Another in our series on the 20th anniversary of FSU's first national championship as the Noles prepare to win another one in January.
By Bob Ferrante
Mickey Andrews felt like Florida State was knocking on the door of something special in the early 1990s.
The program had been just a few points shy from an unbeaten season in 1991 and 1992. FSU lost to Miami on Wide Right in 1991 and the defense held Florida in check but the Gators won 14-9. And the following year, the only thing that kept FSU from being undefeated was Wide Right II against Miami.
“We felt like the team had gotten to the point where we could compete with anybody in the country,” said Andrews, FSU’s defensive coordinator from 1984-2009. "It was just a matter of being able to sustain it for an entire season."
“We were in the top 4 (to finish the season), we had a good football team. We played in some important ballgames throughout the season but especially beginning with that first ballgame when we went up to the Meadowlands (vs. Kansas) and really had a great performance up there. We felt like we were close but we hadn’t turned the corner and won one (a title).”
Andrews talks about the 1993 season in our look back at Florida State’s first championship season:
We have to begin with the goal-line stand at Kansas. How proud were you of the defense that day?
Andrews: The amazing thing about that goal line stand is, when we finally stopped them on the inch-line, I think it was like the 22nd play of that series. And it was so dadgum hot, it was like 120 degrees on the field. Our kids were just exhausted. But that’s kind of the way we trained and we practiced in the offseason. We really talked about finishing plays, finishing games, finishing was something we harped on all the time. We reinforced it in our practices.
The determination was just unbelievable. I don’t know that I’ve seen a defense to fight as hard as they did to keep them from scoring. For some reason, Kansas decided to go for it on fourth down, and we made the play and we stopped them.
We had a rule that you didn’t walk off the field. And it was amazing to see those guys struggling to get off the field. We had players on the sideline and coaches meet them and help get them off the field.
Nobody loves shutouts more than you. And Florida State had four that season.
Andrews: We were very good on defense that year. But we were equally good on offense. And that’s what you got to have if you are going to go all the way. And we had a great kicking game. It was a complete team. And it was fun to coach.
How frustrating was the Notre Dame loss? And how did the players regroup from it?
Andrews: When you really look at it and think about it, we didn’t play our very best ballgame up there. They played an exceptional ballgame. It was not a deal where we thought, ‘Well, it’s over.’ They had some more games to play. And so did we.
I don’t think the guys ever lost confidence. Sure it was disappointing and it took us out of No. 1, but this was a group that was not only very talented but they were very together. They were a great team. They challenged each other.
The Orange Bowl against Nebraska was a great defensive contest. What are your memories of the national championship game?
Andrews: Nebraska was one of the great teams of that era at that time. You look at them and you look at their history, you knew it was going to be a battle. You knew it was going to come down to the wire. And that’s basically what happened. I think we were a little premature in our celebration. Coach got dunked with the Powerade. We thought the game was over and then all of a sudden there was some time left and we got the field goal.
As many times as we had a wide right or wide left or whatever, we had to have a little of that luck for us to win the football game. We always had a desperation field goal block where we would send all 11 people, and that’s what we did on that play. I think we had someone get a hand on the ball, just barely brushed it. And they missed the field goal. What a football game, what a way to end it and what a great way for Florida State and coach Bowden to get the first national championship.
The defense was just loaded with talent – guys like Ken Alexander, Derrick Alexander, Derrick Brooks, Corey Sawyer, Devin Bush, Clifton Abraham, Todd Rebol.
Andrews: I don’t remember how many starters we had back from the year before. But we always tried to prepare next year’s team this year. That was something we got from a high school coach. We adopted that policy. So we started playing a lot of people. We would put guys in the ballgame sometimes before the game was decided. We might play a freshman or sophomore in the first quarter, but our thought was if you don’t give a chance to see what a guy is going to do when the game is on the line, you don’t know how he is going to react when he is a starter.
We adopted that policy and it was very beneficial for us. That’s a whole lot better than a guy running out there and wetting his pants because he had never made a mistake that may keep you from winning a ballgame. They understood how long you stay out there is up to you. I’ll put you out there and you tell us when you’re ready to get off the field by how you perform. You’re building trust, you’re building confidence. You’re developing more starters and more people are helping you win. That was the thing that really paid big dividends for us. And when we were recruiting, kids knew that they were going to get to play early. We weren’t going to wait until they were juniors or seniors to start playing them.
Will you be there for the 1993 celebrations at Doak Campbell this year?
Andrews: I go to all the home games. I don’t miss a game. I enjoy going and watching them play.
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