finesse. Both are lacking these days. Quarterback Chris Rix is too inexperienced and the receiving corps too depleted. Bowden has tried to compensate by becoming more of a running team, but he has an offensive line recruited specifically with pass-blocking in mind.

The result is that FSU cannot afford to take opponents lightly and cannot afford excessive mistakes. The result is that FSU can play at the top of its game and still potentially lose to Miami, Florida and Georgia Tech.

It has a shot at a Top 20 season and the future is as bright as it usually is in Bowden's world. It is just that, for a change, the Seminoles have to look a year beyond the one in which they are playing.

The greatest impact of the 41-9 loss to North Carolina has yet to be felt. Florida State, which had won 71 of its previous 73 ACC games, will travel to Virginia and Clemson and discover little of its previous mystique remains.

"I don't want to put words in the other coaches' mouths," Bowden said. "But I bet every one of them, when they saw that score, said, "Hey we're gong to have a shot at Florida State.' "

The time has come for one of those locker room talks other coaches are more accustomed to authoring. The admonition about learning and growing in the face of defeat. The measured words mixing messages of comfort with challenges of glory.

They must remember this game. Remember the awkward feelings afterward. Remember the embarrassment of the morning after.

And they should get used to it.

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