Turkey. Stuffing. And Florida State-Florida football. 52 years ago this month, the Seminoles and Gators teed it up for the first time. Heavy hitters in state politics and the business world forged the shotgun marriage between the programs on the football field.  What better time than now to look back at the great moments in this bitter, storied rivalry.

November 22, 1958 – The first meeting between Noles and Gators.  FSU tailback Fred Pickard scores the rivalry’s first points and a feud was born.

September 30, 1961 – For the first time, the Seminoles escape Gainesville without a loss.  John Harllee’s 29 yard field goal would score all the points Florida State would need in a 3-3 tie.  A near riot ensues after the game as Florida State fans storm the field to tear down Florida’s goal posts.

November 22, 1964 – The Gators make their first visit to Tallahassee and the rivalry takes a new turn.  Florida players arrive at Doak Campbell Stadium brandishing jerseys that read “Go For Seven.” Florida had not lost the prior six meetings. Yeah.  Go For Seven.  Fail.  Fred Biletnikoff catches a 55 yard pass from Steve Tensi and Les Murdock booms three field goals in Florida State’s 16-7 victory, the Noles first of many conquests in the series.

Read the rest of this entry »

John Baker has covered news and sports for over 20 years.  He’s the public address announcer for several Florida State Seminole sports and also the press box public address announcer at FSU football games.  He can also be heard weekly on heartbeatradiousa.com and Heartbeat Radio for Women on 1410am in Central Florida, which makes him a great fit for our TPSM family.  Please join us in welcoming him as the newest contributing author to TPSM.

How bad would you want to atone for costing your team the game?

Just ask Christian Ponder and Dustin Hopkins of the Florida State Seminoles football team.

One week after being involved in the fumble that ended the potential game winning drive against NC State, Ponder went 24-for-34 for 264 yards and three touchdowns against North Carolina.

But more importantly, he didn’t turn the ball over.

Enter Dustin Hopkins against North Carolina, who missed two 4^th quarter field goals including the game winner.

But he would not succumb to that pressure again when facing the Clemson Tigers

The Seminoles were without their starting QB but had the reliable EJ Manuel under center.

EJ and the rest of the offense struggled during the first half but the Seminoles D kept them in contention, picking off Clemson QB Kyle Parker twice and blocking one field goal.

Florida State found themselves down 10-6 entering the final quarter, but EJ wasn’t about to lose during his first starting job of the season. Read the rest of this entry »

Wide Rights aren’t only limited to FSU/Miami games anymore.

One week after a stunning loss to NC State on a late fumble, the Florida State Seminoles saw another close game stolen from them in the waning seconds.

With seven seconds left in the game, K Dustin Hopkins trotted on for a very make-able field goal attempt.

Hoping to atone for a missed field goal earlier in the quarter Dustin would leave the field in utter disbelief after watching his second attempt mirror the first.

Sailing wide right.

The Seminoles knew soon after this game began that both NC State and Maryland had lost leaving Florida State atop the Atlantic Division standings.

The formula became simple: keep winning and you’re in (the ACC Championship Game).

North Carolina had other plans as they, too, had to keep pace with Virginia Tech in the Coastal Division. Read the rest of this entry »

Letdown.  Trap game.  Sheer luck.

The FSU team that took the field against Boston College is not the gritty offense we’ve come to enjoy watching since their loss to OU back on September 11th.

Christian Ponder had possibly his worst day as a starter, going 19-for-31 for only 170 yards and throwing 2 TDs and responsible for all four (4) of Florida State’s turnovers (3 INTs and 1 fumble).

Luckily the defense was holding strong and not allowing the Eagles to score after every turnover.

The Eagles defense did show why they had one of the top rushing defenses in the country, holding FSU’s newly potent rushing attack to a meager 141 yards.  The bulk of that came on the game winning rush by Bert Reed who bolted 42 yards to reclaim the lead for FSU with 10:50 left in the game.

Championship teams win, this is true.  But they also win with their backs against the wall in tough, gritty, hard fought games.

Read the rest of this entry »

Florida State fans had more to cheer for this weekend after the disappointing loss to Oklahoma last weekend.  The ‘Noles came through with a 34-10 win over BYU.

Ponder didn’t play completely up to par after an injury at Oklahoma, he sustained a contusion to his left forearm.  Even with the injury, Ponder completed 14 of 21 attempts and a touchdown.

Midway through the first half the Seminoles led 13-0, but the didn’t last long.  The Cougars got their momentum going with under three minutes left in the second quarter.  A 71 yard, 11 play touchdown drive cut that Seminole lead down to a three, 13-10.

