Garnet and Great

Flashback Friday: Gene Deckerhoff amps the excitement of Chris Thompson's 74-yard untouched TD romp against Wake

Leon Washington's 2002 do-or-die breakout moment

“From an individual perspective, my freshman year we were playing against Florida in a big rival game at the end of the year. We were in the locker room and I was starting that game because Greg Jones got hurt. Bobby Bowden was like ‘We need you to get it done tonight, and if you don’t, we’ll need to pull Lorenzo Booker out of his redshirt.’ That motivated me to have a great game.”

(From ESPN's Boston blog) 

 

Postgame Celebration: Sideline video by Chris Holder

FSU dominates UM: Sideline Shots by Chris Holder

Flashback Friday: A 20-year old lesson in determination over swagger

Our latest in a series celebrating the 20th Anniversary of Florida State's first national championship.

It was 1993, two decades ago, when Miami came to Tallahassee high on swagger, confident that they'd derail the undefeated Noles. Even Canes fans were talking trash as they jostled through the crowds entering Doak. 

If you were there, you remember the dome of humidity that descended over the stadium. It may have been October but there was no hint of fall weather. You recall undersized WR Matt Frier getting behind the Canes secondary and outrunning them all the way to the end zone. And then there was the determined running of Sean Jackson and freshman Warrick Dunn, not to mention Charlie Ward's near flawless performance.

There were players hooked up to IVs at halftime, fierce hitting from start to finish, after the clock hit zeros, a curious site: William Floyd sitting on the turf around the 30-yard line just looking up at the scoreboard, drinking in the indelible memory of a beautiful sight: FSU 28 - Opponent 10. 

More FSU - N.C. State Sideline Shots by Chris Holder

Bowden Homecoming and N.C. State sideline shots by Chris Holder

Flashback Friday: The Greatest Hits of Florida State Football

Flashback Friday: The night another young QB braved the hostile crucible of Clemson

Twenty years before Jameis Winston, Florida State sent another young signal caller to test his mettle against one of the most hostile environments in college football. It was September 1992 and Charlie Ward had only one game under his belt as a starter -- a win against Duke in which four interceptions marred a four TD performance.

A week later in Death Valley, Ward was picked off on FSU's first drive of the night. Nervous Nole fans wondered if the pressure cooker atmosphere was too much for a QB still learning on the job. In fact, Ward would throw three more INTs that night, one taken to the house in the third quarter to put the Tigers ahead 13-10 (seen in the video, along with other Clemson highlights).

Rather than rattling him, the gift wrapped pick six appeared to bring out the best in Ward. He tossed two more TDs, the last on a sustained drive beginning with a little more than five minutes left on the clock and the Clemson faithful making it impossible to hear anything on the field.

``I just decided to get in the huddle and throw the ball the way I know I can,`` Ward said. ``Our defense, receivers and offensive line had done the job all night. It was time for me to do my job." 

The dramatic win at Death Valley served as a coming of age moment for the future Heisman Trophy winner, and a sign of things to come that season and the next.

Flashback Friday: Weinke to Snoops catches Clemson flatfooted

The Puntrooskie wasn't the old sleight of hand play that Bobby Bowden used against Clemson. This classic trickery from the 2000 season was a thing of beauty. Chris Weinke sold the handoff with perfection, then zipped the ball to a wide open Snoop Minnis for a 98-yard TD. An explosive play like that deserves an encore. How about the weekend after next against the same team, only this time it's a Winston to Greene dagger?