Read the rest of this entry »

Niki Everson from Think Pink Sports Media had the great pleasure of joining the Florida State Seminoles on Bobby Bowden Field for their 2010 debut game at Doak Campbell Stadium on Saturday.

The game also welcomed Jimbo Fisher as the new Seminoles head coach, something Florida State hasn’t seen in 35 years.

The game was considered a “full circle” for both Jimbo, a former Samford quarterback, and Bobby, head coach at Samford (then called Howard University) from 1959-1962.  Bobby did decide to watch the game from his home instead of be on the sidelines.

Jimbo’s reign at FSU started a little different than Bobby Bowden’s did; Jimbo got the win.

This game was a fantastic start to their 2010-2011 season and gave their fans a sense of excitement and anticipation that we haven’t seen in quite a few years.

In just the first half Christian Ponder threw for 167 yards and four touchdowns.  Amazing considering this is the first time the Heisman-hungry quarterback has played since his shoulder injury last November. Ponder completed 12 of 14 passes in the first half.

Read the rest of this entry »

The wait is finally over.

In a few short days the 2010 college football season will kickoff, and it couldn’t have come sooner.

For those of you out there like me, you enjoy the summer months but there is always something missing. The roar of the crowd, the excitement and drama that unfolds each week as teams fight it out between the hashmarks for conference and national supremacy.

There really is nothing like College Football.

And while I can hardly wait to see how well Florida State starts its season, this one is remarkably bittersweet.

Its the first time in my life I’ll be cheering on FSU without seeing Bobby Bowden roam the sidelines. No matter your opinion on how his career ended, you cannot take away what he has done for the University and the state of Florida in general. He is an icon and will be truly missed.

But with the talent coming back on offense and the offseason turnaround made by Jimbo Fisher, I am looking forward to seeing the Seminoles post better numbers on both sides of the ball.

Will we go undefeated? Doubtful.

Will we win the Conference Title for the first time since 2005? Its possible, but not a guarantee.

Can we win our division for the first time since 2005? I see this as a very likely scenario.

The Seminoles have the talent to do great things this year. But with so many question marks on defense there is little that can be said beyond winning the (weaker) Atlantic Division.

Samford will provide a great scrimmage, as long as we don’t lay another egg like we did against South Florida and almost against Jacksonville State last year. Oklahoma will be the real test, though, If we can keep that game close, or even pull off the upset in Norman, then it will go a long way into building this program back to the heights in enjoyed in the 90s.

As an added bonus we’ll also get a new addition to our sod cemetary.

Keep the faith, Seminole Nation. While this isn’t your daddy’s Seminoles anymore it doesn’t mean we can’t do great things. The Dynasty will be reborn in 2010.

And our weekends will once again become something to look forward to.

This was a game that the Seminole Nation has had circled on its calendar since Bobby Bowden announced his retirement.

And its just a Spring Game.

But its so much more than that.  Its a measuring stick not only for the coaching staff but for the entire student body, Seminole fans, and the world of college football to see just how Jimbo’s new team will look this fall.

And with just less than five months until their first game, things are definitely looking up.

This year’s Spring Game was setup as more of a traditional styled football game, and the 50,000+ Garnet and Gold faithful that attended were definitely given a show to remember.

Heisman-hopeful Christian Ponder gave those in attendance a collective sigh of relief as he displayed no real signs of a letdown after injuring his shoulder late last season and required surgery.  Ponder went 16-of-34 and threw for 266 yards, two touchdown passes, and rushed for another as he lead the Gold team to a 29-17 victory.

Sophomore receiver Rodney Smith showed just how great he can be as he had three catches for 124 yards and one touchdown for the Gold team.  On the other side, Bert Reed had ten catches for 163 yards and one touchdown for the Garnet.

The top rusher of the day belonged to Debrale Smiley, a JUCO transfer, who notched 58 yards on only three carries for the Gold team.

The Gold team totaled 399 yards on the day (295 passing and 104 rushing) while the Garnet put up 246 yards (210 passing and 36 rushing).

But offense wasn’t the biggest concern for the Seminoles last year.  What the team is really looking to improve upon is one of the worst defensive efforts since the 1980s.

They, too, did not disappoint.

Brandon Jenkins lead the way with three sacks and six tackles for the Gold followed by fellow Gold teammates Vince Williams and Nigel Carr who each knotted six tackles apiece.

“I thought the defense did a real good job in the second half controlling the line of scrimmage,” Fisher said.

“I think today was great for not only the players to see the support and everyone wanting to watch them play but I think it was good for the fans, too,” Fisher said. “Getting back here and enjoying yourself in a spring weekend and getting to see a lot of friends and family and tailgate and have fun and remember why you enjoy Florida State, why you came here and why they love it.”

And if this was even just a glimmer of things to come this fall and in years to come, the Seminole Nation will soon be back on top and competing for Conference and National titles.

And opponents will once again “Fear the Spear”.

What fol­lows is a col­lec­tion of images cap­tured by Niki Everson of Think Pink Sports Media of all the action on Bobby Bowden Field at Doak Campbell Stadium .  Re-cap story provided by guest author.  As always, all mate­ri­als con­tained within this post remain the sole prop­erty of Niki and Think Pink Sports Media and may not be repro­duced with­out per­mis­sion, obtain­able by email­ing niki@thinkpinksm.org.  Click each sin­gle image to enlarge or choose “View with Pic Lens” to begin slide show.

Read the rest of this entry »

Louisiana State Uni­ver­sity has his­tor­i­cally been known for its abil­ity to pro­duce NFL-caliber tal­ent, and with this year’s Pro Day, held Mon­day, March 15 in the Tigers’ indoor prac­tice facil­ity, scouts rep­re­sent­ing all 32 NFL teams were con­vinced of lit­tle otherwise.

Many of those par­tic­i­pat­ing in Monday’s Pro Day work­outs — a list includ­ing for­mer LSU play­ers such as Bran­don LaFell, Charles Scott, Ciron Black, Chad Jones, Rahem Alem, and Harry Cole­man — had already estab­lished them­selves as indi­vid­u­als likely to get a strong look from NFL teams in next month’s draft.  Nev­er­the­less, all play­ers involved aimed to fur­ther show­case their tal­ents as a means of rein­forc­ing and improv­ing their poten­tial draft stock, with few, if any, dis­ap­point­ing in their time in the spotlight.

The fol­low­ing is a run­down of some of the things heard and seen Mon­day morning:

• Lafell said he was both­ered by a ham­string injury, but still man­aged to post a 4.54 40 yard dash and par­tic­i­pate in posi­tion drills.

• Black recorded a 26-inch ver­ti­cal jump, a 7–7 broad jump and did par­tic­i­pate in some shut­tle and posi­tion drills.

• Jones ran a 4.57 in the 40, had a 9–7 broad jump and did 11 bench press reps, improv­ing his num­bers from last month’s offi­cial NFL combine.

• Scott ran a 4.53 in the 40, had a 31-inch ver­ti­cal, a 9–6 broad jump and also par­tic­i­pated in posi­tion drills.

• Alem posted a 33-inch ver­ti­cal and a 9–7 broad jump.

• Cole­man ran a 4.48 40, net­ted a 33-inch ver­ti­cal jump, a 9–10 broad jump and par­tic­i­pated in posi­tion drills.

• Trindon Hol­i­day stood on all of his com­bine num­bers but did par­tic­i­pate in posi­tion drills.

• Richard Dick­son ran a 4.85 40, recorded a 28 1/2 inch ver­ti­cal jump and par­tic­i­pated in pos­i­tion drills.

• Every year there are always play­ers who improve their stock after miss­ing out on an invite to com­bine; this was true again Mon­day, as safety Danny McCary com­pleted 24 reps on the bench, ran a 4.46 in the 40 and had a 34 inch ver­ti­cal jump.

One of the more inter­est­ing sto­ries at this year’s Pro Day came from a guy that didn’t even play at LSU — for­mer Okla­homa State / Texas South­ern quar­ter­back Bobby Reid, who was on hand to throw to receivers and run­ning backs in posi­tion drills.  Reid  tore his ACL while under cen­ter for Texas South­ern, and after hav­ing surgery to repair the dam­age,  asked cur­rent LSU head coach Les Miles — who coached Reid while still at Okla­homa State — if he could par­tic­i­pate in LSU’s Pro Day. Miles agreed.

Reid ran a 4.64 40, recorded a 9–3 broad jump, a 33 1/2 ver­ti­cal jump, and benched 19 reps.

What fol­lows is a col­lec­tion of images from Monday’s Pro Day as pro­vided to Think Pink Sports Media by Melinda Dove.  As always, all mate­r­ial in this post remain the sole prop­erty of Melinda and Think Pink Sports Media and may not be repro­duced with­out explicit per­mis­sion, obtain­able by email­ing melinda@thinkpinksm.org.  Click each sin­gle image to enlarge or choose “View with Pic Lens” to begin slide show.

Read the rest of this entry »